Prime Rib Size Question?

[dirtworldmike]

Haven't done one for a while...

How big  should I get for  4,  possibly 5 people? Thanks

 

[thesmokist]

I just go by how much I think each person will eat and go from there. The wife and I have 3 teenage boys so about a 5-6 lber works for us

 

[mr t 59874]

Mike,  I would guess ± 6 lbs. depending on the amount of bone and fat cap.  Ask your meat monger to help pick one out for you.  They will know how meat will be usable on a particular cut.

Man I love your smoker set up in the avatar. Those cast stoves work great. Good clean, cool, smoke going to the house.  Reminds me of mine.  What do the chickens think of it?

T 

 

[rc4u]

above advice is what I do for all cuts...I just ordered a prime rib {choice cut for price) I always have them bring a couple cyro packs out and they ae usually 19-21 pounds. I then choose one and then the big or small end..the small end is always leaner than the big end that the usda inspectors grade from. I chose the small end this time as the eye was perfect. I told them 8-9 pounds and then cut then chine it or cut the bone tight and tie back on .. it seems to still cook same and then so much easier to cut and serve....when eating it without the bone is much smaller and much less work for my guests...and I like the bone for later ....I am going to smoke at 123-125 and to 134-135 to not have any grey at ends...and bone side down.....with just a little of montrieal then little more garlic granules.  when I see they have good prices on steaks I just        have them bring a cyro out and if good I have them cut to my desired thickness...I really wante the red herford but the cutter at that store had to argue with me and went else where and got the best angus in town.....jeff

 

[chef jimmyj]

Many folks figure 1 pound raw per person plus 1 pound. So in your case I agree, 5-6 pounds, will be about 3 Bones. I to go for the Chuck end, small eye with the Spinalis, cap meat. This may be fattier, but is more flavorful...JJ

This...Toward the Chuck End...

Verses this...Loin End....

 

 

[rc4u]

I may be confused on your post so here it goes.....the first 7 bones are the primal cut or prime rib which has big end first from shoulder then smaller end towards hind...then remaining six or seven bones{cant remember} are the short end of rib cage or the  cut that the porterhouse and T-bones come from, ya??? and that second pic without bones like first pic is what confused me....and the usda inspectors slice the first 3-4 of big end on front cut to label {or grade}as choice or prime ect.....jeff

 

[chef jimmyj]

I look at the the eye muscle. The small end of the eye is toward the front, chuck end, ribs 6-9 and gets bigger heading toward the back end of the animal, the Short Loin end, ribs 10-12. I apologize for the confusion as in the meat biz the name of the rib roast ends are reversed from the way it looks. The Loin End is called the Small End and the Chuck End is the Large End. Old habits die hard, less confusing to students when describing what the meat looks like. Sorry. You should see the new students faces the first time I told them the Pork Butt comes from the Shoulder...

Even though the second pic is boneless, it is a good representation of what the short loin end looks like, leaner and and in my opinion, not as flavorful...JJ

From Meatshop 101... http://www.meatshop101.com/rib-cuts

 In consumer terms, the small end is defined by more lean meat, where the center of the piece is an intact single muscle, also known as the ‘eye’ of the rib.  Additionally the bones on the small end tend to be better defined, separate and more easily cut between.  The large end is defined by a smaller eye with additional muscles surrounding it.  This is the end from which ‘Delmonico’ steaks are cut, if that helps.  Because there are additonal fat pockets separating the extra muscles on the large end, roasts (and steaks) cut from here tend to have more natural flavor.  But the unfortunate trade-off is that there tends to be more bone on this end and in some cases may be difficult to carve around with household knives.  So in a few words, small end rib roasts may be a little less flavorful but are generally easier to carve, while large end roasts will have more natural flavor but somewhat more bone to work around.

 

[demosthenes9]

Chef JJ is dead on as usual.    Here's a shot showing how the ribeye changes from one end to the next.   My uncle is a butcher and I asked him to do this up for me.

ribeye_lineup.jpg

• demosthenes9
• Dec 21, 2015

#16 is the cut from the chuck end going through to #1, which is the cut closest to the the loin (NY Strip).   One thing to note is that cuts 16 and 8 were placed down wrong.  Each is in the right position/order, i.e. #16 is in fact #16.  The mistake was that they should have been rotated 180 degrees so that the cap was to the right as it is with every other cut.

Anyways, if you start at #1, you can see that it has none of the cap.  It doesn't show up until cuts #3 and #4.  As you move through the ribeye toward the head of the cow (chuck end), the cap of the ribeye gets larger and larger.    This cap is called the Spinalis Dorsi and it's one of the most tender and flavorful pieces of meat you can find.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Like JJ I also tend to go for the Chuck end. As mentioned it usually has more flavor.

 

[mr t 59874]

Very good example, thank you very much.  From one end to the other also goes the price.  Just picked up a couple rib steaks from Costco yesterday for Christmas.  Loin end $9.00 lb.  chuck end $14.00 lb., guess what the wife said, "It's Christmas". 

T

Edit:

The lean steaks in the display case were priced much lower than the well-marbled ones.  As it appeared, the more marbling the higher the price.  I was thinking it was because they were cut from different ends.  Seems I was mistaken in thinking so as Dmosthenes9 believes the price difference was due to the price of the steaks the date they were cut.

T

 

[pc farmer]

Chef JJ is dead on as usual.    Here's a shot showing how the ribeye changes from one end to the next.   My uncle is a butcher and I asked him to do this up for me.

ribeye_lineup.jpg

• demosthenes9
• Dec 21, 2015

#16 is the cut from the chuck end going through to #1, which is the cut closest to the the loin (NY Strip).   One thing to note is that cuts 16 and 8 were placed down wrong.  Each is in the right position/order, i.e. #16 is in fact #16.  The mistake was that they should have been rotated 180 degrees so that the cap was to the right as it is with every other cut.


