It has come to this: As we begin my 71st ride around the sun
on this rock, I am going to share a recipe. Who would have thought a guy who
set out to change the world or at least write the great American novel would,
near the end, succumb to writing about recipes on an obscure blog from
Alaska. But there's always a good
story, so bear with this.
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This is the Hillbillys' roast but mine
loked just like this.
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I have always favored a standing rib roast for either
Christmas or New Year's eve or day dinner. Among the favorites that go with that are generous
helpings of Yorkshire pudding. My
problem has always been I am too arrogant to read a recipe for the simple act
of cooking a prime rib. I mean,
you figure out how many pounds, cook it for 25 minutes a pound and that's it,
right? Maybe some cracked pepper
pounded into the fat. But for some reason even with a meat thermometer, though
I aim for medium, I always end up with well-done, still juicy and not dried
out, but with no hint of pink whatsoever.
So comes the holiday season of 2013 and the wealth of advice
to be found on the internet. But,
who is going to follow a recipe found on a facebook page called Hillbilly
Hangout? It's a page I have followed for a while and I love the humor and also
the fact that they don't shove a bunch of redneck politics at us. So the page
posted a recipe around mid-December for a rib roast that was very different and
still sounded like the meat would taste like a rib roast when it was all over.
It involves roasting for five minutes per pound at 500 degrees and then turning
the oven off, leaving the door closed and let it sit for two hours. I've had
success with other recipes from this site, particularly Old-Fashioned banana
pudding that was a hit at Christmas dinner, so I tried it. But there was one
thing they didn't warn me about,
My first hint was the dog started whining and hiding and demanding
to be let out and then wouldn't come back in. It was about that time I smelled
the smoke, that had kind of crept slowly on me up to that point. And then the
dinner chime in the form of the smoke detector went off. You, see, part of that
recipe involves slathering a tremendous amount of butter mixed with some other
ingredients onto that roast. So, I have lots of butter in a 500-degree oven.
What could go wrong with that? A
house full of smoke and a spooked bloodhound is what could happen.
Now, it being around 0 outside you don't leave a southern
breed like a bloodhound out in it very long. But he wouldn't come in. I had both doors open and a couple
windows and both exhaust fans going and the smoke was slowly clearing but the
dog had abandoned ship. I finally
had to take him by the collar and drag him into the bedroom where the smoke was
least and he would stay there for a few minutes and then head out for the door.
Battle of wills. Fortunately the
two hours were just about up and he settled down a little as the smoke cleared
and I cut a little piece off the roast to bribe him.
End result? The best prime rib I have ever made. Mine came
out a little different than the recipe projected. Instead of rare to medium
rare it came out pretty much pink all the way through, which I preferred anyway.
So with that in mind, I think this is one recipe worth sharing. It sounds outrageous but, oh boy, that
hillbilly knows how to cook a roast.
So here it is:
HOLIDAY ROASTED PRIME RIB
A nearly foolproof and easy recipe for serving
up a smashing Roasted Prime Rib for your special holiday dinner.
I love using this method for roasting prime rib.
It is nearly foolproof but several factors must be kept in mind for you to make
the perfect rib roast. First, the roast MUST be at room temperature for several
hours before roasting. 6 or more hours is preferred. You have to have accurate
oven temp here. If you are not sure if your oven is accurate, try to get an oven
thermometer and test it before attempting to roast this beautiful piece of
meat. Next, you will need a calculator. Nothing serious here but you will need
to calculate the poundage of your roast by 5 minutes. Using the example above,
we are going to do this recipe using a 5.75 pound rib roast with 2 ribs. This
will feed approximately 4 adults.
Step 1
So, my roast is 5.75 lbs. x 5 minutes = 28.75
minutes. I will round up to 29 minutes and add 1 minute for the heat lost when
opening the oven door. Keep this in the back of your mind for future reference.
Ingredients:
1 5.75 pound prime rib roast of beef (2 bones)
There are no measurements here. Just generous
amounts of the following:
Butter at room temperature
Herbs de Provence
Fresh cracked pepper
Kosher salt - a generous amount
Directions:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (this MUST be an
accurate temp)
Put roast, rib side down in roasting pan
Mix the pepper and herbs in the butter until
well combined.
Spread the butter mixture over the entire surface
of the prime rib. The more the better.
Put the kosher salt over the entire surface of
the butter. Be very GENEROUS. Use more than you think you should here. Most of
the salt will run off and very little will remain on the meat. I can't stress
the "generous" enough.
Put the roast in the 500 degree oven for 30
minutes as outlined in step 1. The time will be according to the size of your
roast. After the 30 minutes, simply turn the oven off and walk away from it for
2 hours. Yup, just walk away. Do NOT open the door, fiddle with it or anything
else. Pretend the roast does not exist.
After 2 hours, remove the roast, slice and
serve. You can remove the rib bones for easier slicing and it also makes it
easier to get 4 generous servings from the roast. Save the bones! Serve with au
jus or horseradish sauce etc. Whatever you like. You will surely love this
method. You will get a succulent, moist roast between rare and medium rare.
Perfect!
Don't ask me why there is a step 1 and no other steps. Maybe it works. Anyway, for my own, I
had a roast of 4.45 pounds. I did
the math and came out with 24 minutes of cooking time. Note the recipe itself
says 30 minutes, but better to go with your own calculation at 5 minutes per
pound. What I found was the end
pieces were a little overcooked but the inside was a nice healthy pink all the
way through. I don't think I was as generous with the other ingredients as the
writer suggested. I used a quarter pound stick of butter and what seemed a generous
amount of the others that fit that volume. I used sea salt instead of kosher salt. One side effect was a good deal of
nice brown juice collected in the bottom of the roasting pan. I can have hot roast beef sandwiches
for several days.
And the dog? Well once the 6 million cilia in his nose
cleared he was happy to hang out in the kitchen and catch a few tidbits
during the carving operation.
One suggestion: Start the kitchen exhaust fan as soon as you
put the roast into the oven.
And, oh what the heck, here's the pudding recipe too.
Old Fashioned Banana Pudding
Ingredients:
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| The meringue is probably a little darker than it should be, but of all the things I made for Christmas dinner, this got the most comments. |
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk (NOT skim)
4 or 5 ripe bananas, sliced thin (cover with
plastic wrap or sprinkle with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown)
1 box vanilla wafers
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Butter (not margarine)
4 Egg yolks (Large eggs or better)
Meringue:
4 egg whites, room temperature
5 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line the bottom of a
9x9-inch pan with a layer of vanilla wafers.
Combine sugar, flour and salt in a bowl, and mix
well. Set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, beat the egg yolks well.
Over medium heat, add the flour mixture to the egg yolks, alternately with the
milk and vanilla, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil and, when the
mixture begins to thicken, add the butter, continuing to stir. Keep boiling and
stirring until mixture reaches a nice pudding consistency. Make sure you don't
scorch the pudding. Remove from heat.
Place a layer of banana slices on top of the
vanilla wafers. Pour half of the pudding over the banana layer. Put down
another layer of vanilla wafers, another layer of banana slices, and cover with
the remaining pudding.
Beat the egg whites at high speed until they
form soft peaks. Add the cream of tartar. At high speed, gradually add the
sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold the
vanilla into the meringue, and spread the meringue over the pudding, sealing it
at the sides of the dish.
Bake until meringue browns, 12 to 15 minutes.
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