Christmas rib roast: smoke or no smoke?

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Both ways work for me but cannot imagine not having have the lingering aroma of rib roast in the house for the holiday. Same for the bird on Thanksgiving.

No BS: I dry brine rib roasts with Lawry's for 2 WEEKS. Yep. A week is doable tho. Overnight or 48hrs is simply not enough for the magic to work on that big of cut. Prepping my pork roast tonight for New Years Day.
 
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I’m a straight 235 start to finish on the pellet pooper……
View attachment 709550
View attachment 709551
Simple effective and works every time……a while back I cooked several roasts at different temps 225, 235, 245, 255, 265, 275. Also use to do the 200-220 then sear…..the sweet spot was the straight 235 for crust and edge to edge doneness….
There it is! the OP musta missed your cook.

SMOKE IT!
 
In the oven, this works for me EVERY time.

Strangely, I love brisket (both low AND high heat methods-both with smoke) but for me prime rib without the smoke is perfect.
 
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I do one every new years day. I use W sauce binder with rub and sear on CI real quick so spices dont burn. Smoke with hickory at 235 til 125. I just bought a 6 bone for $13 /lb and that was sale price for choice.
 
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If anyone is thinking of cooking a $100+ piece of meat and does not have a remote or an instant read thermometer, in the words of my Grandfather: "Don't be an idiot". OMG the stupid info out there... Temp divided by weight times the number of Chistimas presents from your inlaws from 5 years ago. LOL
 
If anyone is thinking of cooking a $100+ piece of meat and does not have a remote or an instant read thermometer, in the words of my Grandfather: "Don't be an idiot". OMG the stupid info out there... Temp divided by weight times the number of Chistimas presents from your inlaws from 5 years ago. LOL
I'm still laughing! That's just funny... but too true!

Ryan
 
I'm still laughing! That's just funny... but too true!

Ryan
Thanks Ryan.

1734576301258.png
 
If anyone is thinking of cooking a $100+ piece of meat and does not have a remote or an instant read thermometer, in the words of my Grandfather: "Don't be an idiot". OMG the stupid info out there... Temp divided by weight times the number of Chistimas presents from your inlaws from 5 years ago. LOL
God forbid we were able to turn out things like beef wellington and crown roasts and prime rib roasts before remotes or insta reads.
Animals and barbarians we were. Everything we cooked we turned into cinders.

Guess I'm an idiot ;)

I didn't own an instant read or a remote until 2015 or 2016.

Don't get me wrong, I use them a lot. I also can cook a prime or a brisket without one.
 
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I’m a straight 235 start to finish on the pellet pooper……
View attachment 709550
View attachment 709551
Simple effective and works every time……a while back I cooked several roasts at different temps 225, 235, 245, 255, 265, 275. Also use to do the 200-220 then sear…..the sweet spot was the straight 235 for crust and edge to edge doneness….
Couple of quick questions civilsmoker civilsmoker : I'm trying to estimate when to put a 4 bone version in the smoker @235 to reach and IT of 130º in time for a 6pm dinner. Assuming it will most likely rest for 15-20 min before carving. Second, what did you use for the outside rub?
 
Couple of quick questions civilsmoker civilsmoker : I'm trying to estimate when to put a 4 bone version in the smoker @235 to reach and IT of 130º in time for a 6pm dinner. Assuming it will most likely rest for 15-20 min before carving. Second, what did you use for the outside rub?
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/dry-brined-rib-roast-w-garlic-mash.329575/

A 4-bone section (ribs removed) will take 3.5 to 4 hours, with it closer to the 3.5 side. I put the one above on at 1:30 and it was done (INT 135) at 5:00 5-6 bones and above are closer to the 4 side and maybe a bit over. I personally love the 4-bone roast size for cooking. I like the plan for it to be done for 40 to 45 min ahead then hold it in the oven at 140. If your oven can go low, (140-160) in a warming function, I have held it at 140 for 90 minutes. I would guess at an INT of 130 you could hold it at 180 (most ovens go this low) for 30-45 mins without an issue on doneness, if you have a larger air fryer, they often go down lower for a hold function as well.

For the one above I splashed it with Worcestershire, sea salt and a blend of Kinders steak and buttery steakhouse then let it open air brine in the garage fridge for 36 hours, you could easily go more in the fridge. Or no fridge time at all just season and on the smoker.

Here is a 2022 post, virtual same cooking method, same rub, except now I add the woster, and have added the fridge time..... This one also took 3.5 hours to INT of 135.
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/the-prime-rib-dinner-in-pictures.318868/
 
Anyone else notice the sale price has jumped a dollar a pound every year the past 3 years?
I PICKED UP AT 22 POUND FULL STANDING RIB ROAST YESTERDAY FOR $4.97LB, I'LL GET AOTHER TODAY AND BE SET FOR THE YEAR. LAST YEAR I PAID $4.75LB AT THE SAME SAFEWAY MARKET. I'LL CUT A LITTLE SIX POUND ROAST TO SPIN ON MY KETTLE WITH COALS AND CHERRY CHUNKS, THE REST GETS TURNED INTO BONELESS RIBEYE STEAKS CUT A INCH AND A HALF THICK. RAY
 
This thread could not have been more timely. It's been a while since I cooked a roast the 6lb size of the one I'm about to pull out of the freezer for Christmas Eve. I was trying to figure out how I was going to cook the roast AND 2 9x13 casseroles and have them done at the same time. I was thinking to go use my parents oven next door (about 100 yards away and a vacant cabin during winter) for the casseroles so I could dedicate our oven to the roast.

