Rib Roast

[Firemonkey]

I did a rib roast for Christmas his year. I was out of town until the weekend before Christmas, so my time was limited, but I aged it for as long as I could, which was 4 days.

After drying for 4 days, I trimmed it lightly, and put it on the grill at 235 for about 4.5 hours, until it was 118 internal. Pulled it out, and cranked the grill up to 500, got the drippings hot, and made a pan of yorkshire pudding. The roast went back in for a searing at the same time.

Results? Simply outstanding!

The finished product:

Going in to start drying

About 10 minutes after hitting the grill:

The stainless pan you see is actually the protective liner from the HD that ships with the KK. I took the HD out of it before I even used it. It makes a perfect smaller version of the big round drip pan that comes with the KK. This smaller one is much thicker and sturdier than the big one, too. The HD does fine on its own, without the metal liner.

Almost done:

Resting:

The hammock is hanging a little bit lower after a meal like that!

[smokykensbbq]

FM, that looks excellent! I did the same cook on Christmas Eve and it turned out great. I cooked mine at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes and then turned it down to 325 degrees until the internal temperature hit 128 degrees and then I pulled it. I will definitely look forward to making another one of these in the near future.

[Keytickler]

That is exactly what I am doing on the 26th this year! I'm putting a paste on the outside of the beef first made up of rosemary, garlic, kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, and olive oil.

Direct heat, drip pan, using the same temperature plan as smokykensbbq.

Keytickler

[Firemonkey]

Dont forget to take some pictures!

I almost did another this year, but went for a ham instead.

[primeats]

Looks great,FM, Keytickler, I'm sure yours will turn out great as well(inside info). To me nothing looks more appetizing than a picture perfect slice of M.R. Prime Rib. Unfortunately I was unable to prepare ours this year, we dined at my Mother-in-law's house. This time she followed my instructions and it turned out perfectly. She even cooked it right side up this time, and used the meat thermometer. Last year I had to steal a battery from the thermostat so we could use the thermometer, and the roast was cooked rib side up...not my recommended method... but she's a lovely lady and she accepted me right off the bat when Denise introduced me!

[Keytickler]

Sorry, no photos, but everything turned out wonderfully. Perfect. The roast took a bit longer than the recipe led me to believe, but I think that is largely due to the fact that the roast wasn't out of the fridge all that long before being put on the gril. The meat was not much warmer than 45 degrees F when it went on the grill. Otherwise, it was delicious!

Nice starting ingredients, primeats!

Keytickler

[Loquitur]

Firemonkey:

That roast looks outstanding!!! I will be doing one soon and will be aiming for the same degree of doneness as yours. If you recall, did you keep the roast in at 500 the entire time the yorkshire pudding was baking?

Did you rest the roast before or after the searing? If you rested it after the searing, how did you keep the pudding so nice during the rest?

Susan

[Firemonkey]

I cooked the pudding at the same time I seared the roast, but I didnt pour the pudding batter in the pan until a few minutes before the roast came off. The roast was off the grill while I ran the temp up to about 500, which took about 10-15 mins. After the sear, I let the meat rest on the cutting board while the pudding finished.

[Loquitur]

Thanks for the details, Firemonkey - very interesting technique and clearly successful.

[rorkin]

Trying to estimate cooking time.. Do you remember how many ribs or the weight ??

Thanks

[Firemonkey]

I think it was about 6 pounds.

[rorkin]

Sorry no pictures but the roast wad 6.5 pounds and took 3-1/2 hours to 118. Then sear.. Came out perfect. The only thing I would do differently would be cut down on the smoke. I used hickory and the roast took on more smoke than I would have thought.. It of course only penetrated the outside inch or so but I think it overwhelmed the meat a bit..

I also used an Acme on sale roast.. It was tender but I wonder if a better roast might have had more flavor. I dry aged it for 4 days and really could not tell if it had much impact on flavor because of the smoke..

I have a piece or 2 left over and will see how it is cold..