Anyways, if you start at #1, you can see that it has none of the cap.  It doesn't show up until cuts #3 and #4.  As you move through the ribeye toward the head of the cow (chuck end), the cap of the ribeye gets larger and larger.    This cap is called the Spinalis Dorsi and it's one of the most tender and flavorful pieces of meat you can find.

Great post. Shows it perfect, how the meat changes

 

[chef jimmyj]

Great pic of the Rib end to end. Points...I just had Google Images to work with, not the best...JJ 

 

[demosthenes9]

 
Very good example, thank you very much.  From one end to the other also goes the price.  Just picked up a couple rib steaks from Costco yesterday for Christmas.  Loin end $9.00 lb.  chuck end $14.00 lb., guess what the wife said, "It's Christmas". 

T

You're welcome.   As for price difference, can't say that I have ever seen that in my life.   Neither at Costco, Kroger, Meijer's or any of the boutique butcher shops here in town.  Something I have seen at Costco is that don't reprice their steaks.  They might cut and package some ribeyes on Monday priced at $9.00lb. On Tuesday, the price might have dropped to $8.00lb and ribeyes cut and packaged that day will be $8.00.    Same thing happens with whole ribeye, strips, tenderloins and even brisket.   Maybe that is what happened?

Great post. Shows it perfect, how the meat changes

Thanks CFarmer !

 
Great pic of the Rib end to end. Points...I just had Google Images to work with, not the best...JJ 

Thanks JJ!.    I was in the same boat as you on another forum with a similar discussion.  Scoured Google and couldn't find what I wanted.  Gave my uncle a call and asked him if he could lay the steaks out in order and send me a photo next time he was cutting a whole ribeye.   The next day, he texted this photo. He took it a step further and numbered/labeled them.  He's awesome like that.

 

[mr t 59874]

 
You're welcome.   As for price difference, can't say that I have ever seen that in my life.   Neither at Costco, Kroger, Meijer's or any of the boutique butcher shops here in town.  Something I have seen at Costco is that don't reprice their steaks.  They might cut and package some ribeyes on Monday priced at $9.00lb. On Tuesday, the price might have dropped to $8.00lb and ribeyes cut and packaged that day will be $8.00.    Same thing happens with whole ribeye, strips, tenderloins and even brisket.   Maybe that is what happened?

Perhaps, you are correct and I stand corrected, wouldn't be the first.  All I noticed at the time was that the lean steaks were much less @ $9.00 lb.  than the well marbled ones.  I came home with four nicely marbled steaks for $55.00@ $12.00 lb.

T

 

[chef jimmyj]

 
Perhaps, you are correct and I stand corrected, wouldn't be the first.  All I noticed at the time was that the lean steaks were much less @ $9.00 lb. than the well marbled ones.  I came home with four nicely marbled steaks for $55.00@ $12.00 lb.

T

Could be a local or managers choice thing...Here the Lean cuts fly off the shelf, Healthy Folks like them, and the fatty cuts are easy to find and go on special. Silly Healthy People...

...JJ

 

[rc4u]

i understand what chef j said and appreciate it....I was actually referring to the big and small end of the first 7-8 ribs....not the short or loin end of the whole 16 ribrack.

 

[demosthenes9]

i understand what chef j said and appreciate it....I was actually referring to the big and small end of the first 7-8 ribs....not the short or loin end of the whole 16 ribrack.

RC, the photo I posted is of a 7 bone ribeye loin, I.e. the 7 ribs you were referring to.

 

[dirtworldmike]

 
Many folks figure 1 pound raw per person plus 1 pound. So in your case I agree, 5-6 pounds, will be about 3 Bones. I to go for the Chuck end, small eye with the Spinalis, cap meat. This may be fattier, but is more flavorful...JJ

This...Toward the Chuck End...

Verses this...Loin End....

 

 
Many folks figure 1 pound raw per person plus 1 pound. So in your case I agree, 5-6 pounds, will be about 3 Bones. I to go for the Chuck end, small eye with the Spinalis, cap meat. This may be fattier, but is more flavorful...JJ

This...Toward the Chuck End...

Verses this...Loin End....

 

Thanks for all the help. I picked up a 7 lb'er at Sams today,  I don't know which end I got. As one side looks like the chuck end pic and the other side looks like the loin pic.

People were grabbing them out of the cooler as fast as the meat guy was putting them in.  Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas !

 

[chef jimmyj]

 
i understand what chef j said and appreciate it....I was actually referring to the big and small end of the first 7-8 ribs....not the short or loin end of the whole 16 ribrack.

You are welcome. I think we are talking the same thing. Just to clarify...Beef animals only have 13 Ribs. 1-5 are in the Primal Chuck and a sold only as Short Ribs. 6-12 make up the Primal Rib, and portioned as follows. After the lower portion of the long rib bones are cut away for Plate Short Ribs and Side Rib Racks, the remaining rib bones make up the 7-Rib Roast. The very small Rib 13 is part or the Primal Short Loin and cut away. So as I said above, Rib 6-9 are from the Chuck end and 10-12 are next to the Short Loin end...JJ

BTW...I did type Loin end above but meant Short Loin End. I corrected it.

 

[rc4u]

Thanks for the clarification...I had numbers wrong all this time....kinda like firing order on a car, gotta know which end or side to start with for #1...jeff