Standing Rib Roast

Standing Rib Roast
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Total Time
1½ to 2¼ hours, plus at least 2 hours 20 minutes’ resting time
Rating
4(1,491)
Notes
Read community notes

Like many Nebraskans, the poet Erin Belieu’s family members use any large gathering as a pretext for serving prime rib. Thanksgiving is no exception. When Ms. Belieu, a fourth-generation Nebraskan, was growing up in Omaha, her family served prime rib alongside the turkey — until they realized no one really liked the bird and dispensed with it altogether. Her grandfather was a cowboy, and the whole family was steeped in the state’s ranching culture, even when they eventually moved to the city.

In her house, the beef was minimally seasoned and roasted in a hot oven until the exterior was crackling and browned, the inside juicy and red. A little horseradish sauce might be served on the side, but her father always disapproved. Good beef doesn’t need it. “He thought sauce was for drugstore cowboys,” she said.

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Ingredients

Yield:8 to 12 servings
  • 1(4 rib) standing rib roast, 7 to 8 pounds
  • 1tablespoon coarse kosher salt
  • 1teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1cup minced herbs (optional)
  • 4garlic cloves, mashed to a paste (optional)
  • 2teaspoons smoked paprika (optional)
  • Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)

773 calories; 67 grams fat; 27 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 30 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 38 grams protein; 549 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Pat meat all over with paper towels, then season it all over with salt and pepper. If you want to make a smoky garlic-herb paste, combine herbs, garlic, smoked paprika and just enough olive oil to make a paste. Rub all over meat. Let meat come to room temperature for 2 to 3 hours depending upon how cold it was to begin with.

  2. Step 2

    Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place meat bone-side down in a roasting pan or on a rimmed sheet pan. Roast for 20 minutes, then turn heat to 350 degrees and continue to roast until the meat registers 115 degrees on an instant-read thermometer for rare, 125 for medium rare (it will continue to cook after you pull it out of the oven). Timing depends on your oven, your pan and the shape of your roast, so start checking after the meat has been in the oven for an hour, but it could take 1½ hours or even slightly longer.

  3. Step 3

    Let meat rest at room temperature for 20 minutes before carving.

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4 out of 5
1,491 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

I used to have a NY Times recipe from the mid-60's that is similar to this one. Your oven needs to be well insulated! It called for preheating the oven to 500 degrees; rubbing the room temperature roast with salt, pepper, dry mustard, and flour then roasting the meat for either 5 minutes per pound or 15 minutes per rib after which you turn the oven off and allow the meat to continue cooking for another 2 hours without opening the door. It came out a perfect medium rare every time.

In the video for this recipe, Melissa Clark, a consummate professional, removes her roast from the oven, inserts an instant-read meat thermometer, and finds the beef to be exactly the temperature she desires -- 115 degrees. Most of us would not be so fortunate. My roast came out great, too, but I couldn't have done it without a remote meat thermometer. That let me monitor from outside the oven how the beef was doing as it cooked, and I got exactly the degree of doneness I wanted.

Perfect again! My family is tiny, so I cook a two-rib, 2-pound roast. For me, that works out to 20 minutes at 450, then 30 at 350. Medium rare exterior slices for my husband, rare interior slices for the rest of us. I’d add another 10 minutes if I wanted medium rare center. Thanks for a never- fail recipe!!!

A great recipe! Made the herb paste as suggested from sage, garlic, rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper along with olive oil. Roast sat out for three hours before cooking. It was outstanding. The crust was exceptional in its flavor which people were clamoring for. Thanks for this.

The 1960's NY Times recipe can now be found in The Essential NY Times Cookbook (page 519). It is attributed to Ann Seranne.

Small bag of fresh herbs already packaged at Whole Foods to go with our roast. Looks lovely, cooking to begin soon. Serving shrimp as appetizer, an endive and shaved fennel salad with citrus vinaigrette, pomegranate seeds and butter lettuce, a scalloped potato casserole, sautéed rainbow chard with garlic, onion, pancetta and red pepper flakes, GF baguettes, and a GF Schmoo cake and GF pecan pie from Whole foods too. I took it easy on myself this year and decided not to cook all from scratch!

Your idea works well, but I prefer one we learned in England -- use prepared horseradish (1 - 2 Tbsp) that you've squeezed as dry as possible. Whip 1/2 cup heavy cream until soft and fluffy. Stir in the horseradish, a pinch each of dry mustard, superfine sugar, salt, and white pepper. Taste and adjust as needed -- we use the larger amount of horseradish. If using freshly grated horseradish, add about a Tbsp of white vinegar to it about an hour ahead, then squeeze dry.

I cooked a 4 lb roast pretty much as per recipe. I did the paper towel pat-down after setting the roast out for 2 1/2 hours. Just a coarse sea salt and ground pepper rub. I used a remote sensor thermometer set for 125 degrees. Total cook time was approximately 1 hour 40 minutes and was exactly to the desired medium rare doneness. Easy and delicious!

