Prime Rib for Thanksgiving dinner

[rip1877]

There are a few people coming over for dinner and the majority will not eat turkey, so in my wife's infinite wisdom (and true test to making me push my boundaries,) she told everyone I would smoke Prime Rib for dinner. So lets get a few things out of the way... Oh and did I say that this scares me to death that it will be my first time doing this and my wife is hyping me up to the family? I am looking for help from all that care to jump in...

1.) So far my experience with smoking has been Ribs (St Louis and Babyback styles), Chicken (a whole chicken and leg quarters), Bacon (just this last weekend), and 2 t-bone steaks.

2.) I have been working on finding my sweet spots on the vents to get to the 250 and stay there but still not quite there yet.

3.) I am using the WSM 14" smoker

My biggest issue is the prices for the Prime Rib are around $25-$30 per pound and I am looking at needing about 7 pounds. Unless I go with the local butchers who work with the local ranchers here in Texas that don't pay to have the meat graded as USDA Prime and they tell me it goes for $7-$8 per pound.

Since I know in advance this time, I am trying to plan the best I can. I am planning on getting the meat next Monday, then will dry brine it.

Am I looking at 24 or 48 hours to dry-brine this?

What kind of time frame am I looking at for cook time?

I have more but will need to get my scatterbrain together to formulate them into coherent meaning...

[David Parrish]

With prime rib smoke flavor is more pronounced so use a little less wood than you do with the other cooks you mentioned and be vigilant about keeping the Smoke thin white or blue.

The cheaper local meat is the way to go. Look for good marbling.

One to two day dry brine Rome will help quite a bit. Try for one day minimum.

Plan for for a three to four hour cook. Depends on thickness of course.

I prefer cow crust over big bad beef rub for PR.

Trim the fat off around the outside and use twine to make PR as round as possible.

Make sure you sear at the end. Don't skip that step. Makes it better.

[rip1877]

What is the cow crust? Is that using beef love on it?

[fuzzydaddy]

rip1877 here's the cow crust recipe http://amazingribs.com/recipes/rubs_...cow_crust.html

[HawkerXP]

All I can say is "you can do it"!

[smokinfatties]

Hey buddy!

You've got this! Other than the hefty price tag, prime rib isn't a big deal. It's basically a giant steak that you reverse sear. Since you're saving a ton of dough getting the local stuff, it may be a good idea to try to get two of them, or a whole huge one to cut up and take the tapered ends off so that you can do a practice cook.

I usually go boneless but it really isn't that hard to trim the ribs from a bone in roast if you're semi-confident in your knife abilities. I do not proclaim myself to be very great but I trimmed the beef ribs from the prime rib roast pretty easily.

Since it's such a big cut of meat, I usually smoke until 125 or so since it takes quite a bit of time to bring internal temp up when searing. Sear at the end to get some extra good flavor on the outside! There will be plenty of beef goodness on the inside.

If you don't have a rub, I would either do something like a cow crust that David Parrish mentioned or I take BBBR and add some herbs in, or just mix BBBR and some S&G if you have any of that. You can also mix some oil with some herbs and paint that stuff on before the sear.

Let us know if you have any more questions! Not nearly as bad as you think. I usually sear on a gasser or my weber kettle, but if you dont have either of those you can sear on the bottom of that 14" WSM.

I usually try to smoke at very low temps, closer to 200 than 250 but I think youll have a hard time keeping that little WSM that low. Maybe try the fuse method to keep temps low. Here's one I did last year!

[Steve B]

I would pretty much agree with David Parrish the last PR I did was about 4lbs If you keep your temps between 225-250 you'll be fine. I also liked the cow crust for this cook. Also would go with the cheaper price. Cook time should be 3 1/2--4 hrs. And don't over salt when you dry brine, mine came out a little too salty. I think brining Tuesday night for Thursdays dinner will be perfect. Also as David said I would use just a little wood for the smoke flavor. You want to taste the meat. Good luck and don't sweat this one you'll do great. But through all the chaos don't forget to take some pics.

[Steve B]

Oh almost forgot to mention. I would definitely recommend using a boneless rib roast. And as smokinfatties said cook to 125-130 max. But definitely do a reverse sear. You could even do that under the broiler but that might be hard because of everything else trying to being cooked at the same time.

[eddiecalder]

Use very little wood. You could also get lots of smoke flavour from the drippings if you don't put water in the pan. It's even better if u let the fat drip on the coals directly.

