A failed Prime Rib Roast event

[netnetnet]

Wondering if anyone has insight on the "fail"

I have a number of cooking implements, one of which is the Charbroil "Big Easy" oil-less turkey fryer. They have a recipe for Prime Rib Roast (https://www.charbroil.com/cook/prime-rib-roast-red-wine-au-jus/) that I've done a number of times to great success. The basic Big Easy recipe calls for cooking at 350 for 1 -2 hours, removing when temp is 125.

This time, I wanted to add smoke to it, thinking how hard is that. So - 2 hours on smoker at 225 degrees and 1 hour on Big Easy. Took out (crust was perfection), let rest for 25 minutes while making au jus and salivating for the feast to come.

Started slicing - meat wouldn't cut; tough and like I'm cutting the wrong way on brisket. Cut in half, a portion was perfectly red and tough. The other portion looked like I had cooked to medium well and of course was tough.

I had frozen the roast in November, took out to thaw in refrigerator on Wednesday and cooked on Saturday. Was still slightly frozen on Friday.

Any thoughts? Was the combo smoke/roast too much? Bad piece of meat? No sure but very disappointed.

 

[mike243]

Sounds like a big difference in temps between the middle and outside,the ones I have done indirect on the Weber performer for 2-3 hrs rested sliced then who ever wants theirs with no red gets thrown onto the hot side. No problems on toughness so far

 

[smokerjim]

it's very possible it was just a bad piece of meat, it does happen, ribeye is hard mess up usually no matter how you cook them they come out good

 

[netnetnet]

Gents - thanks for both replies. Still not sure but am leaning towards difference in temps caused by different cooking methods.

 

[fivetricks]

Also, when you freeze meat, especially a tender cut like PR you alter the make up of the meat.

Frozen water expands into ice crystals which change the composition and textures of the meats when the defrost happens.


You can research this with smarter people who can explain it better than me. When you combine this with the whole concept of cooking an entire roast which will naturally have higher temps towards the outside of the roast as compared to the inside of the roast well you can start to see why you got the results that you did.

If it was a tougher cut like a round cut then I wouldn't worry as much. Heck I just turned out a sub par tip roast myself this weekend. But a tender cut (IMHO) should be pre sliced and then cooked/smoked to you preference so you can control the temp on each piece of meat, this producing better results.