Make Chef John's Pepper Parmesan Prime Rib for your next holiday feast! The show-stopping roast in this video is crusted with a bold blend of cracked black pepper and savory Parmesan cheese, creating a spiced exterior that perfectly complements the tender beef inside. Great for special occasions, this recipe is easy to follow and guarantees impressive results.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Pepper Parm Prime Rib.
00:09That's right, I'm going to show you a super savory way to flavor this special cut of meat.
00:13Plus, and probably more importantly, I'm going to give you a bunch of tips and tricks to
00:17make sure your prime rib is perfect no matter how you flavor it.
00:21So if you've had issues in the past, pay attention, since this is way easier than you think.
00:26And to get started, we're going to of course need a prime rib.
00:29And this one's about five pounds.
00:31And please note the bones are attached, which is my preference.
00:35So that's the first tip, get a prime rib with the bone in.
00:39And then the second tip is make sure your butcher trims off the fat cap, which is usually
00:43a couple inches thick across the top and where the bones meet that main muscle.
00:47All right, I don't mind paying $20 a pound for meat, but we don't want to be paying $20
00:51a pound for fat we're not going to eat.
00:54And then another issue to deal with is the membrane, which as you can see the butcher
00:57cut halfway into as they were trimming this.
01:00So I'm actually going to take a nice sharp knife and finish that cut the rest of the
01:03way to the other side, being careful to cut just through the membrane and not too much
01:08into the meat.
01:09And then I'm actually going to repeat that cut every inch or inch and a half all the
01:13way across the top.
01:15And the reason we do this, especially that first cut where they only went halfway across,
01:20is because that membrane is super tough and it really contracts tightly when the meat
01:23cooks.
01:25And if we had left that first one half cut, our prime rib could have baked up into a weird
01:29shape which could have affected the crust and our prime rib could actually have fallen
01:33over.
01:34So for a better presentation and probably more even cooking, I do sometimes like to
01:38score the top like this, just to avoid any of those potential problems.
01:43And then what we'll do next is salt this very generously, using about a teaspoon of kosher
01:47salt per pound of meat.
01:49Since I think one of the best tricks for perfect prime rib is to be sure to salt it a day ahead
01:53of time, and then we'll let it sit uncovered in our fridge overnight to not only give it
01:58what we call in the business a dry brine, but also to let it dry out a little bit, which
02:03believe it or not can actually intensify the flavor.
02:06And yes, it's a great idea to do this right on the butcher paper, so that once we're done
02:10we can pick up any excess salt with the meat.
02:13Or if you do this in the pan, it might fall to the bottom and make our pan drippings too
02:17salty.
02:18But anyway, once that's salted, we'll transfer that onto a rack and I'm just going to use
02:22the same one I'm going to roast it on.
02:24And like I said, we'll pop that in the fridge overnight, or if you want, you can even go
02:28a couple days.
02:30And then the next key tip, which some consider the most important tip, after we pull that
02:35out of the fridge, we want to let it warm up on the counter for at least two hours before
02:39we roast it.
02:40Right, this really is key, so do the math so you can make sure you give yourself enough
02:45time.
02:46And while we're waiting, let's go ahead and mix up the pepper parm mixture we're going
02:50to rub on the meat, which is nothing more than some freshly grated parmesan cheese
02:55that we'll add to some soft butter, along with a couple big spoons of coarsely ground
02:59black pepper, which you can definitely find already ground, but it's going to be so much
03:04more fragrant and nice if you grind it yourself.
03:07But either way, we'll mix that all together.
03:09And by the way, if you do this ahead, do not put it in the fridge.
03:13Okay, keep it in kind of a warm spot, because we really want this to be nice and soft when
03:17we spread it over, which, since my prime rib has been sitting out for a couple hours
03:21now, I'm ready to do.
03:23And my general strategy with this is to put about a half a spoon on the bottom, and then
03:28on each side.
03:29Okay, basically just enough to coat the surface.
03:33And then we'll use the rest of it for the top.
03:36And I should mention, the roasting technique I'm going to show you, and virtually all the
03:39other tips I'm giving, are going to work no matter how you season and flavor your meat.
03:44So whether this is a garlic and herb butter, or maybe you're using some barbecue dry rub
03:49you didn't use up during the summer, no matter which you go with, the method's going to be
03:53the same.
03:54However, if you do go with this highly recommended pepper parm approach, once buttered I like
03:59to add a little more ground pepper to the top, followed by a generous dusting of grated
04:04parmesan cheese.
