In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef and culinary instructor Frank Proto demonstrates how to make the best prime rib at home. Learn how to prep and season your meat before roasting and how to make the perfect gravy to accompany it to impress your family and friends at your next get-together.
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00:00I'm Frank Proto, professional chef and culinary instructor,
00:02and today I'm gonna show you the best way to roast
00:05a prime rib.
00:06We're talking juicy, tender, delicious prime rib.
00:10This is prime rib 101.
00:11You look at a prime rib,
00:12we're talking about it being a primal cut,
00:15which means it's kind of from the center back of the animal,
00:18whereas a prime piece of meat
00:20has more to do with the grating of the animal.
00:23And that has to do with the marbling of the fat
00:25in the piece of meat.
00:26So this is an expensive piece of meat,
00:28but usually it's served for a celebration,
00:30and it serves a lot of people.
00:32So it's worth putting the time and effort in
00:34so that you get this right.
00:38The only prep I'm really gonna do to this roast right now
00:41is what some people call a dry brine.
00:43Basically, I'm just gonna salt the meat,
00:45put it on a rack,
00:46leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight.
00:48It's gonna kind of tighten up the meat a little.
00:50It's gonna give us a little flavor,
00:52and it's gonna help us get a juicier end product.
00:54Some people with this cut of meat
00:56will take this fat cap off.
00:58They'll cut back to the bones where they French it.
01:01I like it kind of au natural, right?
01:03I leave the fat on.
01:04There's like some bits and pieces here
01:06that I think are tasty.
01:08And this fat cap does shrink up a little,
01:10but I like fat.
01:11The fat kind of drips onto my roast,
01:14adds some fat to the pan.
01:15So the fat kind of equals flavor here,
01:17and I don't wanna trim that off.
01:18Don't be afraid to ask your butcher
01:20to dress this prime rib the way you want it.
01:22I like five bones, fat cap on, minimal trimming.
01:26I want the rack on there
01:27so that air can travel underneath this.
01:29So when it sits in the fridge,
01:31I'm getting airflow around it.
01:33I'm not necessarily dry aging,
01:34but that's kind of the idea is to dry it out just a little.
01:37So what I'm gonna do now
01:38is I'm not gonna be shy with the salt.
01:40I'm gonna season up that fatty area really well,
01:43and I'm gonna rub it in.
01:45I'm gonna rub it into the sides as well.
01:47I'm gonna get the bottom here, right?
01:50But I'm using a fair amount of salt.
01:52I'm not being shy, but get it on there.
01:55And the part of the reason why I lay the salt on thick here
01:58is that we're only seasoning
01:59the outside of this piece of meat.
02:01Once I cut into this, there's no seasoning in the middle.
02:04So having that nice, salty exterior,
02:06salty crust is going to season our meat really well.
02:09This piece of meat is about 13 pounds.
02:11This is probably more than enough for six to eight people.
02:15So what I like to look for is that the red meat in here
02:18has a lot of fat or a nice intramuscular fat.
02:21There's a nice bit of fat running through.
02:23This also has our bones in here.
02:26And I like to leave the bone in
02:27because usually when there's bone there,
02:30it helps protect the meat.
02:31You get a juicier product in the end.
02:33So that's all the pre-prep I really do.
02:35Putting this in the fridge salted for 12 to 24 hours
02:39helps season the meat.
02:40It dries it out a little and helps concentrate the flavors.
02:43And at the end of the day,
02:44it gives us a nicer finished piece of prime rib.
02:48So I'm gonna go throw this in the fridge,
02:49and while it's sitting in the fridge,
02:50I can prepare my mirepoix.
02:54Here I have celery, carrots, onions,
02:58which is basically a mirepoix.
02:59Mirepoix is usually the flavor base for soups and stocks.
03:03I also have a little garlic, parsley, bay leaf, and thyme.
03:06We're gonna add this to the base of our pan
03:09so that we can make a really nice jus sauce or a jus
03:12once our prime rib is cooked.
03:13A jus is basically just the juices
03:15that are seasoned and strained
03:17and served with a piece of meat.
03:19A gravy is usually the same thing, but it's thickened.
03:21So I'm not gonna thicken it at all.
03:23Turn your oven on at 250 and preheat it.
03:25We're just gonna basically throw everything in the pan.
03:27I have a half a bunch of parsley.
03:29I have some fresh thyme, a couple of bay leaves.
03:33I have some stalks of celery.
03:35And I cut them really large
03:37because this is gonna roast for a long time.
03:40And if it was really small, it would burn.
03:42Large celery will not burn.
