Tips on Prime Rib of Beef

[-E-]

You are the only one. If I want jerky I'll go get some from the local 7-11.

[howiebrou]

Rules of cooking prime rib;

1. Only use Prime, not select or choice
2. It must be aged at least 2-3 weeks to allow the pH to break down the membranes (and kill FMD virus)
3. Nothing except oil, salt and pepper. If you need other seasoning the beef is not up to scratch. You might as well buy a cheaper quality.
4. Grass fed and grain fed are ok. I only buy grain fed. Bone is always better.
5. Rub lightly in olive oil, salt and pepper all over.
6. Fry in your roasting tin. Blow torching will help sear the meat but won't contribute to the gravy or roast potatoes.
7. Stick on rack and place potatoes underneath.
8. Rib is a relatively tough cut (which I like) so I have no problem cooking it at a variety of temperatures (it doesn't need slow cooking, if you want buttery and very soft cuts, buy a cut that does no work, like tenderloin but imho it has no taste). I normally cook at 350 ish.
9. Remove when the inside is about 135 and rest for at least 30 minutes.
10. Gravy needs dripping, red onions, red wine, beef stock, garlic, thyme, tinned tomatoes all reduced for about 1 hour and seasoned.
11. Yorkshire puddings is a must!
12. Serve with gravy and freshly grated horseradish, English mustard.

[Doug Lax]

I prefer the medium to medium rare but I do like the end cut as well . When I was a kid we would go to a roast beef house and I always like a little of the end cut.

[MyPal]

Some interesting techniques on how to cook prime ribeye & T-bones.

I agree for these premium cuts of olive oil & ground rock salt only. Premium aged beef must be tender without question. Even marbling distribution for wagyu varieties is preferred. A good steak will remain tender even when well done.

Typically, I grill at a high heat on a flame grill. Never a plate. Then down to medium low until the top side starts to bleed. After which the steak is flipped & the temperature raised.

My steaks are generally 2 1/2" - 3" thick & I like them medium rare especially in the middle. Prefer the meat to still stick to the bone. As the bone is not baked brittle, my dog Jack cleans them up afterwards.

When we don't do it at home, we enjoy going across the road to the DIY stone grill where they sever some wonderful Tasmanian black angus rib-eye. We sneak a doggy bag for the bones to give to Jack.

I will be studying all of your techniques with avid interest. It looks like you all know how to cook a great steak!

[GaryProtein]

Originally Posted by Amfibius

Hi Douglax, I checked through my pictures folder and could not come up with any pics of me using the SV setup to cook steak ... sorry! But, as mentioned in my earlier post, I use a 2 stage process to cook my steak. If you were to use high heat to cook steak, you would cook too much grey into the meat - to get the center to medium rare, there would be too much well done just under the surface. I therefore use a low heat method to achieve the done-ness that I want, then follow it up with a hellish inferno to finish the surface.

The low heat method I use is either sous-vide or slow roasting. Either way, careful control of the heat and monitoring of the meat with a thermometer is essential. 50C is rare, 55C is medium rare, 60C is medium, and 65C is well done. Here are a few pics of a slow roasting steak:

Attachment 13266

The steak is oiled up with garlic infused EVOO, then placed on a rack with white wine, thyme and rosemary below. It goes into an oven set at 70C. At this temperature, it will take 3-4 hours to reach 55C. Sometimes it can happen faster, so it is important to start measuring the temp after an hour to see what's happening.

Attachment 13267

... this is what the steak looks like after slow roasting. At this stage, I let it rest until the temp drops down to 40C. Note that there is a flavour difference between slow roast and sous-vide. Slow roast tastes far more beefy and intense, but the meat is dryer. Weighing the meat before and after the slow roast confirms that you get more moisture loss with slow roast. Sous-vide is much more tender and more juicy, but tastes less beefy.

Attachment 13268

The next stage is a high heat method to develop the crust. Conditions that favour Maillard reactions are: high heat (above 120C), presence of a reducing sugar, presence of amino acids, and base (pH > 7) conditions. You can encourage the reaction by adding protein (here, I used butter), by adding sugar (I sprinkled some caster sugar on the steak), and by causing base conditions (I used baking soda - NaHCO3).

Here, I panfried the steak to develop the crust, but you can also use a grill or a blowtorch.

Attachment 13269

This is what the steak looks like, served up with some blue cheese wrapped in spinach leaves

Attachment 13270

Here is another prime rib, from another dinner party. Note how the meat is evenly pink from surface to surface with very little grey below the surface. This one was sous-vided followed by a high heat grill on the BBQ.

BTW, many cooks will fall either into the early salter or late salter camp - i.e. salt before cooking vs. salt after cooking. I must confess I am an early salter. If you salt early enough, it draws fluid out. But if you leave it, the salt goes back in, drawing the moisture back with it. The salt within the meat causes chemical changes that tenderize the meat. Furthermore, the salt helps the meat hold on to the moisture. And, as a prominent chef once said - if you salt early, the food tastes seasoned. Salt late, the food tastes salted.

You and I have the exact same method of cooking steak and prime rib roast.

Nothing beats the low/slow first stage to bring it to 50 degC (rare) followed by the heat heat/sear stage to bring it to 55 degC and a rest bringing it to medium rare.

BTW, I'm impressed to see you speak of the Maillard reaction rather than the grossly incorrect term "caramelization" of meat.

Please let me know when you're cooking this next time. I'll be happy to reciprocate!

[Amfibius]

Hi Gary, I just realized that in my PM reply to you I used the word "caramelization" Well yes it is incorrect, because caramelization simply means the browning of sugars under high heat, whereas the Maillard reaction refers to the browning process of proteins in the presence of a reducing sugar. I am as guilty of perpetuating the inaccurate term as anybody else - so please accept my apologies!

Any time I let food near heat, I aim for precise control of temperatures. He who controls the final cooking temperature of the food controls the result.

[Toccata]

Originally Posted by Vesuvius

You are the only one. If I want jerky I'll go get some from the local 7-11.

Haha, I don't like i quite that well done!

[miner]

Bring to room temp - use a mustard olive oil coat then rub with spices (mostly peppers). Sear on gas grill (450F) then cook indirect on gas grill unitl 135F. I use a digital internal thermometer so I don't mess up a $100 cut of beef.