[David Parrish]

Use very little wood. You could also get lots of smoke flavour from the drippings if you don't put water in the pan. It's even better if u let the fat drip on the coals directly.

I'd agree with that. One of the best PRs I've ever made was on the PBC. PBC wrote the book on direct coal drippage.

[Jared Bollman]

ON a PBC how much wood would you recommend dropping on the coals (I always add a little)

[David Parrish]

NONE. PBC gives you all the flavor you'll need.

[JohnF]

I second NONE.

[tbob4]

I'm not going to give you advice on cooking it - everyone's advice is spot on. Price is another matter. Do you have a Costco near you? If so, look at their Prime rib-eye roasts. They should run between $8.50 - $12.00 a pound. Make sure you are looking at the prime meat - it you have a question, ask the butcher. Cut off the section you need for the roast and cut the rest into rib-eye steaks. You will be a success with the advice everyone has given you on cooking.

[DeusDingo]

you could also find someone who is a member and have them take you there. from what i've heard you might be sold one their meat department alone.

[Northside Brian]

i was like you David Parrish My first thought was "no way am i going to pay just to shop". Now its my favorite place for meat. If they would only get tri-tip in texas.

[David Parrish]

Mine doesn't carry tri-tip OR whole packers. Lots of ribeyes though! Which are very good.

[rip1877]

Thank you all for the help, I feel much better about this. The plan is to get a rack of Prime Rib, then cut it down to fit into the smoker. We only have about 7 people in total for the dinner this year, so we are looking at the 1lb per person estimate, but with the prices so low I may look to get more and have left overs if I can fit it all in.

[Flavorsavor]

You've already got all the advice you need above, I just want to throw in my vote of confidence. I've done them on my kettle and PBC, and with a little care, attention, and an instant-read thermometer, they're one of the easier cooks we do. You got this!

[Jared Bollman]

can you tell me more about doing them on the pbc. thats the plan for Christmas. Did you hang it or use the grill grate?

[Flavorsavor]

I used the grate and made sure to flip halfway through. It was 6 lbs and from start to finish took about 3.5 hours. I let the PBC do it's thing, cooked to IT around 135. I dumped the coal basket from the PBC into my weber to sear the outside of the roast, and also save the unused charcoal.

[Danjohnston949]

rip1877, Most Butchers sell Prime Rib by the Bone! For 7 Adults And Good (Big) Eaters, I would est You Need a 5-6 Bone Rib Roast, and I would recommend You get the Roast Cut from the Small End! But ask your Meat Market for their Recommendations!
Eat Well and Prosper! From a Backyard Cremator in Fargo ND, Dan

[Jared Bollman]

Let us know how it come out and what you learn. I'm following the same path but for Christmas dinner. I'm worried about it drying out as it seems Rib roasts have a tendency to do that.

[Spinaker]

You will be just fine. As others have said, its the price tag that is the scariest part of this whole thing. I really like MRS. O"LEARY'S COW CRUST as well. Its damn good. I cooked mine at about 275 F, indirectly. Then on a side unit have a really hot fire going. Then you can take it out of the WSM and throw it on the open fire. AS PitBoss said, "Dont skip this step" And I agree. It really does make a difference.
Use your temp probe. (Get a Thermapen if you don't have one) And I like to use the biggest pair of tongs I can find to flip the PR while searing. And try to get the silicone tiped ones, otherwise the metal tongs will scrape off the cow crust while flipping.

I have done them in my PBC and on the KBQ. And they both came out great. The KBQ one was better, especially after searing it on the open fire above. But the PBC one came out great as well.

[bbqoaf]

I prefer steaks and beef roasts like prime rib with no wood smoke at all. Brisket, short ribs and meat balls on the other hand are all about big smokey flavor.

[emil.glatz]

/signed. If you're going to smoke beef, use a cheaper cut. You can certainly grill a great PR, but I oven/gas cook PR until it's about where I want it then sear on wood/coal. That gives just a light hint of smoke while maintaining great beef flavor. If I do rub, I use a very light flavor.

[EdF]

Gotta taste the beef, bbqoaf!

[Dr ROK]

I prefer prime rib off a pellet grill or smoker over an oven any day.

[Ernest]

Costco carries PR at great price.
Forget the additional wood, just go with the charcoal ONLY.

Monday night
Season with Salt, Vacuum seal if possible or wrap with Saran.

Wednesday Night
UNwrap and leave naked on a rack in the refrigerator

Thursday
Pepper.......FIRE! FEAST

Or Get the Anova Sous Vide STICK delivered ASAP!