rib of beef / prime rib

My boyfriend and I were talking tonight about plans for Christmas, and about what we want to eat.   First he said turkey, and i nixed that (i dont like it), and he said how about rib of beef?

Yep... sounds good to me!
Anyone have any fool-proof methods for cooking prime rib / rib of beef to make sure it is perfectly pink inside, tender, and utterly delicious?

(i did a search for this, but nothing came up, so if there are already UKY links, just let me know... cheers!)

*dribble*

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3819/roast-rib-of-beef


I think my tips would be just general stuff, bring the beef to room temperature before you put it in the oven, don't salt until the last moment, start off with a high temp before turning it down.Use the weight to calculate the cooking time but also a meat thermometer might be a handy investment for this kind of thing

Room temp!?
That's a good tip... i didn't know that one! 

Room temp!?
That's a good tip... i didn't know that one! 

yup, i learned that tip for all steak cooking from Jamie -- I find it makes a big difference in tenderness and juicyness!

Room temp!?
That's a good tip... i didn't know that one!  

Yup, if you stick a cold dense piece of meat in the fridge the outside will dry out before the inside has had a chance to come up to temperature. So if you want it to cook evenly, you need to bring it up to room temp first
I also suspect, although not sure, that it will go into "shocK" if it goes from cold to hot and get tough, in the same way (but in reverse) how you should leave meat to rest before carving when it comes out of the oven. That's just IMO though.

Also meat cooking times are calculated based on room temp meat, so if you follow them for fridge'd meat you'll end up overcooking.

I always do a rib of beef for Christmas ( and yes, usually from Costco) and I do it simply, leave it out for a few hours before so it doesn't go into the oven cold, sit it on a rack in a roasting tin with some onions, veggies, etc underneath (during cooking I often put some water so the veggies don't get burned and this helps to make good gravy) anyway, I roast it as per the time per kilo deal, however, because I never trust myself, I always take it out about 30 minutes before the timer goes so its well done on the ends, and med rare in the middle.

I have a digital meat thermometer, however I just try to trust my judgement as the meat thermometers always seem to overcook the meat for me. I touch it and stick the thermometer probe in so I can see if its hot in the inside (just to the touch)

And, when I make my roast potatoes and my yorkies, I ONLY use beef dripping...over the top, but oh so good!!!

Good luck!!

Is there any benefit to doing it in the slow cooker?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Always roast a piece of meat in the oven, if you slow cook it it will fall to stringy pieces!!

Just get yourself a nice roasting tin with a rack in it, season it and shove it in the oven!

Why not buy a small one and do a trial run before Christmas day???

Thanks...  whenever I have cooked meat in the slowcooker, it's always come out lovely and tender, so it was a thought... i'll take your advice, however!

I agree!  No slow cooker for a rib roast.

Is there any benefit to doing it in the slow cooker?

I don't think you could eat meat that's rare that's from the slow cooker, it wont have come up to high enough temp to kill the bacteria or maybe it will have. Dunno! Maybe someone else can enlighten

good point...

The slow cooker is great for some cuts of meat and when you don't want it rare, but not for prime rib. I'd go with the advice above. Sounds absolutely yummy!

If you're up for a bit of a challenge, this beef tenderloin in salt crust is an awesome way to cook a beef roast. It always comes out gorgeous. 

We do these a couple of times a year and I always oven them.  The things I do that are a bit different are 1) I put a large can of good beef broth in the roasting pan and some big whole peeled onions and a ton of whole button mushrooms that I use as a rack for the meat and 2) once  it's getting close to being done I sauté a few sliced onions until they are nice and brown and carmelized.  I love to use nice sweet onions for this part because we really like the sweetness of them served over the slices of beef.  The broth can then be used to make a really simple gravy.  I've found the better the cut the less drippings I end up with so the broth helps with that. You can also add any other root veggies you like.  Carrots, parsnips, potatoes all work well.

Just don't get too nervous about getting it done enough and get familiar with a decent thermometer and you'll be fine.  Letting if rest before slicing is the most important part but if you slice into if and realize it's not quite done enough, you can always throw it back in for a bit and while not ideal, doesn't ruin it.  You two will love it!!