If you're not sure about your oven, turn it to 200 after that initial searing and leave it for two hours. I preheat to 500, insert meat and immediately reduce heat to 475. Then after 7 minutes per pound, turn it to 200 and leave it for two hours. Works beautifully.

thyme rosemary and sage

I don't cook a lot of beef so I was nervous about trying roast for Christmas dinner but I followed this recipe and the roast turned out perfectly.

While the shorter cooking time was attractive, I was dissuaded from using this recipe after considering others, namely Cook's Illustrated - The New Best Recipe (2nd ed.) and The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science (1st ed.). These sources recommend a low temperature; the later addresses this forthrightly in the section titled "The Myth of the Sear." I cooked a 6-lb roast at 225 F, taking 3 hours to reach the proper internal temperature - resulting in a perfect, succulent prime rib!

The times given are difficult to sort out and probably could stand some editing or explanation. At the top it says "At least 2 hours and 20 min. resting time" but Step 3 calls for 20 min. One 1/2 to 2 1/4 hr. roasting time is pretty broad and could be translated into 20 min/lb. I used Joy of Cooking and a trusty regular meat thermometer to figure this out. That said, the finished product was amazing. The smokey herb garlic paste was wonderful. This is now my "go to" recipe.

I have something similar, preheat to 400. Insert roast, roast for 1 hour, turn off oven for 1 hour, DO NOT open the doir during the 2 hours, turns out oerfectly and easy. Season before roasting, as you choose.

Hot serving plates and very hot au jus will help.

For perfect medium-rare, I used a meat thermometer with an alarm, set it for 115. I’ve made this twice now and 120 or 125 is too long to roast it.

Used the rub, which was delicious. Had a very small (2.5#) roast so just cooked it at 325, no sear. Wouldn’t want to burn the herbs & garlic.

This recipe worked perfectly. We did not add the smoked paprika but did the paste of garlic and mixed herbs over the salt and pepper. Let it rest at room temp 2 hours. Cooked to 115 then let rest and it come out perfectly rare-med rare. 125-130. Made the delightful English whipped horseradish cream someone suggested. Only problem-I realized I don’t love Prime Rib. Inside not too tasty, monotonous texture. I prefer grilled rib eye steak, but gotta try. This recipe is the one to use.

This was simply perfect. Thank you!

Best cut of beef there is. This method works great. Other than salt and pepper, and maybe a little garlic, I don't do much with the beef. Once it has rested, I carve the ribs away from the meat to make it easier to carve. The ribs belong to the cook (and his very special friends)!

This recipe is a WINNER! Rosemary, thyme, salt pepper and a combo of butter and olive oil was the perfect coating. Looking forward to the leftovers as we eat every last morsel.

Sadly, this was a bit of a disaster. The roast was tough and tasteless. We were ashamed to serve it to our friends on NYE. And we are very experienced cooks.

You can't blame a tough roast on the recipe. Talk to your butcher.

Ummm..pretty bland. If I do this again, I’d lower the slow roast temperature quite a bit and add more time - my goal would be to achieve a more even medium rare instead of a present wide ring of grey. Second, this definitely needs a sauce. I used plain, fresh horseradish this time. A bernasse would pair nicely.

If you have an older oven, this just doesn't work. My tgurquoise oven (yes I need a remodel) is from 1948. I've had the temperature tested many times because it always seems to run a few degrees less but every technician says it's accurate within 2-3 degrees. It is not. The back of the oven runs much hotter than the front. Anyway, I did the 500F for a 7.5 pound ribeye bone-in and it still is not done. It's 135 in some parts and 111 in others. Back into the oven it goes!

A three bone rib - not sure of exact weight - Fire roasting on a Green Egg. 10 minutes @ 500 then shut down to below 400 - as low as 300 - the stabilized @ 400 ish. Using a ThermoWorks DOT probe… 1 1/2 hours in - set alarm for 113, went off @ 1:30. At 1:50 minutes the temp is 144. Was medium well at best - less than ideal

Hands down foolproof method: insert remote thermometer into center of roast, avoiding bone. Put in cold oven and set oven to 250°. A three bone roast took about 4 hours to reach 118°. Remove from oven, let rest for 30 minutes tented with aluminum foil. The temperature could rise as high as 1:30 while resting and then start decreasing. Return roast to oven after 30 minutes of rest crank oven to 500 for 10 to 15 minutes, watch carefully as the exterior darkens beautifully to a delicious bark.

NYT: resting time say 2 hours 20 minutes at the top. Recipe says just 20 minutes.

The 2 hours happens before you put the roast in the oven. The 20 is after it comes out--part of resting process to reabsorb juices and increase temp of meat.

I used Gaynia Battista's strategy, but checked doneness after little more than 1.5h. It came medium rare perfectly! Thank you! Cooked with quartered apples. Everybody loved it.

" 2 hours 20 min resting time" equals 2 hours pre roast and 20 min afterwards. It is a little confusing.

I did a 3 day dry age in my fridge. Then I removed the fat cap, trimmed some, replaced the fat on top of the seasoning for the first 40 minutes. I had trouble getting the meat to medium rare but I think that is the fault of my thermometer. Anyway delicious! Will cook again for a dinner party or holiday.

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