As with most Thomas Keller recipes - the product is fairly simple, leaving some room for creative variation. In this case, rather than seasoning the roast with just salt and pepper (which I'm sure is fine on its own) - we decided to make a simple rosemary and garlic rub to introduce some unique complimentary flavors to the roast.
Given that I'm not a meat master, I kept the prime rib under my Dad's control while I focused on making some of the side dishes. He knows what he's doing so I knew that the combination of my Dad and Thomas Keller was sure to produce a wonderful product.
Blow Torch Prime Rib Roast
Ingredients
One 2-bone center-cut rib roast (about 4½ pounds), trimmed of excess fat
Kosher salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
coarse sea salt
Rosemary Garlic Rub
Horseradish Cream (recipe follows)
Directions for Prime Rib Roast
Position an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 275°F.
Put the roast on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Hold a blowtorch about 1 inch from the roast and turn to lightly brown the fat on all sides; the idea is to start the fat rendering and to torch the meat just until the surface begins to turn gray. Season the roast generously with salt and pepper.
Transfer to the oven, with the meat toward the back of the oven, and cook until the roast registers 128°F in the center. The total cooking time will be about 2 hours, but begin to check the temperature after 1½ hours. Remove from the oven and let rest in a warm spot for at least 30 minutes for medium-rare.
To carve, cut the meat away from the bones. Separate the bones and put them on a serving platter. Cut the roast in half through the center, turn each piece cut side down, and slice straight down into slices that are about ½ inch thick. Arrange the meat on the platter and sprinkle with gray salt and pepper.
Serve with the horseradish cream on the side.
Horseradish Cream Recipe
makes about 1 cup
Ingredients for Horseradish Cream
½ cup very cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
About ¼ cup drained prepared horseradish
½ teaspoon fleur de sel, or to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
Directions for Horseradish Cream
This is a basic, and very easy, horseradish sauce—prepared horseradish and cream, seasoned with salt and pepper and a little bit of sherry vinegar. It goes especially well with grilled or roasted beef, like this prime rib roast, and the Peppercorn-Crusted Beef Tenderloin (page 47).
Put the heavy cream and vinegar in a medium bowl and whisk until the cream holds a soft shape. Whisk in the horseradish, salt, and pepper.
Refrigerate in a covered container for up to 1 week.
served with Balsamic Glazed Cippolini Onions, Speck Wrapped Asparagus, and Popovers
I am not a fan of horseradish so I can't say I tried the sauce. I ate my prime rib all on its own - no sauce needed. It was certainly flavorful enough on its own - the meat was tender and juicy - with a nicely browned crust despite the low cooking temperature - I think this was the biggest benefit of using the blow torch - allowing for the beautiful crust.
As with most Christmases, the popovers failed. Typically they either burn or do not pop enough. This year, the latter was the case. It's comical - because it is a tradition to have no-so-perfect popovers! Now I must give my Dad credit, I have had a perfect popover during some Christmas dinner - but the ratio of good to bad makes it laughable that we still make them!! Mind you even the unpopped popovers taste really great - and the burnt ones are fine if you peel away any part that is too black - but after this Christmas dinner I was on a quest to try my hand at making these difficult little creature. A few nights after Christmas we had a lamb dinner and I requested to take charge of the popovers and see just how hard they were!
Here's the basic recipe that I used:
Popovers
Ingredients:
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 large eggs - room temperature
1 cup milk - room temperature
melted unsalted butter for brushing the popover pan
Directions:
Into a bowl sift together the flour and the salt. In a small bowl whisk together the eggs and the milk. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture, stirring, and stir the batter until it is smooth. In a preheated 450°F oven heat a six-cup popover pan for 5 minutes, or until it is hot, brush the cups with the melted butter, and fill them half full with the batter. Bake the popovers in the middle of the 450°F. oven for 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 375°F., and bake the popovers for 20 minutes more, or until they are golden brown and crisp (mine needed only about 12 of the 20 minutes).
As you can see - they popped! You can only imagine my excitement when I watched them grow through the oven window. They were light and fluffy and crisp on the outside. I was pleased.
I think the key to popovers is following the nit-picky instructions such as room temperature eggs, room temperature milk, pre-heated popover pans - greased. I also read some recipes that called for chilled batter which I decided not to do. I had already left the butter and milk at room temperature so I thought that chilling the batter would then counteract that feature. However, I'd be open to trying it with another batch - maybe they would pop up even more!
Regardless - these were a success and fairly easy to make. Though I will not knock my Dad for producing "poor" popovers from time to time because I realize that he's been in charge of putting together the entire Christmas dinner. When you have a roast and have to make a sauce/gravy, and sides, and time everything perfectly - it's completely understandable that something as testy as popovers may not always cooperate. Now that I know my way around the kitchen, I'll help alleviate my Dad's responsibilities and perhaps take on the Christmas popovers again next year!
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