I used olive oil , garlic cloves stck into meat , a bunch of pepper and a very small amount of salt.. I saw an article that advised not using salt as it would draw out the moisture.. Most recipies advise a healthy amount of salt.. I am looking for opinions.

Thanks to all for the advice..

R

[mguerra]

NaCl

I put a very light dust of Kosher salt on most meats before applying a salt free rub. This allows me to absolutely control the amount of salt I use. Most pre-prepared rubs have an unknown amount of too much salt in them, it is normally the first listed ingredient. So I make my own, salt free. There are a number of popular rubs oft mentioned here, like the Dizzy Pig. I have no idea how they stack up, salt wise. But if you make your own you have total salt control.

[Syzygies]

Re: NaCl

I put a very light dust of Kosher salt on most meats before applying a salt free rub.

+1. I consider this essential technique. For ribs and brisket, I've come down in steps from 1% sea salt by weight, to 0.6% by weight.

Americans cook by volume, English measure, pretty much the rest of the world cooks by weight, metric, if they measure at all. Salt can vary 2:1 in density, so if you go by volume, always use the same salt. Kosher salt is popular with restaurant cooks because they can reliably grab it by feel, with consistent results.

[rorkin]

so you are suggesting say .036# of salt for a 6 # roast ??

which comes out to about .57 oz ?? Got the math right here ??

Gotta figure out how to weigh 1/2 oz of salt Not sure my kitchen scale is that precise.. Could always measure out an oz and put some back..

Getting a little obsessive here.. It is only food .. (let the flames begin)

[Syzygies]

Yep, 0.57 up to 0.96 ounces, call it 2/3 to 1 oz of salt for 6 lbs meat. After experiments, adjust this rule to your taste.

I'm on my third digital scale, and this one seems to be good to the nearest gram, better than the two gram accuracy I used to see. But on any scale, you have the right idea: Use the measuring spoon you'll actually use (don't assume 3 tsp = 1 TB as how you measure, this may be off in practice), and count until you reach 3 or 4 ounces on your scale, and divide. I just measured 12 tsp as 3 oz for my generic sea salt, so I'd use 3 or 4 tsp of my salt on a 6 lb piece of meat.

There's always the diffusion issue, with surface effects. For a nice round butt, does the salt really reach the middle in a couple of days of rub then cook? People like a more flavorful bark, and one mixes the meat, so I haven't worried about this.

On the other hand, my brother has a 1/4 acre agricultural pond he uses for swimming in the NY muggy heat. He pours in blue dye to control the algae. We debated diffusion rates, as in, if a molecule of dye were to move unimpeded from one end of the pond to the other, how long would it take? Pretty quickly, actually; the diffusion appears to take so long because the molecules keep changing their mind which way they're going. As if they forgot why they came into the kitchen...

[rorkin]

Well since I am dry aging the roast and that involves trimming a small outer layer b4 cooking, the seasoning goes on just b4 cooking. Also I would imagine more time for the salt to penetrate the roast would cerainly draw out some liquid

[Syzygies]

the seasoning goes on just b4 cooking.

That's fine. It always makes sense to salt then season, and figure out how much salt per dish, as a fraction of the total weight.

[SnowyNose]

Re: Rib Roast

I'm in need to some advice. I've got a 10 lb rib roast that I'm gong to cook Monday and I'd like to use Fire Monkey's reverse sear method. Big family gathering with the roast being the guest of honour, no pressure...

- My wife likes medium, I like rare so I'm shooting for 130 in the middle and was going to pull it at 125. Any idea how long this will take @ 235?

- Should I let it come to room temperature before putting it on?

- Does dry aging make a difference?

- Anything else I may not have considered?

[ifly61ce]

Re: Rib Roast

I read an article in Cooks Illustrated and their tests showed letting the meat come to room temp made no difference. They did say the low temp cook did produce the best results, although I think they seared it first.

I did one in the oven not on the grill last year and it was awesome using that method. I did however dry age it for 10 days.

Mark