How To Cook Perfect Prime Rib

How to cook a standing rib roast to perfection without a meat thermometer or having to think about it even once.

DEAD EASY | See the perfectly cooked standing rib roast in this picture, the one cooked to medium rare, the hunk of beef that looks like it belongs on the cutting board at a buffet carving station at the St. Regis in NYC? Well, I had one that looks exactly like it resting and ready to serve on my kitchen counter last week. I called it my beautiful no-brainer roast.

My road to roast perfection was pretty much bump-free thanks to a recipe I read in The New York Times a few weeks ago (see the link below). It originally appeared in the newspaper in 1966, and food writer Amanda Hesser reprinted it recently “so that rib roast can finally have its no-knead-bread moment.”

Since our story about no-knead bread (CLICK HERE to read) remains popular with Frugalbits readers, I thought it would be great to see whether the roast recipe would result in a product that was as easy, great looking and tasty as no-knead bread is. And, when we finally tucked in, our roast was fantastic, with two caveats.

With this roasting method you can’t open the oven door until the meat has finished cooking so forget about roasted vegetables unless you have two ovens. And while our roast was juicy, tender and a dead ringer for the one pictured here “on the outside,” it was a little too rare in the middle for my taste—though this could be a problem with my oven, which is known to cook wonky. I will definitely try this technique again, but I’ll add a few minutes to the cooking time during the first stage of the cooking procedure. —C. Rule

To read Amanda Hesser’s story about this roasting method and get the recipe, visit www.nytimes.com

Photo: iStock