Smoked Prime Rib

[Chaat Cafe]

Bought a nice 16 lb bone in PR for Thanksgiving. I wanna cook it in the smoker, but I'll need some advice.

1) Cooking Temp. Should I go 225-250? And should I give the outside a direct heat sear before placing it in the smoker?

2) About how long for med rare? I'll use a thermometer to temp it, but I'd still like an idea so I know when to start. I read about 20 min/lb.

3) How to transport? I was thinking of cooking it at my house then taking it to my cousins in a pre-warmed ice chest? It's worked for ribs and brisket but those are cooked to well and holding them is relatively easy. Will it work with this cut or will I ruin it?

Any other helpful tid-bits will be much appreciated.

Cheers.

[Zeldog]

There are two schools of thought: the traditional start high (sear) then cook low, or cook low (250F), remove and rest, then make a crust with a relatively short roasting at 450F or higher (Alton Brown, among others recommends this). I happen to like the second method, but it would also work best is you need to transport to the cousins' place. You could do the low temp cooking at your place and finish at the cousins'. Here's the AB recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/al...

Forget that stuff about clay pots. Just use a regular roasting pan and a foil tent. As for transport, a warm cooler should be fine. One great thing about rib roast is it doesn't need to be served hot, so if it cools a bit, no big deal. If you have a long drive, you might bag it and wrap in some newspaper.

As for cooking time, that 20 min/lb rule might be a good estimate for typical roasts, but 16 pounds is pretty big, and a rib roast is more like a tube than a sphere (more surface to area, so a tube heats faster), so I expect it will take less than 5 hours and 20 minutes, but how much less, I have no idea.

[Cherylptw]

Med rare temp is 130-135F. Cooking time is about 20 minutes per pound or 5 1/2 hours is a good guestimate. ...if you want the outside to have a crust, sear it first. Transporting in a cooler would work well.

[woodburner]

You're in my wheelhouse baby!! BBQ (briskets, butts, etc), and rib roasts. Have done dozens of rib roasts.

I highly recommend a med high temp, rather than the traditional 225... can you run the smoker around 300-325? If so, that 16-lber will take you 3 1/2 hours to 125 internal. If a lower temp, ok, but will take a little more time (into the 4-5 hr zone). Take it out, foil it up, into the cooler... it will rise to a nice 135 maybe 140 internal, med-rare, and will stay there for quite a while. You can hold it for a couple of hours if needed... it will only start to cool slightly.

I would hit it with a rub of kosher salt, cracked black pepper, and rosemary. A little olive oil first. That bad boy will work up a beautiful criust, great smoke ring, and it will rock.

[fourunder]

wb,

I've noted your expertise to others before on this site......but this time I have to say I prefer the lower 225*-250* if time allows.....

:-)

cc,

outdoors, I would take advantage of the higher heat of the charcoals and brown/sear in the beginning.....in the home oven, I brown at the end......just because it's easier with less mess. I do find there is a texture difference, but not enough to really make a difference to go through the hoops.

[woodburner]

Lots of people do talk about the same low/slow on the rib roast... but tell me why you prefer it? Like WallyZ, I agree it is not needed to break down the tough fat of briskets and butts, which does not exist on the rib And you still get the smoke from the 350 cook temp, so why go slower?

[jeremyn]

More even cooking! You end up with a much smaller "brown ring" around the edge of your roast. In addition, you lose less moisture since most of the meat never reaches a sufficient temperature to "bleed" and contract. Sous vide cooking is the extreme of this theory. In that case, you are cooking relatively tender cuts of meat at ~130 degrees for many hours (or even days).

[Zeldog]

Exactly. You get a more uniform doneness throughout instead of well done on the outside, then a ring of medium, then medium rare in the middle. One can get pretty much the same results by cooking hot to make a crust first, then reducing the temp to 225 or so, but I find the low then high temp method a bit more forgiving (For some reason I tend to overcook when I brown first).

