I hope, you too!) will never again serve anything but a
perfectly cooked roast.
First, a definition of perfection:
- Commandment I: The Perfect Prime Rib must have a
deep brown, crisp, crackly, salty exterior crust. - Commandment II: The gradient at the interface between
the brown crust and the perfectly medium-rare interior of
the Perfect Prime Rib must be absolutely minimized (as in,
I don’t want a layer of overcooked meat around the
edges). - Commandment III: The Perfect Prime Rib must retain as
many juices as possible. - Sub-Commandment i: The Perfect Prime Rib must be
cooked without the use of heavy or specialized
equipment, including propane or oxyacetylene torches,
sous-vide machines, and C-vap ovens.
Highs and Lows
Before I tried to start figuring out how to achieve all these
goals simultaneously, it was helpful to note that when
cooking beef to medium-rare, there are really only two
temperatures that matter:
125°F is the temperature at which beef is medium-rare—
that is, hot but still pink, cooked but still moist, and able to
retain its juices. Any higher than that, and the muscle
fibers start to rapidly shrink, forcing flavorful juices out of
the meat and into the bottom of the roasting pan.
- 310°F is the temperature at which the Maillard reaction—