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What could be better than prime rib infused with an awesome garlicky flavor?
Prime Rib: King Of Roasts
This cut is called the “King of Roasts” for several reasons.
It’s juicy and tender plus it makes a great presentation. It’s also rather costly compared to other cuts and for that reason, serving it is pretty much confined to holidays.
Even though my mother kept to British tradition of serving turkey at Christmas, after I got married I started a new Christmas tradition by serving prime rib.
Interesting fact that turkey is not as common in Britain as it is in the USA. In fact, prime rib is the usual cut used for roast beef in the UK (or at least it used to be).
Keeping with British tradition here, those lovely things in the muffin tin in the photo are individual Yorkshire Puddings! And the potatoes are my Semolina Baked Fingerling Potatoes.
Cooking Method Makes The Difference
This post isn’t so much about a recipe as it is about a method.
In the past, I’ve cooked a standing prime rib roast two ways. The first way was set it in a 325 ℉ oven and roast away until it came to the proper temperature–135-140 ℉ for my medium rare to medium taste. The second way was starting the roast at 450 ℉ for 15 minute to sear then turning down the oven temperature to 325 ℉ for the rest of the time it took to come to the temperature I mentioned before.
However, I recently read a completely different method on Serious Eats. It was called reverse sear–where you do the high temperature oven part at the end.
You move the high temperature sear at the end of the cooking time. The prime rib also roasts for a longer time at a lower oven temperature. That keeps the juices in the meat rather than in the pan.
An added benefit is that the meat rests before the final sear and the final sear is done right before you seat your guests, so you can start carving immediately.
The Recipe
Garlicky Prime Rib
Ingredients
- 4-6 lbs prime rib roast
- 1 large clove garlic thinly sliced
- 1-2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Make slits randomly in roast with a sharp-pointed knife.
- Place a slice of garlic in each slit. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper then place the roast in the refrigerator uncovered overnight.
- Preheat oven to 250 ℉. Put the roast, fat cap side up, in a rack in a roasting pan.
- Roast for 4-5 hours or until an instant read thermometer reaches the stage you want the meat. Rare is 120 ℉; medium-rare is 130-135 ℉; medium is 140 ℉ and well is 160 ℉. Remember that you can cook individual slices additionally if you have some medium-well and well people, so most people will cook this roast to rare and cook individual slices to the other stages.
- Remove the roast from the oven and let it stand for 30 minutes.
- About 10 minutes before you plan to serve the roast, preheat the oven to 500 - 550 ℉ ( or the highest temperature your oven will go to) and pop the roast back into the oven for 6-10 minutes to crisp it and sear it on the outside.
- You may carve it immediately because it's already had it's "rest" time.
Marge says
I can’t tell from the photo if this is a bone-in roast or not. I prefer bone-in so I can chew on the bones! Which is it?
Judith Hanneman says
Bone in. That’s my favorite part too–much to my dog’s dismay LOL. I cut off the bone after it’s roasted to carve it easier.
Marge says
thanks!
Renee from Renee's Kitchen Adventures says
Perfection!
Renee from Renee’s Kitchen Adventures recently posted…Easy Christmas Cow Pies
Judith Hanneman says
<3 Renee!!!
Vandy says
So sorry… it is late and I should have read more carefully. Will be checking out those recipes also. Thank you for so many great ideas.
Judith Hanneman says
Glad you found them and hope you like them!
Sarah says
What if it’s for a 9lb roast?
Judith Hanneman says
I’d check after 4 hours, but maybe allot 6 for total time. If your oven does convection roasting, that’s an excellent setting and it would probably cook to rare/medium-rare in the 4-5 hours time.