[wallyz]

In my experience, there is millimeters of difference, and with a 16 lb roast, this is more than doubling cook time for a marginal gain in rare meat. The negative part of running long in the smoker for a piece of meat like prime rib is that you get overpowered by smoke, and you have to trim meat to get away from over-smoked beef.
Chaat- A prime rib is expensive because it is a pretty forgiving cut, so be confident, and now you know what you are trying to avoid- low and slow to avoid a little more crust, higher and quicker to avoid over smoking. You'll do fine.

[fourunder]

wb,

American BBQ, is possibly my favorite way to have meats cooked, but as far as cooking it myself, I am not quite as accomplished as someone like yourself.......I can't give you a reason why, other than it may be too hands on for me......

My preference for the lower temperature is simply, regardless of the cut of meat, the lower temperature in cooking means less moisture lost in the meat. As for the smoking issue, I believe that smoking meat is important for the first couple of hours only, and any smoking after that is negligible in the meat absorbing any more smoke flavor. I have no scientific data to support this myself, just trusting what I have read from other experts....I also do not believe meat can be over-smoked.

I's seen and cooked many Prime Ribs in the commercial kitchens I have been associated with....and cooked many of them in my home as well. I find there is a difference in the longer time and lower temperature method, resulting in more tender and better texture of the meat, i.e., less fight and chew. Prime Ribs cooked in Alto Sham ovens come out better than in regular gas ovens....it may have to do with maintaining a more constant temperature, or it may be all in my head. The premise of the low and slow method from Alto Sham, and similar equipment companies, is the longer process does help all meat break down naturally, regardless of the fat content of any particular type or cut of meat.

http://www.alto-shaam.com/CookBookPdf/MN-28655_Manual_MeatNut_Page2.pdf

http://www.alto-shaam.com/cookbook.asp

[woodburner]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I think both approaches will turn out a great roast... slightly differently. I tend to agree with WallyZ's thoughts.

BTW, when I go at around 350 to 125 internal, then pull and hold for a fairly long period (if I'm serving at a party), maybe an hour or more, I get a similar effect -- that is, the heat slowly dissipates throughout the roast, giving me a fairly uniform pink body throughout, with more donness at the edge.

Good eats, any way you cut it!

[fourunder]

wb,

There is a camp that believes the beginning of the roasting process should be at a higher temperature for a short amount of time, then the oven turned off completely and allow the roast to cook in the oven for a longer amount of time without ever opening the oven door......this method sounds intriguing to me, but I cannot trust anyone in my home not to open the oven door at some point......it's the same when a pot of rice is boiling.....somebody has to be curious, thus, I have yet to try this approach myself for fear of ruining the roast due to heat loss.

[Chaat Cafe]

This is exactly what happened with mine. Smoked at 350 with some cherry wood about 3 1/2 hours to internal temp of 125. Held in a primed cooler for about 4 hours and stuck it in a warm oven for 20 minutes just before serving. Great crust, the cap was more on the medium to medium well side (but amazingly delicious with a heavier smoke flavor than the eye) and the eye was uniformly med rare. Everyone loved it... though I skimped a bit on the salt.

Horseradish whipped cream was a nice touch.

Thanks again for everyones help!

[wallyz]

Higher smoke temp- you are not breaking down collagen in this piece of meat. You want to do a smoke roast at 360-375, internal to 130.(21/2-3 1/2 hours) Do it dry, no water bath, and you will get your crust. Make sure you have enough fat on it. If you are missing it, or it got trimmed, get beef fat from the butcher, or just use bacon.

This is a longer smoke, so fruit wood, esp if you are doing a horseradish rub, or rosemary like the poster further up. Salt, pepper and horseradish is how I would do it.

I like a whipped cream (no sugar) with horseradish folded in with my prime rib. kind of old fashioned, but so good, and unusual for today.

[Chaat Cafe]

Thanks for all the help... definitely feeling more confident about this endeavor.

[duck833]

I have done them many times in my Fast Eddy, FEC100. I actually have done six at once.

I run them at higher temps, 300-350. I pull at around 120 internal, they will continue to rise and you don't want them to be overcooked.