Reverse Seared Prime Rib Roast
- Prep time 15 mins
- Cook time 5 hours
- Ready in 5 hours 15 mins
- Yield Serves 6 to 10
The reverse sear method ensures a juicy, perfectly cooked interior and well-browned crust on any cut of roast. Here it enhances a delicious prime rib roast, perfect for a holiday feast! Each rib on the prime rib roast represents two servings, so a 3-rib roast serves six people, a 5-rib serves ten people.
Ingredients
- Prime Rib Roast
- Roast Beef Gravy
Directions
NOTE ON EQUIPMENT
Thermometer – for best results, you will need an instant reading thermometer or oven-safe probe thermometer.
Roasting Pan – Use a large baking sheet with a wire rack set inside of it, OR a large roasting pan with low sides and a rack inside. A roasting pan with higher sides might not fit the roast properly and might prevent even browning of the exterior.
NOTE ON TIMING THE MEAL
You can choose to rest the roast before the reverse sear or after the reverse sear, depending on the timing for the rest of your meal. See recipe steps for details.
- Preheat oven to 250 F.
- Season the prime rib roast generously all over with salt. Place on the rack in your roasting pan of choice and place in the 250 F oven. Roast until interntal temperature of the meat reads 120 F (49 C) for rare, or 130 F (54 C) for medium rare. This will take anywhere from 2-1/2 to 4 hours in a 250 F oven, depending on the size of your roast and your desired level of doneness.
- Remove roast from oven, leaving it in the roasting pan, and tent it with foil. Meanhwile, increase oven heat to highest possible temperature (500 F to 550 F for most home ovens).
*At this point, you can rest the roast before searing anywhere from the ten minutes it takes to heat up the oven all the way to an hour, depending on how you want to time your meal. - Once the oven is up to temperature, (or up to an hour later – see note in previous step) remove the foil from the roast and return it to the very hot oven for 6 to 10 minutes, until the exterior of the roast is browned and crispy. This is the Reverse Sear (the sear done after the roast has cooked – see TV episode for the science behind this).
- Remove roast from oven, transfer to a platter and tent loosely with foil. If the roast hasn’t rested at least 20 minutes already between cooking and reverse sear (see note in step 3), the roast will need to rest for a minimum of 20 minutes, and up to 40 minutes. If the roast rested already before the high sear, it can be carved and served right away, or within 20 minutes.
- NOTE – I generally rest AFTER the sear, and use that time to bake the Yorkshire puddings and make the gravy.
- To make the gravy, place the empty roasting pan directly on a burner on the stove and turn the burner to medium. Remove the rack from the roasting pan. Use the red wine to deglaze the roasting pan. This means that you pour the red wine into the warm pan and use a wooden spoon to help scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. These browned proteins form the foundation of the gravy.
- Add the beef stock and continue to deglaze. Carefully strain this liquid into a medium-sized pot. Place the pot on a burner over medium high heat.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch with 1/4 cup of COLD beef stock. Whisk this into the warm stock-wine mixture in the pot. Whisk continuously while this comes to a boil and thickens. Reduce heat to low. Add any roast beef juices from the carving platter, add soy sauce, and seasoning to taste.
- Serve carved roast with gravy, mashed potatoes, our No Fail Yorkshire pudding, and any sides you desire.
Variations
MEAL TIMING: By managing the resting time and the timing of the reverse sear, you can cook your sides at different times of the roasting process. See recipe steps for details.
