The outside of the roast is nice and brown and tasty, and the inside is superb!
If you serve this for guests, the house will smell wonderful when they arrive!
Method Summary: Figure out when you want to sit down and work backwards from that. There will be an oven pre-heat period, cooking period, "resting" period, and a re-heat period.
Here are his steps:
2. Decide when you want to sit down to eat.
3. Plan. Use a clock and work backwards.
4. From what the clock says when you want to sit down to eat, back up 2 hours (this is the "resting" period).
5. Back up 15 minutes more (this is for the reheat period). Note this time.
6. Calculate the cooking period: This is the weight of the roast x the "magic number."
The weight should be expressed with the ounces as a decimal; this is normally the way weight is expressed on the meat wrapper. Ex.: 5 3/4 pounds is 5.75 pounds.
The "magic number" refers to the done-ness you want. Here is the table:
Multiply the weight by the magic number for the cooking period in minutes.
7. Back up again for the cooking period. Note this time.
8. Back up 10 minutes more for oven pre-heat period. Note this time. This is the time you turn on the oven.
9. The planning is done.
10. Place roast on a rack and the rack on a shallow pan. (I put a piece of aluminum foil on a jellyroll pan, making a "French seam" if I must use two pieces to get the width. I spray the rack with Pam.
Don't put salt on the roast because it draws out the juices, which you don't want. It's the same reason you don't drink water from the ocean when you're stranded on a life raft.
11. Turn oven on at 375 degrees at the clock time calculated and noted in step 5.
12. Roast the number of minutes you calculated and clock time you noted in step 4.
13. Turn off the oven. This will be the clock time you calculated in step 3.....BUT.....
***Do not open oven door*** now or at any time until you are ready to take the roast out to serve it. Let roast sit in oven undisturbed. Do not even peek. Choose your veggies accordingly because you won't have access to the oven (for baked potatoes, for example).
14. 15 minutes before you want to sit down (clock time calculated in step 5), turn the oven back on at 375 degrees. You have not opened the oven door, yes?
15. Remove roast at the clock time you calculated to sit down.
16. Cover roast with foil to keep it warm if there are some last-minute preparations to be done. (The salad is tossed, right? No? You have to start from scratch washing the lettuce?! Ack! Your roast will be cold!)
17. Call the family. By the time they all get to the table - - having stopped by the bathroom and whatever else should have been done long before dinner was called because they knew what time you'd be serving - - you will have carved the meat and be ready to serve.
My family likes this with horseradish (mixed with some sour cream, straight, or buy "creamed horseradish" - - I still mix in some more straight horseradish), caesar salad, and my mom's stuffed potatoes.
Recipe: Bake half as many potatoes as diners. Cut in half lengthwise and scoop out flesh. Mash flesh and mix in some sour cream, cream, and/or butter. Stuff skins; put a little cheese on top; may be made ahead to this point. Refrigerate if you like. (I don't bother because the potatoes are already cooked.) Reheat in the (microwave). I usually bake an extra potato to make sure there is enough stuffing and in case I damage one of the skin cases, which I usually do.
Caution: Keep track of what you are doing when cooking prime rib this way. One time I forgot to turn the oven off after the magic number cooking time and was very upset.