Rib Roast
It is more convenient to have your butcher remove the ribs and roll and tie the roast into a nice shape. This done, wipe it carefully, dredge as for sirloin, and roast in the same way.
A cross-reference recipe: it assumes you have already read the sirloin entry, and its only real content is the instruction to have the rib bones removed so the meat can be rolled and tied. Two points carry the whole thing — the shaping of the roast and the temperature you take it to.
- What "dredge" means hereWipe the surface dry, then rub it over with flour seasoned with salt and pepper. The flour browns into a crust and thickens the pan drippings; it is not a batter or a coating in the modern sense.
- Boned and rolled cooks slowerRemoving the ribs turns a shallow standing roast into a thick cylinder, and heat has to travel further to the centre. Allow more time per pound than for the same weight left on the bone.
- Ask for the bonesHave the butcher tie the roast and send the rib bones along. Set the roast on them in the pan as a rack, and they will enrich the drippings.
- Go by a thermometer, not the clockPull the roast at 125F in the centre for rare, 130 to 135F for medium rare; it will climb about 5 degrees as it stands.
- Rest before carvingFifteen to twenty minutes under loose foil. A rolled roast holds a great deal of juice, and cutting it straight from the oven loses it to the board.
- YieldA boneless rolled rib of 4 to 5 lb will serve about eight, depending on appetites and on the shrinkage of the cut.
Rib roast was a standard set piece of a Sunday or holiday dinner in any household that could afford it. The instruction to send the work out to the butcher reflects a time when meat was commonly cut to order at a shop. Boning and rolling was often preferred in smaller households partly for carving -- a tied cylinder yields neat round slices that anyone at the table can manage, where a standing rib needs a practised hand and a long knife.