Rich Franco's Amazing Prime Rib Recipe!

Post Searing 2011 Revised

This recipe is based on my 12 lb prime rib I bought 10 days before the Christmas Dinner. All instructions will apply, except for the actual cooking time, based on the size/weight of your roast that you buy.

1. Go to the bank and take out a small loan to purchase your prime rib.
2. Last year, I had the butcher remove the rib from the roast and then tied back together with cooking string. This is called “ribs off”. I didn't do it this year, because I didn't want to worry about any germs, possibly growing between the ribs and the roast, over the long 9 days of aging I was going to do this time.
3. I then cleaned the ribs and patted them dry with paper towels and then wrapped the roast in the cheese cloth. Place into the fridge. After the first night, remove the old and bloodied cheese cloth and replace with new. On the 4^th day, I changed the cheese cloth for the final time.
4. 24 hours before your meal, remove the cheese cloth covered roast from the frig, and discard, the cheese cloth, not the roast.
5. 

   

   After 9 days, not pretty!

   
   
   Danger-Danger!!! The next part can be dangerous! Get a very sharp knife and cut/remove any and all, old stinky meat or fat from the roast. I was a little concerned when I took the roast out from the back of the fridge and it, uh, stank!$$$! But after I removed the bad stuff, it was fine. I may have removed a few ounces at the most.
   
   
6. Now put the roast on a large platter, wipe the meat down with EVO, extra virgin olive oil, top, sides, bottom. Take your spices/rub and rub/smear them on the roast, again, top,bottom,sides. I used mostly what I already had, Emeril's All Natural Steak Rub, Chef Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic, Garlic powder, crushed black pepper, but skipped adding more salt, because the Meat Magic and the Steak Rub have plenty. I don't think you can have too much of the rub on the roast.
7. 

   

   Here's the Roast after the rubs, before the aluminum foil wrap

   Next, take some large heavy duty aluminum foil and wrap the meat, 2-3 times and return it to the fridge. This needs to be at least overnight, two nights, even better! 
8. Showtime! Next day, remove the roast from the foil and discard, the foil, not the meat!
9. Let it sit on the counter for an hour or two. Since my roast was 12 lbs, the 2 hours wasn't near enough to bring the center temp. up to room temperature. And here in Florida, we don't let any food item sit out very long, unless it has a cork in it! I think it helped later, during the cooking phase. My meat only got up to 43 degrees after 2 hours!

Here's the roast, ready and on the Gas Grill

(I chose to cook my roast on the gas grill, indirect heat, but the roast will do fine in an oven. I just had some extra flavor from the 4-5 hours the roast was in the roasting pan and rack. I even added some cherry wood chips to add some more flavor!)

10. I started with the heat temp. around 250 or so, on the grill and with indirect heat.(the center gas line wasn't lit) and the meat was on a rack, with 2 cups of water, in the pan, to start. I kept water in the pan during the whole cooking process, with the theory that it might keep the meat from drying out, until I did the final searing. Cook for 3-4 hours. Here's my hourly temp checks: 12:30 46 degrees, 1:30 62 degrees, 2:30 87 degrees, 3:30 108 degrees, 4:30 120 degrees BINGO!!!
11. When the meat reached 120 degrees, I removed it from the heat and let it sit, cooling for about 30 minutes. I then turned the heat up on the grill to 500 degrees and returned the meat for 15 minutes. This sears the meat and adds a nice crust too. And it will only heat up the outside in that short time.
12. 
    

    

             Roast is done and sitting for another 30 minutes                    

    I then removed the meat from the grill and let it set for 20-30 minutes before carving it up. It was perfect, medium rare centers and medium to medium well on the ends!

I think this is as long as I'll try aging the meat. I might have tried a day or two longer, but this was when Publix put the meat on sale.

 If you have any questions or suggestions, email me at:

bigrichpho@aol.com

Rich