04:06And of course we're using the real stuff, parmigiano reggiano, except no substitutes.
04:13And then before this goes in the oven, we'll add a couple cups of beef broth, plus a couple
04:17cups of water to account for evaporation, since while we can do all kinds of fancy gravies
04:22and sauces, classically we just serve prime rib with these pan juices, or au jus as we
04:28call it on the menu.
04:31And that's it, this is now ready to place into the upper center of a 450 degree oven,
04:36but for only 20 minutes, to give the outside a nice quick sear, at which point we'll reduce
04:41our heat down to 325, and we'll continue to roast at that temp until the internal temp
04:47reaches 120, if you want your meat medium rare, at which point if everything goes according
04:52to plan, it should look something like this, which looks great, but we're not even close
04:57to being able to eat this yet, since what we have to do is cover this loosely in foil,
05:02and let it rest for at least 20 minutes, during which time that internal temp's going to continue
05:07to rise, and it's going to creep up from 120 to 130, which I highly recommend we monitor
05:12with a probe thermometer, which is of course also how we figured out when to pull it out
05:16at 120, I mean you are after all the Kendrick Lamar, of not taking beef too far, so please
05:23do not guess, or just go by time, and by the way, while that's resting, if you did want
05:27to make a fancy sauce, we have plenty of videos for that, but like I said, I'm just going
05:31to serve this one with a hot au jus, so just go ahead and transfer that juice into a sauce
05:35pan and keep it hot while we cut, and then I'm going to show you how to portion this
05:39up in a minute, but before that I had to sprinkle it with parsley, so I could take some contractually
05:44obligated pictures, and then I grabbed a knife, and cut between the two bones, to produce
05:50what's called in prime rib restaurants, the king cut, oh yeah you get a whole bone, with
05:55about two pounds of meat attached, and thanks to verifying the temp with a thermometer,
06:00plus all our other tips and tricks, we've achieved a perfect rosy pink in the middle,
06:05with the meat being slightly more cooked and darker around the surface, thanks to that
06:09hot start we used, or if you do want the entire thing the same color pink, you have to use
06:14a low and slow method the whole way, which we also have a video for, so check that out,
06:19but anyway, we probably can't serve up a king cut, so what we'll do is slice those big pieces
06:24off the bone, and do not worry about cutting too close, since we are absolutely going to
06:29gnaw all that meat off the bone at some point, and by the way, that more well done stuff
06:33around the ribs, and around the edges, still is incredibly juicy and succulent, and I'm
06:38going to show you a little restaurant trick in a second using those pieces, anyway once
06:42we have a big piece of boneless meat cut, we can slice that into individual portions,
06:47the size of which of course you will determine, and I'll get to the incredible flavor in a
06:51second, but the juiciness level of this meat was off the charts, and what I like to do
06:56before serving this up on a nice hot plate, is transfer a few of those pieces that I mentioned
07:01earlier underneath the meat, to kind of prop it up and visually make it look a little bit
07:06bigger than it is, oh yeah, us chefs got tricks, and then besides making sure we have some
07:11kind of potato alongside, we'll finish that off with some of our hot au jus, and like
07:16I said, we've done many amazing videos for sauces that will go with this, but this my
07:21friend is prime rib served in its purest form, and at this point everything was going perfectly,
07:27until my very dull 25 year old steak knife hit a piece of connective tissue, and sort
07:32of messed up this first eating shot, but I couldn't even pretend to care, because that
07:36meat was so delicious, and so perfectly cooked, that I felt nothing but pleasure and satisfaction,
07:43and prime rib is already famous for its super beefy intense flavor, but when you combine
07:48that extra umami from the black pepper and the parmesan crust, it takes that beefiness
07:52up to another level, which reminds me, as you're eating this, I think it's a great strategy
07:58to try to get a little bit of the outside crust with every bite, right, even that rarest
08:03meat in the middle is going to be very flavorful, but if we can, it's nice to get a little bit
08:08of the outside, with a little bit of the inside, to create the perfect bite, oh and it's not
08:14just the meat, all that buttery pepper parm goodness is dripped down into our jus, which
08:19elevates that as well, but anyway that's it, what we're calling pepper parm prime rib,
08:25whether you flavor yours exactly as shown, or put your own twist on things, I think you're
08:30going to have great success with this method, which is why I really do hope you give this
08:35a try soon, so please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written
08:41recipe, and much more info as usual, and as always, enjoy!