Prime Rib Roast: The Closed-Oven Method

Ingredients

Instructions

1. 1Gather the ingredients.
2. 2The night before cooking the prime rib, unwrap the roast and let it sit uncovered in the refrigerator. This will dry out the surface, making it easier to get a nice brown color on the roast.
3. 3Three hours before you want to begin cooking, take the roast out of the fridge and place it on a sheet pan at room temperature.
4. 4Half an hour before you start roasting, position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 500 F. Season the meat generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper .
5. 5Now it's time to do your calculation. Simply multiply the weight of your roast (in pounds) by 5. That's your total roasting time in minutes. For instance, if you have a 4-pound roast, 4 × 5 = 20 minutes. An 8-pound roast? 8 × 5 = 40 minutes. Remember that number.
6. 6When you're ready to cook, set the roast in a roasting pan with a rack, fat-side up. If you're nervous about the cooking time, you can insert a meat thermometer or a digital probe thermometer into the deepest part of the meat, being careful not to hit the bone.
7. 7Roast them for however many minutes you calculated above. When the time's up, turn off the oven, and walk away. Do not open the oven door for any reason for the next 2 hours.
8. 8In 2 hours, take the prime rib out of the oven, carve, and serve right away. If you use a thermometer, you'll see that the internal temperature of the meat has reached 130 F, perfect medium-rare.