Roast Prime Ribs of Beef is a wonderful dish often associated with good times with family and friends, especially around the holidays. It is also associated by cooks and would be chefs with some trepidation. It’s understandable since it is a cut that is often one of the largest a home cook will prepare and often the most expensive of all of the typical family roasts. No one wants to serve a slice of a $120 pot roast to the family member that has been jonesing for a tender, medium-rare cut of beef thick as a phone book.
I suspect this is why my Warm/Sear/Roast/Rest Perfect Prime Rib Youtube video is the most popular video on my channel with more than 90,000 views. It is, after all, an almost fool-proof method! Even so, I’ve received many comments asking how that method compares to another popular method often called the Closed Oven Door Method. So I decided to write this blog post and create another video to get the conversation started.
The Closed Oven Door Method is simple and effective.
- First, store the roast, unwrapped, in the fridge overnight so that the outside dries out somewhat. This will ensure a crust will form when cooked.
- Next day, remove it to a counter top for two or three hours so that it comes to room temperature.
- When you are ready to start cooking, preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Season the roast with your desired seasoning – I like only salt and pepper since I love the taste of beef – and place it in the oven.
- From this point forward do not open the oven door. It must remain closed until the very end of the cooking process.
- Cook the roast at 500 degrees for a total time of 5 minutes per pound and then turn the oven off and do not open the door for two hours at which point your roast will be done to a perfect medium-rare from one end of the roast to the other with a nice crusty outside.
Method Pluses & Minuses
The good features of this recipe are that it is simple to do and is practically an autopilot process. As mentioned earlier it provides a consistent level of medium-rare doneness from end-to-end. It also does not require that the meat rest prior to cutting – in a way it has been resting since you turned off the oven two hours prior. As soon as the two hour closed oven door period has ended you can slice the roast without fear of watching the juices run.
That said, it is not without drawbacks. For example, this is not a method I typically use because of one of those drawbacks. Let me explain: I like rib medium-rare but my wife likes it medium-well. Closed door method yields medium-rare straight through the roast. The Warm/Sear/Roast/Rest method I normally use delivers a roast that is cooked rare in the center and gets progressively more well-done toward the ends – perfect for my wife and I.
Also, the closed oven door method ties up the oven while the roast continues to cook so if you have a single oven and you are planning to cook another dish you will need to wait out the two hour closed door period.
Finally, if you are hoping to make a jus lie or gravy from the drippings you will be disappointed as all of the drippings will likely have burned to the bottom of the roasting pan and there is not enough Sauternes in France do deglaze it.
So now that you know all about the Closed Oven Door Method of cooking prime rib you can decide for yourself if it is the method for you.
Let us know what you think about this method vs others. You can join the conversation in the “Leave A Comment” section below. You can also reach us by clicking on the “Forums” link in the menu at the top of the page or by leaving a comment on our Youtube channel at https://studio.youtube.com/video/KqASVzuMS8Y/edit .
Closed Oven Door Method For Roast Prime Ribs Of Beef
Ingredients
- 1 Each Bone In Prime Rib Roast 2 pound minimum Feeds 1-2 persons per pound of raw weight
- 2 Tbsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Pepper
Instructions
Special Notes
- This recipe makes use of residual heat and requires that the oven door only be opened twice – once to insert the roast and once again at the end of the entire cooking process. If you open the oven door at any other time, heat will be lost and the meat will not be cooked properly.
- Save the packaging label or ask your butcher to note the precise weight of the roast. You need it to calculate cooking time.
Mise en place
- On the evening prior to cooking, unwrap the rib roast and allow it to sit in the refrigerator uncovered overnight so that the exterior becomes dry. This will ensure that a crisp crust will form when cooked.
- Two or three hours prior to cooking remove roast to counter top so that it may come to room temperature.
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Season outside of roast with a generous amount of salt and pepper.
- Calculate cooking time by multiplying the weight of the roast in pounds by 5. This is the number of minutes the roast will be cooked at 500 degrees. For example, an 8 pound roast would cook for 40 minutes since 8 X 5 = 40. A 5 pound roast would cook for 25 minutes since 5 X 5 = 25.
- Place the roast in the 500 degree oven and set the timer for the amount of time you calculated in step 3.
- When the timer expires turn off the oven. You must leave the roast in the oven with the door remaining closed for 2 more hours so set your timer for two more hours. Do not open the oven door.
- When the 2 hour timer expires the roast is done. Open the oven door now and remove, slice and serve the roast.
- If desired, you may be able to make a jus by pouring out the fat from the cooking pan and deglazing the pan with wine, beef stock or water. However, the high cooking heat that this method uses may not render font that can easily be deglazed. Fortunately, if followed precisely the roast will retain a lot of moisture and can be enjoyed without adding jus or gravy.