Brian in the Kitchen Recipes
BRIAN IN THE KITCHEN brought to you by Stittsworth Meats
December 20 2024
Christmas Dinner - Prime Rib (Closed Door Method)
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Seasoned and Tied Prime Rib from Stittsworths
This technique produces a perfectly medium-rare prime rib roast with a gorgeous brown crust on the outside. It works best for smaller prime ribs, from 4 to 8 pounds. The key to this method is knowing the exact weight of your prime rib. Just copy it off the label, write it on a sticky note, and put it on your fridge before you throw away the butcher paper.
Closed oven prime rib recipe
A bonus for this recipe: You don't actually need a meat thermometer with this technique (although you can certainly use one anyway). You'll also notice that there's no resting time, which might come as a surprise if you're used to resting your meat after roasting it. Resting isn't necessary with this recipe because the meat is basically resting as it sits in the oven.
Some oven models have cooling fans that reduce oven temperature quickly to protect electronic controls. Because this method needs the residual heat from the oven after it's turned off to cook the rib roast, ovens with these cooling fans may not be suitable to cook in this manner. If your oven does have this feature, we recommend you not use this closed-oven method and, instead, use the traditional method.
For the best results, leave your prime rib roast out on the counter to come up to room temperature for one to two hours before cooking. It's not advisable to leave it much longer than three hours to help prevent the development of bacteria.
Leaving prime rib roast uncovered while roasting allows the meat to develop a nice brown crust. You should only cover the roast with aluminum foil if it is becoming too brown. Overbrowning is not likely when using a cooking technique like the closed-oven method.
Timing is key - When trying to figure out how much time you need to roast your prime rib, use this simple calculation: weight of the prime rib (in pounds) x 5 = total roasting time in minutes. For example, if you have a 3-pound roast, 3 x 5 = 15 minutes. A 6-pound roast? 6 x 5 = 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. When you're ready to cook, set the roast in a roasting pan with a rack, fat-side up. If you're nervous about the cooking time, you can insert a meat thermometer or a digital probe thermometer into the deepest part of the meat, being careful not to hit the bone.
Roast for however many minutes you calculated above. When the time's up, turn off the oven, and walk away. Do not open the oven door for any reason for the next 2 hours.
In 2 hours, take the prime rib out of the oven, carve, and serve right away. If you use a thermometer, you'll see that the internal temperature of the meat has reached 130 F, perfect medium-rare.