03:44Same thing goes with my carrots.
03:46And I'm just gonna cut big chunks.
03:48Garlic heads, just cut them in half.
03:52Skin it all.
03:53Again, this all gets strained out later on.
03:55And then onions, I leave the skin on.
03:58So that all goes into the pan.
04:00And now we're ready to put our roast on top of this.
04:04The pan I'm using is a nice roasting pan.
04:06It's got two really sturdy handles.
04:08It's got fairly high sides.
04:10It's built for roasting meat.
04:11The high sides allow us to have a little juice collection.
04:14It also holds some of the heat in the bottom of the pan.
04:17So this is really great for making gravies and jus
04:19at the end of roasting.
04:20So if you can't afford a roasting pan,
04:22you can always buy one of those aluminum pans at the store.
04:25The primary has been in the fridge for about 24 hours.
04:28What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take it out
04:29and let it sit at room temperature
04:31for about 30 to 60 minutes.
04:32And you don't wanna go any longer than that.
04:34We just wanna kind of bring it closer to room temperature
04:36before we throw it in the oven.
04:38Then we're gonna get our piece of meat.
04:39I'm gonna put it on top of my veg.
04:41You see how it sits nice and up.
04:42And I'm just gonna season it up a little more.
04:44And I know that there's salt on there already.
04:46But again, we wanna get that nice salty crust.
04:48And I always start out with a little bit of oil.
04:51And basically what the oil does is that
04:53it's not really gonna add fat.
04:55It's just gonna let us get that salt and pepper stick.
04:58So I wanna go again, generously with this.
05:01Get it on the back of the piece of meat.
05:03Don't be afraid.
05:04We're gonna use a fair amount of salt.
05:06A little pepper, right?
05:07We wanna go get the pepper on there.
05:10And then I have some chopped garlic.
05:11I don't use a lot of chopped garlic, just a little.
05:13This is just gonna help flavor that crust.
05:16And I'm just gonna kind of pat that garlic in.
05:19I'm not gonna go too crazy with it.
05:21Just put a little garlic in there
05:22so we get a little like flavoring in our crust.
05:24Because at the end of the day,
05:25yes, I'm gonna eat the meat.
05:27But this crust piece is probably like
05:29one of my favorite pieces.
05:30I want that to be flavored really well.
05:32So now that the roast is prepared, it's time to cook it.
05:37So the roast is ready to go into the oven.
05:39And I'm gonna do the reverse sear.
05:41I'm gonna put it in the oven at about 250 degrees Fahrenheit
05:44for about three to three and a half hours, maybe four.
05:47And then I'm gonna crank it up to 500
05:50for about 10 to 15 minutes
05:51just to get that outside super crispy.
05:54The benefit of this technique is that
05:55you're gonna get a nice rosy pink piece of steak
05:59and you're not gonna have like that gray ring
06:01on the outside.
06:02A lot of times if you start high and then go low,
06:05you get a little bit of an overcooked gray ring
06:07on the inside of the meat.
06:08I want my finished roast to be medium rare medium.
06:11I don't really like my meat super rare.
06:13I feel like it kind of tastes a little rubbery.
06:15I like to rotate my pan halfway through the cooking
06:17180 degrees just to make sure I get an even roast.
06:20We're gonna let it go for a while
06:22until it's cooked most of the way through.
06:25And then we're gonna crank it up
06:26and get it really brown and crispy on the outside.
06:28All right, that's been in for about three and a half hours.
06:31And you can see we got a nice crust on top.
06:34It's nice and brown on the outside.
06:36I just wanna pick it up and eat it right now
06:38like it's a big apple, but we have to let it rest.
06:40But resting lets the juices redistribute
06:43through the piece of meat.
06:44If we cut it right now, it's gonna just juices everywhere.
06:46It's gonna be a complete mess.
06:48I'm gonna put it on a rack
06:49so that it doesn't sit in its own juices.
06:51It's raised from its juices.
06:52Any juices that run off from this, I can put into my jus.
06:55So I'm just gonna get a fork underneath.
06:58Try not to burn myself.
06:59And then I have a piece of foil
07:02that I'm just gonna kind of tent over it lightly.
07:05I'm not gonna wrap it tight,
07:07but I'm just gonna try and keep some of that heat in there.
07:11We're just gonna let that sit there.
07:13Let it rest for about 25 to 30 minutes,
07:14and then we can make our jus in the pan.
07:19We got a lot of beef juice collected here.
07:21Our vegetables are really nicely roasted.
07:23They're gonna be nice and sweet.
07:24We got some caramelization.
