The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

(Nandana) #1

Q: What exactly is a prime rib roast?
To locate the prime rib, start by cutting your favorite steer
neatly down the center from head to tail. Set aside one half
for another use. Place your hand on the back of the other
half and feel your way back along its vertebrae until you
start feeling ribs. Count backwards to the sixth rib, and cut
crosswise through the meat in front of it.
Then continue counting back until you get to rib 12 and
cut behind it, again crosswise. Reserve the head and tail
section for another use, saving the ribs you just cut out.
Now saw the ribs off at about 13 to 16 inches down their
length and set aside the belly section. Take off the hide, and
what you’re left with is the prime rib. It consists of seven
full ribs with a large eye of meat running along their
backside. This meat is part of the loin muscle of the cow, the
same muscle that New York strip, rib-eye, and Delmonico
steaks are cut from. It’s also often referred to as a “standing
rib roast,” because, well, it comes from the ribs and it stands

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