Sitting on the back deck last night having my evening smoke (not food) the light bulb went on over my head and I remembered I have an MES30! I dont want to smoke it, but there's my solution for baking it! My wife had just sent me an article where they seared the roast first, then baked at 200 til 125-130. I knew I had to go low and slower than usual because the MES tops out at 275.

Thanks Civilsmoker for your follow up. I know we are cooking to temp here, but time management is also crucial, so having a real good idea of the cook time expected is good. I also like the idea of bieng done a little early and holding the roast till the perfect time. If I remember correctly, the MES will go as low as 100. I'll see when I break her out. Do you recall the weight of the roast in your example on page 2 here? And was that off the bone before cooking? Mine is on the bone but has butchers twine around it like they cut it loose for easy separation before carving...i saw a recipe.method where they suggest you ask the butcher to do this for you.

What is the argument for on vs. off the bone? I always though on was for maximum flavor but thinking about it, maybe the bones cause uneven cooking? Your example looks great and thanks for all the details.
I like a gentle smoke with low-n-slo pit temps on my prime rib roasts, but even the charcoal itself provides plenty of flavor. As far as crust, I usually get a good enough crust from the smoker, that I don't need an end sear. For example, here is one I hung in my drum, and no end sear was needed.

View attachment 709528
Wow, that is a perfect roast as well. Obviously off the bone. Do you recall weight, time and cooking temp on that (not IT)
 
This thread could not have been more timely. It's been a while since I cooked a roast the 6lb size of the one I'm about to pull out of the freezer for Christmas Eve. I was trying to figure out how I was going to cook the roast AND 2 9x13 casseroles and have them done at the same time. I was thinking to go use my parents oven next door (about 100 yards away and a vacant cabin during winter) for the casseroles so I could dedicate our oven to the roast.

Sitting on the back deck last night having my evening smoke (not food) the light bulb went on over my head and I remembered I have an MES30! I dont want to smoke it, but there's my solution for baking it! My wife had just sent me an article where they seared the roast first, then baked at 200 til 125-130. I knew I had to go low and slower than usual because the MES tops out at 275.

Thanks Civilsmoker for your follow up. I know we are cooking to temp here, but time management is also crucial, so having a real good idea of the cook time expected is good. I also like the idea of bieng done a little early and holding the roast till the perfect time. If I remember correctly, the MES will go as low as 100. I'll see when I break her out. Do you recall the weight of the roast in your example on page 2 here? And was that off the bone before cooking? Mine is on the bone but has butchers twine around it like they cut it loose for easy separation before carving...i saw a recipe.method where they suggest you ask the butcher to do this for you.

What is the argument for on vs. off the bone? I always though on was for maximum flavor but thinking about it, maybe the bones cause uneven cooking? Your example looks great and thanks for all the details.

Wow, that is a perfect roast as well. Obviously off the bone. Do you recall weight, time and cooking temp on that (not IT)
The dry brine was 5.5 lbs, the dinner it pictures was about 4.75 lbs.

Here is a 2 bone 3.5-4 lb example it was 3 hours
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/summer-time-smoked-prime-rib-…-yes-the-theme-continues….317107/#post-2359962

Here is about an 8 lb example...it was 3 hours 45 min, I "trussed" this one with strings to help the "section" be more uniform so it would cook evenly in length. The roast cooks perpendicular into the roast so the circumference of the roast has more to do with the cooking time than the overall length. If you notice this example is bigger around and all the previous and it took the longest.....
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/prime-rib-sunday.320029/

I like to remove the bone to get nice uniform color, more crust (360 degrees) and then finally for slicing. The two-bone example above shows what I do with the bones....I cook them as beef ribs, or I use them for making au jus

PS your MES should work perfectly for cooking and holding. The forum "Prime Rib Master - Bear, RIP" did all his in a MES. I would recommend that you set the hold temp to 140 for food safety reasons. PS, I am in the process of design of an electric holding/smoking oven that I am going to build for this very same reason.
 
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Great info, Civil, and those two cooks are really nice.

Looked at a lot of recipes not only recently but in the past also when doing a roast...all I had to do was come here and learn from someone who has done more roasts than me!

Hate to keep drilling down but now I wonder if your weights above are on or off the bone. I know you remove the bones, but are those weights what was on the package with the bones? Or did you weigh them after removing from the bones?

My notes say the grain runs perpendicular to the bones and I was confused but that makes sense! That's why we carve in the direction of the bones!
 
I vote for smoke - but oven is a close second.

Just picked up my $85 "prime" boneless, rib-roast.
Will be smoking this in three, 2-inch thick, slab-a-dab-a-doo's and split them into 6 prime rib steaks when its time to eat.

RR.jpg
 
Great info, Civil, and those two cooks are really nice.

Looked at a lot of recipes not only recently but in the past also when doing a roast...all I had to do was come here and learn from someone who has done more roasts than me!

Hate to keep drilling down but now I wonder if your weights above are on or off the bone. I know you remove the bones, but are those weights what was on the package with the bones? Or did you weigh them after removing from the bones?

My notes say the grain runs perpendicular to the bones and I was confused but that makes sense! That's why we carve in the direction of the bones!
The weights I noted were boneless. The actual wt isn't as critical as the over circular size. The grain does run perpendicular, but those bones usually don't line up with were you want to cut a slice or if you slice off the bones then you loose crust.
 
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