Hello everyone....
.... we're traveling on business and headed home - everyone asleep right now. Here's my prime rib routine...
Get a good meat thermometer - and have a range that is graduated donw to 100 if possible. Lots of these things start at 120 or even 130. Absurd! It is nice to have an electronic thermometer - and it is not a substitute to have a high temp candy or instant read thermometer. Although an instant read is sort of OK after removal (but redundant). And a second in over thermometer for reading OVEN temp is OK too if your oven seems to not to cook at accurate temperatures.
Next - get ROCK SALT, Lawry's seasoned salt (salt, MSG, and a laundry bag of components to make it seem interesting), fresh minced garlic. Plus you will need one or two packets of Lawry's Auju sauce.
Now a word about prime rib. There is common store bought "rib-eye boneless roast" in "choice" grade. And those butchers will tell you this is good enough and all you'll find in your neighborhood.... and that may range in price from $6 up to $11 a pound. Plus they will say it has been aged... (non-descript usually and realy just a load of nonsense).
Then at the other extreme you can buy REAL Dry aged STAND RIB PRIME RIB - usually up around $10-15 a pound for a 7 rib roast.
Then you have commonly available COSTCO standing rib roast in "select" grade. Usually in the $7-9 range.
Well - this can get muddled since during the holidays everyone selling the stuff knows people will look for his stuff and buy.
But what you basically want is a STANDING RIB roast - small enad (not the bid end) or if you're serving a larger family gathering then TWO small ends or.... if you you must then the whole 7 rib roast. YOU MUST have the bones in as this helps the cooking process. SMALL END is the tender end that is usually carved up into nice steaks. Big end may look nice but the marbeling is usually less so there. AND on aging. I sort of age my cuts in my fridge about a week or so on my own. It concentrates the flavor supposedly.
Now prep is an issue. The idea is to cover the cylendrical sides with rock salt, seasoning and garlic rubbed all over. This serves to seal the exterior when you sear it in cooking. This preserves the juices inside. If while cooking you get any mearusable red juice in the tray then it has lost it! On the ends I add the same treatment but less then the sides. The ROAST Then rests in the tray on it's ribs down. The placement of the thermomether probe is critical. It must not touch a rib bone and the insertion point should be on the cylindrical side - high up and through an emerging point that should be surrounded by fat. The fat should sear around the opening and seal in the juices. YOU might get some juice loss at this point and if so then that is barely tolerable.
So - preheat to 375. Place roast into oven for about 20 minutes THEN turn down temp to 250. This will sear in the exterior. DO NOT open the oven in the first hour to check temps as this will release the high temps established for searing. Let the temp fall of it's own accord down from 375 to the setting of 250. This should take anywhere from 2.5 - 4 hours depending on the size and shape of your cut ... and the TRUE temp of your oven. The idea though is to watch for the roast temp to rise to about 110-115. Not a degree above. When in this range pull it out and LET IT REST undisturbed or cut for about 10-15 minutes. This will allow the juices to settle inside. SLOW cooking like this ensures cooking evening throughout as well as easy controllability provided you check on temps regularly.
NOW - the entire roast will be RARE. Now the Auju sauce comes into play here. THIS IS the routine.... if a rare slice is desired - carve and serve as is with HOT auju to the plate only. If a medium rare cut is desired then ladle HOT auju on top of the rare cut. If medium is desired then dip the cut into the pot of hot auju - this will take the color out of it without really deep cooking it. If medium well is desired - allow for more than dipping a rare cut in the HOT pot of auju. And the real pain is when someone wants a well done cut that's THICK... as this will involve soaking a cut in hot simmerring Auju sauce usually. You can forestall a little of this recooking if you save the cooked end caps for the folks desiring well done.
So - no matter what degree of prep is desired and regardless of where you are in the carving process you can address everyones' varied preferences this way. I highly recommend Lawry's brand auju as it is consistently very good quality. DOn't discount your auju to a lesser brand. Plus I add minced garlic to my auju... but that's me - I like garlic in many things.
OH - and do try to plan on cutting several THICK DRAMATIC CUTS. This sort of stages the meal in some ways. Yeah, I know some folks simply will NOT eat a cut that large - but at the table having a few people glance over at some of the huge cuts is sort of fun. AND IF many folks want THICK greater then 1.5" thick cuts - you will have to buy accordingly.
AND - your carving will be a LOT easier if your choosen carving knife is sharp. If not then remember - a sharpening iron will only go so far in repairing a worn edge. For sharp results you may have to take the knife in for professional resharpening. It's usually $5 or so per blade at the local mall/knife shop. I have a semi-professional motorized sharpener in the kitchen. It set us back about $60 on sale at Macy's. It saves us money in the long run with CONVENIENCE and repeated use obviously. Our knife set is actually a lowly Chicago cutlery set with relatively mild steel formulation. BUT HECK.... it serves us just fine and I don't anguish over how I use my set on challenging carving tasks! And I do have a nice soligen AND cuisinart chef's kitchen knife. Those "look" a little nicer for public carving.... heh-heh-hee.
So - good luck - enjoy - and if you want alternative seasoning techniques and routines then look it up on google. I vaguely recall reading about some mildly strange and unique combination of seasonings discussed. BUT I DO NOT buy into the higher cooking temperatures a few recipies had suggested. And - you'll NOT find any (or many) recipies suggesting my final heating and serving technique with the auju.
Do let me know how it turns out if you try this!
gotta get ready to check out and head home soon... adios!
