Tag Archives: roast

Prime Rib Roast

Prime rib roast just out of the oven

Prime rib roast just out of the oven

A prime rib roast is an easy to make dish for any special occasion. Around the holidays beef usually goes on sale and the week before Easter this year was no exception. How you season it is really up to you. I used to simply use Hawaiian salt and cracked black pepper, and garlic, but I once tried using McCormick Grill Mates Steak Seasoning – which I like to use on steaks – and have used it since.

Ingredients

5 lb rib roast (serves 5 – 10) depending on number of side dishes.
4 Tbsp McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak seasoning
2 Tbsp Hawaiian salt
1/2 tsp Cracked black pepper
3-4 cloves garlic

Putting in the garlic

Putting in the garlic

Preparation and Cooking

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Make 1 inch deep slits around the roast. Put in a sliver of garlic in each, buried completely so they do not burn. Mix the Montreal Mix, cracked black pepper, and Hawaiian salt together and coat the meat all over. Place the meat in a roasting pan fat side up – the fat will baste the meat as it melts. Put the roast in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 325 degrees. I crack the oven door open for about 10 seconds when I do this to allow the temperature inside the oven to drop.

Continue to cook for about 13 to 15 minutes a pound or until the desired internal temperature is reached. I use a meat thermometer that can stay in the meat as it cooks and remove the roast when the internal temperature reaches 120-125 degrees, for rare to medium-rare. The meat continues to cook a little while it rests.

Remove the roast and allow it to rest, loosely covered in foil for 10-20 minutes before slicing. This allows the juices to redistribute throughout the meat and not run all over the place.

Serving suggestions are a side of mashed potatoes, vegetables and/or a salad, and popovers.

Seasoning the meat

Seasoning the meat

Notes:

For rare internal temp should be 120-125 degrees.
For medium internal temp should be 140-145 degrees.

Know your thermometer. I find that some seem to run on the low side while others run on the high side. Remember that the internal temperature WILL rise about 5-10 degrees while the meat is resting.

Pork Roast

Pork Roast

Pork Roast

We took out a pork roast from the freezer a couple of days ago and had it defrosting in the refrigerator, so it was time to use it.  Being Sunday I figured I’d roast it as I had the time.  I didn’t follow any particular recipe,  I simply removed the roast from the fridge for about 15-20 minutes to bring it up to room temperature and after a quick pass through the fridge and cabinet I settled on salt, pepper, thyme, fresh garlic, and some Dijon mustard.  The mustard was a little unusual for me but it felt right.  Not being one to care much for sweet cooked food I passed on sugar, honey, jam or soda that I read many people like with pork.  It just isn’t my thing.

Pork roast browning

Pork roast browning

To prepare I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and turned on the stove to just over medium (6) and picked a deep cast iron pan I could transfer from the stove to the oven and placed it on the burner.  Putting the roast on the cutting board I used a paring knife to make deep slits into every side, and stuffed a slice of garlic into each slit so they sank in all the way (if you don’t they burn when you brown the roast).   I then sprinkled and patted down every side with the salt, pepper, thyme, and mustard.  The mustard went on last because I wanted the spices to be in direct contact with the meat. After adding a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan I gently put the roast in – to prevent splashing – and browned it for about a minute on each side, and then transferred the pan to the oven for a little over an hour.

At an hour I checked the temperature looking for an internal temperature of around 155 degrees (my thermometer is not very good so I look for 5-10 degrees below what it should actually say) and it still read 140 so I checked again about 20 minutes later.  When done I removed the pan from the oven and placed the roast on a clean cutting board – loosely tented under foil – to rest for 10-15 minutes.  When I thought I wouldn’t send juices all over the counter top I sliced the meat into thin slices.  Some sauteed vegetables and we had a meal.

The great thing about this dish was that although cooking time was somewhere around an hour and a half for just over 3 pounds, prep time was literally about 5 minutes.   The pan drippings can be used as an “au jus” sauce, or you can use it as a base to make a gravy.  A side of creamy mashed potatoes would have gone nicely as well.