Prime Rib Trial Run (pron)

[Learning to BBQ]

So we are having prime rib for christmas dinner for about 6 meat eaters and I've been reading of all farkers here smoking their prime rib, so I asked the wifey if maybe I could try smoking it in the UDS. :crazy: She's scared I'll fark it up and would rather stick with here tried and true oven method. Now I have farked some things up in the past, but have mostly been successful. So I said fark it, PR is on sale this week so why don't I do a trail run on a small roast. Off I go to the store and come back with a roast that is basically a nice thick steak, at 2.7 lbs. Gonna be tough to cook this properly I think.
(.....first time posting pics so hope this works!)

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Cut off the butcher twine which wasn't doing much and the cap(??) basically falls off....
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I want to cook with the bone on, even though its too thin to stand up on it, so I cut off the rib thinking I'll tie it back on at the end. Plus that'll allow me to get rub underneath as well. Used Meathead's rub recipe with water and added salt. Got some under the cap too.
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Figure I need to tie this thing up into as round of ball as I can to make it and squeeze it up a bit thicker so I tied up the meat alone, and just strapped the bone back on after the slab of meat was tied up.
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Threw it in the freezer for a few hours as I want to start with the meat as cold as possible, or even partially frozen. I'm planning on cooking at 225. I'm thinking this is going to be done in an hour and a half, so hopefully a partial freeze will help prolong that so I can get some good smoke on it.

It's also the first time I'll be cooking with lump instead of briquettes, and its pretty windy here today with the temp around freezing. Not sure if i'm going to learn much from this cook, but at least its a good excuse to fire up the drum! :becky:

 

[rjdanko]

Well you caught my attention! Waiting for the results...

 

[landarc]

You have done a lot more than necessary, but, I can see this will be good.

Definitely keep it at 225°F and it won't take very long

 

[Gore]

I don't know if a thread can be outdated, but there is some advice collected here:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=150482

Essentially, you can't mess it up. I do wonder why you want this as cold as possible to start. This is the opposite of what I normally do.

 

[chingador]

Sounds like you are well on your way. For me I cook anywhere from 225 to 275 until internal temp hits 119F. I then let it rest at least 30 minutes. Put in a roasting rack and finish in a 550F oven for 10 minutes. You can also finish on a hot grill. Perfect every time

 

[Learning to BBQ]

Using all my equipment today! Kettle for lighting the lump, gasser for a wind break. :grin:



The lump lights way faster than briquettes, or maybe it was just the wind. In the drum.



Meats on and smoking with cherry



Thanks for the link Gore. Good stuff there. I wanted it cold to extend the cook time actually. Thought otherwise it may cook in 90 mins or less and not get enough time in the smoke. I took it out at only partially frozen. We'll see what happens.

 

[Ron_L]

I'd have a talk with the butcher for cutting the cap off. There's no good reason for that.

 

[Learning to BBQ]

It wasn't actually cut off, it was just hanging on by some silver skin, and when I was trimming some fat off of the top it just let go. Just because its so thin.

 

[Huh? What?]

Waiting to see the results.

 

[Learning to BBQ]

Pulled off at about 115 IT (we like it on the rare side of medium)


Let it rest a while (1/2 hr) and IT did not raise much, so put it back in the oven at 400 until IT of 120+, and took it out and with time getting late put it in the CI pan for a few minutes each side to sear (with au juice from the rest)


Fark it at this point and just let it rest for 15 mins and cut it in half into two "steaks".
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Time to eat, too many servings for the pit boss, :icon_blush: will let you know how it tastes :becky:

 

[ShadowDriver]

Looks great! Hope you and momma are pleased with the results.

 

[landarc]

Man, that looks perfect, nicely cooked

 

[MAB52]

Looks like you nailed it.

 

[smoke ninja]

Nice edge to edge even doneness and i see a smoke ring in there too

 

[Stingerhook]

I really think the wife should go prepare the salad or something like that, you nailed that hunk of meat!

 

[cheez59]

Yessir that chunk of meat could not have been cooked any better.

 

[PaPaQ]

That looks good!

 

[Big George's BBQ]

That looks perfect :thumb:

 

[mjpmap]

Would eat that any day!!!

 

[Learning to BBQ]

It looked good, tasted good, but actually it was really quite tough. I was not impressed. One of the tougher pieces of beef I've ever cooked. The IT was spot on, and like you guys said, it's kind of hard to fark it up.

My grate temps were taking some big swings between 200-275..........man does that lump ever light up fast when you take the lid off. I only have the one temp probe so after an hour or so I took the probe from the grate and put it into the meat. After that I just guessed at grate temps by looking through the exhuast hole and seeing the glow of the coals. It actually was on for almost 2.5 hrs, so i was probably running closer to 200.

Perhaps I farked it up by doing the partial freeze beforehand or maybe it was just not a good piece of meat. But I think even a poor quality piece of meat cooked that low and slow should come out decent.