Recipes
Standing Rib Roast
A beautiful standing rib roast is my favorite holiday centerpiece. This is no surprise since a bone-in ribeye is my favorite steak, and a standing rib roast is really a giant ribeye steak. Of course, every roast tastes better when cooked on the grill with some wood smoke, but this particular recipe raises the bar. We take a page from Adam Perry Lang’s playbook and create a wonderful "board dressing" with fresh herbs. The board dressing concept is a great one; shared in his new cookbook, Charred and Scruffed. Fresh herbs and other ingredients are mixed with the juices from the roast, right on the cutting board.
This recipe is really very simple, despite the detailed instructions.
Serves 6
Ingredients
Directions
Ingredients
- 3-bone standing beef rib roast, 6 to 7 pounds (don’t let the butcher cut the meat away from the bones and tie it back together– you’d prefer to do this yourself when carving the finished roast so you can maximize the flavor benefits of cooking a bone-in cut of meat)
- 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon dried chopped garlic (chopped garlic is preferred to granulated garlic or garlic powder because the larger pieces hold their flavor longer)
- 1 large pinch dried sliced onions (dried onion slices are preferred to onion powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup fat trimmings from the roast
- 2 tablespoons European-style unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, picked and chopped (choose sprigs with large, soft leaves)
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (I use Blis 9-year-old Maple Sherry Vinegar)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 large shallot
- About 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
- 2 cups apple wood chips (1 cup soaked, 1 cup dry) for 2 foil smoking envelopes
- Score the roast all over to increase the surface area for browning.
Tips for Preparing the Recipe on a Kalamazoo Hybrid Grill
- A Kalamazoo K750 Series Hybrid Fire Grill will maintain 350°Fwith a single main burner running on medium. Preheat the grill with all main burners on high, then turn off two adjacent main burners and the ignition burner. Set the remaining main burner to medium to cook the roast. Place the smoking envelope inside the Hybrid Fire Grilling Drawer above the active burner.
Directions
About 60 minutes before cooking, pull the roast from the refrigerator and pat the surface dry. Trim the outer layers of fat off the roast, leaving no area greater than 1/8 inch thick. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the fat trimmings. Use a very sharp knife to score long slits between the bones, and then score a crosshatched pattern over every surface of the meat, including the sides (see the photo to the right). The crosshatches should be about 1/2 inch apart and 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep. This increases the surface area for browning the exterior of the roast and greatly adds to the flavor.
Create the rub by combining the whole peppercorns, dried garlic, dried onion, cayenne and coriander seeds in a spice grinder. Grind it all together to a fine consistency. Combine the spice mixture with the kosher salt. Brush the outside of the roast with olive oil, and then season with the rub, pressing it into the meat with your fingers. Use all of the rub mixture.
Let the roast rest for 1 hour total before putting it on the grill.
Prepare the grill for roasting (indirect grilling) at 350°F and start the wood smoke from the first foil smoking envelope.
Place the roast directly on the grill grate in the indirect zone with bones down and pointed toward the fire. Place the smoking envelope above the fire. Close the hood and roast at 350°F for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours total. You will rotate it after 45 minutes.
While the roast begins cooking, start the board dressing. Combine the reserved fat shavings with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a small non-stick pan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and continue simmering for 20 minutes to render the fat. Remove from heat. Discard the solids. Add the rosemary, thyme, sherry vinegar and soy sauce to the liquids in the pan.
After the first 45 minutes, rotate the roast 180° so that the bones are still down, but now pointed away from the fire. Add the second foil smoking envelope. Roast for another 20 minutes with the hood closed, then turn the roast onto its side and face the bones toward the fire. Turn the roast over onto its other side and with the bones facing away from the fire.
Place the pan with the board dressing ingredients back over low heat. Keep at a very low simmer to soften the herbs until the roast comes off the grill.
Continue cooking with the hood closed for 25 minutes more, and then check the temperature. Use an instant-read meat thermometer inserted through the side of the roast two-thirds of the way toward the narrow end. Use care to keep the probe away from the bones.
For medium-rare, remove the roast from the grill when the internal temperature reads 125°F. If the meat is not yet ready at the 90 minute mark, place it back on the grill grate with the bone side down and the bones pointed toward the fire until it reaches 125°F.
Chop the parsley on a recessed carving board. Use a microplane to grate the shallot directly on top of the parsley. Pour the board dressing ingredients from the pan on top of the parsley and shallot. Transfer the roast from the grill to the cutting board on top of the board dressing ingredients, and let it rest for 5 minutes. The juices from the meat will mingle with the other board dressing ingredients. Carve the roast by first slicing between the bones and the main part of the roast to remove the bones. Next, slice the meat into 1/2-inch to 1-inch thick slices according to your liking. I prefer to then cut each slice into 2 or 3 smaller pieces, and I discard any large pieces of fat from the ribeye before serving.
Transfer the meat to a serving platter. Use a silicone spatula to thoroughly mix the board dressing on the carving board, and then pour and scrape the dressing over the carved roast.
Enjoy!