Preface – This party is in lieu of a Christmas day meal as we are going to Sundown the day after Christmas. So, the dinner and present exchange is today, 12/19/2015. That seems odd as it is the first time Christmas has been before Mary’s birthday on 12/21/2015.

Mary bought a 3-bone, 7.4 lb. prime rib roast at HEB for $77. The bones were left in the meat for the cook. She followed a recipe by Bobby Flay that was a basic beef roast at 350 degrees until the meat reaches 130 in the center.

1. The day before cooking she salt and peppered it.
2. About 1:30 pm, 12/19/2015, took it out and sat on the counter. Tied two wraps of cotton string between the three bones. The string did not pull the meat into a round shape due to the bones.
3. 2:30 pm – Put it into a 350-degree oven that had been on for 15 minutes. [We had calibrated the oven with the ThermoWorks ChefAlarm–my Christmas present.] The roast was sitting on the flat-bottom heavy wire rack in the large roasting pan. The pan and rack were sprayed with Pam. Inserted the ChefAlarm probe into the side and set the temp alarm at 130 degrees. Internal temp was 45 degrees.
4. 4:30 – Internal was 84 degrees.
5. About 6:30 internal had risen to 130 with the final 15 degrees rising quickly. Removed from oven and wrapped tightly in aluminum foil. Was in the wrap for maybe 30 minutes.
6. Cut off bones and sliced roast into about 3/8 inch slices.
7. The innermost 2-3″ sphere shaped area where the probe had been was rare with that reddish color of a restaurant prime rib. The rest of it was gray, moist and very tender.

Conclusion – Prepared it and cooked it like we always do roasts following Bobby Flay’s advice for prime rib. We got a roast like we always do but expected something else.  [yup, earlier in the day there was a dispute about cooking it low temp (225) per Meathead or hot (350) per Bobby Flay.]

The dispute arose over trying to discern when to start the meat so it was ready to eat at 5pm. Meathead never gives much guidance on time but what is at AmazingRibs.com led Tom to think it would take 2+ hours to get it from cold out of the frig to 130 degrees. Bobby Flay also said about 2 hours at 350. As it turned out Bobby was right–but only about the time. But, Meathead was probably also correct if we had deboned it and it was in the smoker as anticipated with his time estimate.

Next Time – Remove the bone and make a beef broth to put under the roast as it cooks. Season it with an herbal rub when salting (dry brining) like Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow Crust.  Cook it slow (225-250) and reverse sear for the last 20 minutes–5 minutes each side of the round, tied circle of meat. Without the bone it would have weighed 5+ pounds and would have cooked to 130 in maybe 2+ hours in the smoker that acts somewhat like a convection oven as there is alway air flow with the smoke. That is Meathead’s advice. So click here and follow his 11 steps.

Go to ThermoWorks page here to read how to smoke one that is essentially the same as Meathead’s way. Note they say the time required will be about 4 hours.

See this recipe for smoked prime rib roast with the reverse sear in a 500 degree oven.