Rib Roast

I have always believed that old saying “variety is the spice in life” was true, no pun intended, as in this case spice is one of the things we are talking about. Lately I have returned to the basics when cooking beef and that is a simple coating of coarse sea salt, coarse ground black pepper, and a sprinkling of garlic and onion powder. The old saying even goes for the type cooker and method I use to cook the meat on. When planning to cook this 4.89 lb boneless Rib Roast I was about to sear it in my Portable Kitchen and move inside to the stove to finish when it occurred to me that the Traeger Pellet grill was the perfect cooker for such a cook and there would be no need to sear. I seasoned the meat about 1 hour before the meat was to be put on the cooker and added a mixture of prepared horseradish mixed with olive oil on the fatty meat side then carefully tied it with a 1 inch slice cut off for the well done person in the house tied back on the whole roast. Since it was boneless (I prefer bone in), I placed it on a rack in a metal pan with one cup of fresh brewed coffee added to make an au jus and started the cook which took about 2 ½ hours to complete at 350 cooker temp. I used a Maverick remote probe placed in the center of the roast and watch some TV while it cooked totally unattended except for my watchful eye on the remote. The hardest part of cooking beef for me is the much needed rest after taking the meat off and I knew it was even more important for this nice roast so I forced myself to give it a full 30 min rest before slicing. Since I do have that person in the house that likes well done beef, the meat was cooked to 140 internal temp which is 5 to 10 degrees more than I normally would do, but I find that is not a big deal on this cut of meat because the outer muscle is so moist and tender even when cooked to 140. If it were not for the person that did not want their meat well done getting robbed of that outer portion in their slice you could provide the well-done person with the outer part, eliminating any additional steps in your cook. Prime Rib Roast are not cheap but I believe they are a perfect cut for both the Traeger Pellet grill and the perfect cut to satisfy both the well done meat person and those that like their meat rare or medium rare at the same time. Cooking in the oven instead of on a grill or smoker would not be a problem for a grill o maniac like myself either. The moral of the story – look for a managers special on one of these and try it yourself. This roast was 4 bucks a lb and I will probably never get as much out of 20 bucks again if I live to be a 100. Stick with USDA choice or better and you will be a happy camper.