Prime Rib Action

I’m going all gourmet on your for the next few posts and then we’re going to go to the extreme polar opposite end of that I assure you – as I’m living in a small efficiency apartment close to the beach for the winter and making some hardcore simple eats.  This post and the two that follow will feature various components of an uber-gourmet meal put together by me and my BFF Roy when I visited him in October – a showcasing of our yuppiness.   

We spent way too much money on this badboy, but hey, we were fired up, and New York City is a great place to lighten your wallet on high-quality and exotic fare.  The pics as you will see are fantastic.  Roy is the greatest photographer of all-time ever, and I’m not just saying that because he’s my BFF.  I am saying “BFF” repeatedly because I watched some show the other day that proposed BFF be banned in 2011.  That just made me wanna use it all the more. 

And yes, Roy and I have been accused of engaging in heavy duty bromance, but don’t call us gay.  Roy’s wife is Tyra basically and I, like Kip Dynamite, “chat online with babes, all day.”  Enjoy our fine hunk of meat…

Prime rib is basically just a big slab of ribeye that is roasted in a large chunk as opposed to grilled up in individual steaks.  A whole ribeye is enough to feed nearly 20 people, so we obviously just used a chunk that was a few pounds (call it 4) for a dinner for 5.  In the meat category, I don’t think there’s anything finer than slow-roasted slabs of ribeye, as tenderloin is flavorless in comparison and lean – and I tend to eat delicious fatty meat or none at all.  This “happy cow” from Madison Avenue’s best butcher shop was a prize to behold (cuttable with a spoon) in all categories of goodness. 

1. To roast a whole ribeye, get ya a nice slab and coat it with a thick layer of black pepper and obscene amounts of salt – enough to form a flavor-nuke of a crust on the outside.  Because you cannot season the inside of the meat, it’s hard to overdo the pepper or the salt.  Load it up, especially with the pepper.  Give that thing a black pepper stubbly beard.   
2. In some hot fat, preferably a stable fat like beef tallow or unflavored coconut oil, sear the meat on all sides until a nice, brown crust forms.  The heat will have to be high and oil at the smoking point before you add the meat to ensure good browning. 
3. Once everything is well-seared on all sides, throw it in the oven at low temperature, ideally about 250-275 degrees F, covered tightly.  As seen in the picture, I threw the meat in on a bed of shallots that had already started cooking down in butter (see “Melted Shallots” recipe in the 180 Kitchen eBook) and chucked some fresh sprigs of thyme straight out of Roy’s garden in there with it.  Optional, but something to think about.   
4. Roast until it just starts to firm up, but is still kinda squishy (rare or slightly more – should take at least 45-60 minutes but it all depends on the size of the meat, the elevation you are at, how hot you seared the meat, and other factors that make it up to your discretion to figure out)
5. Remember, it’s better to undercook it and have to cook it a little longer than cooking it beyond the point of no return (I actually overcooked this one just ever so slightly, but it was still good) 
6. Rest, out of the oven, for 20-30 minutes (covered)
7. Blast in the oven at high heat for 10 minutes to reheat the meat.
8. Slice and serve hot with say, the horseradish sauce found in 180 Kitchen: 180 Tips, Recipes, and More