talking beef: post-thanksgiving wrap-up

Reading: talking beef: post-thanksgiving wrap-up

11.30.2009

talking beef: post-thanksgiving wrap-up

After two days of fretting nervously over my Thanksgiving beef, I hit the trusty interwebs to guide me through the process and determined that accounts differ wildly on how to roast a giant piece of meat. Based on my experience, I also want everyone to know that if you’ve never cooked a standing rib roast before, you should. Manhandling a giant, 7-pound hunk of meat was highly enjoyable. Especially the part where I got to rub roasted garlic and olive oil over the beast. I felt kind of like a Greek masseuse.

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The meat must be removed from the refrigerator for at least two hours before roasting in order to allow it to come to room temperature. Otherwise, your meat won’t roast evenly.

You must tie your rib roast so that the the muscle doesn’t separate from the fat and dry out the meat, as I have in the photo above.

I slid the roast into a 450-degree preheated oven for 15 minutes, then turned the temperature down to 325 degrees. Every half hour, I basted the roast, and at 1 hour and 30 minutes (for a 7 pound roast), inserted a meat thermometer and started monitoring the temperature obsessively.

The key to not overcooking the meat, as far as I can tell, is to use a meat thermometer and pull out your roast when the internal temperature measures between 120 and 125 degrees Fahrenheit (far below the U.S. Beef Council’s recommended internal temperature of 140 degrees for rare meat). Turn the oven off immediately. Then, let the roast rest for 15 minutes on the counter while you keep the oven door ajar, thus allowing the hot air from the oven to escape. After 15 minutes, place the roast back into the oven for another half hour, with the oven still off, and gradually allow the meat to come up to 130 to 135 degrees for medium rare.

I do have to say that, for a first-timer, our roast came out quite decently. I don’t believe in eating fine cuts of beef at any temperature warmer than medium rare, and after about a 15-20 minute resting period, our roast was perfectly so. I also prepared an au jus from the drippings, adding beef stock and red wine to the pan and thickening the sauce with flour.

My grandmother loved the roast, but I can’t tell if it’s because it was prepared by her precious granddaughter or because the roast itself was that delicious. As for me, I’m just happy that it turned out decent enough to serve. I’d had visions of charred meat dancing through my head the night before and having to escort my elderly grandmother out of a smoke-filled kitchen. There was none of that, and so, for now, I’m breathing a sigh of relief.

That is, until Grandma Miyagi gives me my next challenge.