Dry Aged Prime Rib part 3 The finale!

Posted by Jill , , Monday, December 25, 2017 7:41 AM

The time has come to cook our beautifully aged prime rib roast! Unwrap the cheese cloth and dispose.

Use a very sharp knife and trim just the very hard, dark, driest edges off the roast.

Using a sharp paring knife cut "X" holes in the top to stud with garlic cloves

Now to the salt crust! Use coarse Kosher salt, I prefer Morton.

Add water a little at a time to a dry snowball consistency

Lay down a one inch thick base layer on your baking pan and place the roast bones down on the salt bed

Starting on the top, pat a one inch thick layer over the fat cap of the roast. You will pull salt up the sides and don't worry if some falls off the ends or sides. As long as it is mostly covered, its all good. 
Insert you meat thermometer carefully to get it to the center of the roast.

Bake at 325-ish for about 20 minutes per pound. This Roast started out at 12.6 ponds. Loss of moisture in aging and then the trimming probably came down almost a pound so I'm planning about 3 hours give or take 20-30 minutes. This is when the thermometer is really important. Don't forget that your roast will need to rest for about 20-30 minutes before you cut it and it will "cook more" so plan for this when you pull it. I will probably pull at about 130 degrees and it will rest up to about 140 in the center. The ends will be more well done. My people fight for the end cuts (butt cuts).
Out of the oven, the salt from the sides shrunk away, discard the salt.

Rest for 20 or so minutes to let the juices settle
You can see how the bones separated from the roast when the strings were removed. this is why you ask the butcher to "cut and tie" your roast.


These bones have the sweetest meat on them and are sent to the freezer just the way they are to become my famous beef barley soup on another day.

**One final note, my meat thermometer was "off" about 20 degrees so our roast came out a bit more done then I would have preferred but most we have many "medium" eaters so it was all good. I will be buying a new thermometer! It was still delicious!


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Dry Aging Prime Rib Part 2

Posted by Jill , , Sunday, December 17, 2017 5:05 PM

Heeelllloooo!  Since there was so much interest in this technique, I decided to give you a sneak peek!  This is after one week dry aging in the beer fridge. As you can see, the dark spots are drying out sealing the meat and the enzymes in the meat are doing their good work tenderizing the roast. I  re-wrapped in fresh cheese cloth, now back to the fridge until cooking day on Christmas eve!




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Dry Aging A Prime Rib Roast part 1

Posted by Jill , , Sunday, December 10, 2017 5:46 PM


Hello again friends. Its hard to believe I haven't made a post for a year. Ok maybe its not hard. Time is just flying by so fast. Make sure you stop and smell the roses.

I thought I had a demo on dry aging a prime rib (or any other roast at least 4 pounds in weight) but I guess not. I see the salt crust cooking techniche but not the aging. So here we go!

Step one, buy an amazing hunk of beef! This is a gorgeous prime rib I bought from the Blue Max boys on Canyon. It is the "small end" so the first bone is only about 4 inches long. This is the more tender end of the roast. This is a 5-bone roast weighing in at 12.6#. It will loose a little weight in the aging process due to loss of moisture.

Hello my succulent roast beast! You have to request the small end from the butcher. I also had them "cut and tie" which means the bones are cut off then tied back on again (see the strings?)
I also requested he leave a bit more of the fat cap on the roast. Normally a bit more of the fat would be removed but for the drying process, this is best to leave mostly intact.

Next we wrap in cheese cloth. You can find this at Bed Bath or its actually cheaper for a much larger piece if you buy it at the craft or fabric store! 

Wrap it up like a mummy and place on a rack on a sheet pan. You need the rack so that air circulates around the whole roast. 

Next place the roast in the very back of your fridge. It is the coldest spot. I have the luxury of having a "beer fridge" so its ok that it takes up a lot of space. After 24 hours, I will replace the cheese cloth with new as the first day quite a bit of liquids will come out of the roast. 

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