Standing Rib Roast

I've been getting Good Eats DVDs from the library and one of them was an episode where Alton Brown wants to make a special occasion meal and the butcher suggests a standing rib roast.  Of course, it looks really good in the episode and we thought we'd make it our Christmas dinner.

We have a Von Hanson's not terribly far away and it's kinda cool to have a real butcher, you know?  We got over a pound per person and that kind of adds up at $13/pound.  Just like Alton, the butcher there suggested we let the roast sit in the refrigerator before cooking.  And just like in the episode, I bought a big plastic container (only $3) and drilled holes in it for air circulation.  And we put the roast in there for 3 days.

There were some brown spots afterward, but we were assured by the butcher that any brown spots were fine to serve.  It would have been interesting to weight it before and after like he did on the show to see if ours would also lose a pound or something after aging.

In the episode, he puts the roast in a terra cotta planter, but we thought that might be overkill, considering we just bought a plastic container that, with holes in it, is pretty much only good for future rib roasts.  We do have a pizza stone so we put that in the oven under the roast.  At 200 degrees, it took less than 4 hours to cook to medium rare. And then it cooks at 500 degrees for a half hour and then that's it.

The first cut into the meat was really scary because a lot of blood came out of the meat.  I mean it was like they just cut off someone's arm in Kill Bill.  My brother-in-law was really excited and I would learn right then that he prefers meat "Bloody as hell".  My mom on the other hand would like "Burnt to a crisp."  (That's a Pulp Fiction reference.)  (Shh.  We cut off a piece on the end and microwaved it for like 3 minutes.  In Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, he says they do that at his restaurant.) 

A quick wine reduction sauce with the pan drippings with some sage made a really great sauce.  Everyone got a fairly thick slice and everybody really enjoyed the meal.  We served some asparagus (some it wrapped with leftover prosciutto) and mashed potatoes using America's Test Kitchen's recipe and I think we had a really great Christmas dinner. (And some really awesome roast beef sandwiches the next day.)

Anyway, go give this a try next time you want to make something really cool.  Definitely worth the money.