The Reason (as if I really needed one…)
More than 10 years ago I had a piece of smoked rib roast while I was in Alaska on a fishing trip with a buddy. My buddy and I still talk about that piece of meat today. I finally got around to putting a rib roast in my smoker for NYE! Unfortunately my buddy couldn't make it but I sent him pictures just to mess with him.
I am basing my cook on some good advice from BearCarver with a few modifications:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110433/prime-rib-new-best-ever
The Process:
I got a nice 8lb rib roast from Costco. Rubbed it down the day before with a 'slurry' of Worchstershire and a Garlic BBQ rub from The Salt Lick that my brother-in-law from Houston sends me every Christmas.
I loaded my MasterForge propane smoker with a combo of hickory and mesquite and replenished throughout the smoke.
Put it in the smoker around 200 deg just after noon:
The roast temperature came up faster than I expected so I cut the smoker temp way back around 1:30 so that we could eat around 7 like we'd been planning on. I nerd out a bit when it comes to coaxing my smoker / meat in terms of timing. The plot below shows how I got the roast to ~135 internal temperature by 6:30 so it rest and I could slice for dinner at 7.
The Outcome:
The roast was nicely cooked. The center slices (below) were a good medium rare to rare and the ends were medium (thanks, BearCarver) for those that like a little less red in their steak. The smoke flavor was nice and as you'd expect most pronounced around the edges and in the end pieces. I was surprised to find myself really enjoying meat from the end pieces despite the fact that they were more well done because they had such a nice smoky flavor.
Our guests loved it as did my wife and my son. In order to let the roast shine and give folks plenty of room to enjoy we kept dinner very simple… we served the rib steaks with a caesar salad and some nice crusty whole grain bread. I'd do it again...
Next Time:
The next time I smoke a rib roast (and there will definitely be a next time!) I would consider using a less spicy rub or skip the rub on the ends of the roast. The flavor was great on the roast overall, but the ends were spicy since they were covered in rub. I did a super thin trim on the ends to separate the coating of rub from the end steaks that I cut. This worked great… now that I am writing this, maybe I wouldn't change anything… :-)
More than 10 years ago I had a piece of smoked rib roast while I was in Alaska on a fishing trip with a buddy. My buddy and I still talk about that piece of meat today. I finally got around to putting a rib roast in my smoker for NYE! Unfortunately my buddy couldn't make it but I sent him pictures just to mess with him.
I am basing my cook on some good advice from BearCarver with a few modifications:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110433/prime-rib-new-best-ever
The Process:
I got a nice 8lb rib roast from Costco. Rubbed it down the day before with a 'slurry' of Worchstershire and a Garlic BBQ rub from The Salt Lick that my brother-in-law from Houston sends me every Christmas.
I loaded my MasterForge propane smoker with a combo of hickory and mesquite and replenished throughout the smoke.
Put it in the smoker around 200 deg just after noon:
The roast temperature came up faster than I expected so I cut the smoker temp way back around 1:30 so that we could eat around 7 like we'd been planning on. I nerd out a bit when it comes to coaxing my smoker / meat in terms of timing. The plot below shows how I got the roast to ~135 internal temperature by 6:30 so it rest and I could slice for dinner at 7.
The Outcome:
The roast was nicely cooked. The center slices (below) were a good medium rare to rare and the ends were medium (thanks, BearCarver) for those that like a little less red in their steak. The smoke flavor was nice and as you'd expect most pronounced around the edges and in the end pieces. I was surprised to find myself really enjoying meat from the end pieces despite the fact that they were more well done because they had such a nice smoky flavor.
Our guests loved it as did my wife and my son. In order to let the roast shine and give folks plenty of room to enjoy we kept dinner very simple… we served the rib steaks with a caesar salad and some nice crusty whole grain bread. I'd do it again...
Next Time:
The next time I smoke a rib roast (and there will definitely be a next time!) I would consider using a less spicy rub or skip the rub on the ends of the roast. The flavor was great on the roast overall, but the ends were spicy since they were covered in rub. I did a super thin trim on the ends to separate the coating of rub from the end steaks that I cut. This worked great… now that I am writing this, maybe I wouldn't change anything… :-)
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