This Rare Roast Beast is about to be unwrapped and refrigerator aged overnight, then dry brined.
The grinch has kept the price of standing rib roast well north of $10/lb in our outpost, but our local market dropped it to just $6.99 last week for USDA Choice so we jumped at the chance to secure a five-rib small end roast for around $45. Now we need to prepare it for Christmas dinner in a manner that satisfies Dr. Seuss, who specifies that the roast beast must be cooked rare.
Last year we described the process we learned at Victoria Station cooking dozens of prime ribs every week. An aged whole roast is rubbed with Kosher salt and then blasted at high heat in a convection oven until it is medium rare at the ends, rare in the center, with a glorious crust overall. Results are consistently perfect, so of course we’ll try something different in our rare roast beast for 2024.
We’ve already made one decision in buying a small end roast vs the usual large end that has fewer ribs but more surface area on each cut for a more impressive presentation. They say the small end is more tender but I have never encountered a chewy prime rib that was Choice or better.
I am going to make one important modification based on Sam Sifton’s preparation method in NYT Cooking: I will refrigerator-age the roast for 24 hours on a rack, then rub it all over with salt and let this dry brine work overnight. I will then rub the roast with Sifton’s formula of salt and pepper mixed with flour because it’s all about the crust and a little flour could only make the surface more crusty, yes? (I will not follow Sifton’s advice to rub the ends with butter because I cherish my end cuts (“baseballs” we used to call them at Victoria Station) and want them as crusty as the rest of the beast.
The reverse sear method, which tempted me last year, was not considered in 2024 because I fear the hours at low heat this method requires (cook low and slow to desired doneness, then blast it to crisp the surface) might render out too much necessary fat. By the way, Sifton’s article (which is paywall-free at the link), has hundreds of tips from readers on reverse sear and other strategies.
The rest of the meal will consist of Yorkshire pudding, some sour cream spiked with Sau-See horseradish, green beans and, in an homage to House of Prime Rib in San Franciscohttps://www.houseofprimerib.net/#menu, a Caesar salad. Looking forward to it.