07:26And that's exactly what we want for our jus.
07:28I'm just gonna add some beef broth or beef stock to it.
07:32And then we can throw this on the fire and let it cook.
07:35So I have my roasting pan on the stove.
07:36It has all my drippings.
07:38It has the beef stock and my veggies.
07:40And all I'm really gonna do
07:41is let this come to a boil,
07:43get all the brown bits off of the bottom of the pan.
07:46And that's basically deglazing the pan
07:48that has all that nice caramelized juices from the steak.
07:52I'm gonna let this cook for about three to five minutes.
07:54I'll strain it, and then we'll season it up.
07:57All right, this looks like it's about ready to strain.
07:59I'm gonna shut it off.
08:00I like to strain into a pot
08:02because if I strain into a bowl or some other vessel,
08:05I have to put it in a pot to rewarm it.
08:07So why not strain directly into a pot?
08:09So I'm just gonna strain it.
08:11Get all the juice out.
08:13I don't mind the little fat.
08:14The fat is delicious.
08:16So a lot of people ask me,
08:17what do you do with the veggies afterwards?
08:19We've extracted the flavor.
08:20They're no longer of use to us.
08:21Just throw them in the compost bin.
08:23All I really have to do with my jus right now
08:24is season it up.
08:26I'm gonna put some fresh cracked black pepper.
08:29I'm gonna hit it with some salt.
08:32Right, season it up.
08:33We want this to be seasoned really well.
08:35I have a tasting spoon.
08:36I'm gonna give it a taste.
08:38Mm, delicious.
08:41It's meaty, it's brothy,
08:42and it's gonna be a great accent
08:43to that nice slab of medium rare meat.
08:46The jus is good to go.
08:47It's time to serve up our prime rib.
08:53Our prime rib has rested for the prerequisite 30 minutes.
08:56I want you to see how beautiful
08:58this piece of meat is, right?
09:00It's nice and springy.
09:02It's got a nice crust on it.
09:04Brown on the outside, looking delicious.
09:06And all we really have to do now is slice this baby.
09:08I'm gonna cut it right down the center.
09:10I like to stand it up so that I can see
09:12where the joints between the bones are,
09:15so I'm not hitting any bones.
09:18Right, there we go.
09:24And you guys ready?
09:25Drum roll, please.
09:27Look at that.
09:28Juicy, glistening, delicious.
09:31If we didn't let it rest right now,
09:32the cutting board would be full of juice.
09:34What I love about cutting boards like this
09:36is they have this groove on them to collect the juice,
09:38the juice groove or the blood groove.
09:40I think that this is beautifully cooked.
09:42I said I was going medium rare medium,
09:44and we're right there.
09:45Super juicy.
09:46It's still pink around the outside.
09:48There's no graying on the outside.
09:50This is the reverse here method.
09:51We get that nice pink all around.
09:53The fat pulled up a little,
09:54and normally people trim this off,
09:56but to me this is like a crispy treat.
09:58It's got little pieces of meat in it.
09:59The fat is crispy and juicy.
10:02You can actually just put this on a little bit of bread,
10:04and it's just delicious.
10:05That's why I choose not to take it off.
10:07I can't wait to taste it.
10:08I'm gonna do some really nice big hunks of meat here.
10:11So all the juices on the bottom of the platter are not blood.
10:14It is basically some water and myoglobin,
10:17which is a protein found in the meat,
10:18and it's just a naturally occurring thing
10:20when you slice into meat.
10:22It's delicious.
10:23Taste it.
10:23All right, here it is,
10:24my perfectly cooked plate of prime rib.
10:26We've taken all the time to get this right.
10:28Let's give it a taste.
10:29I'm gonna put a little more jus on top.
10:32I have a little bit of horseradish sauce.
10:34I'm gonna just put that on the edge of my plate.
10:36Let's get a piece of this beautiful piece of steak.
10:39I'm gonna go from right here.
10:42Don't get too big of a bite.
10:44Just get it pure with the jus.
10:49It's tender.
10:50It's juicy.
10:51It's seasoned really well.
10:53The jus is a perfect compliment.
10:55What I love about this cook is that it's not too rare.
10:59A lot of times people cook this too rare,
11:01and it's really chewy.
11:02It's a perfect, even cook.
11:04I'm really happy with the way this came out.
11:06The texture's beautiful.
11:07The flavor is amazing.
11:09I know that prime rib can be expensive and intimidating,
11:12but you follow these techniques.
11:13You pull this out of the oven
11:14and slice it and serve it to people.
11:16They are going to be impressed.
11:17This is a restaurant-quality dish.