Advice for my first kettle Prime Rib... Finished - Now with PICS!


 
C

Chris Stanek

TVWBB Fan
I've got my gotten my new Weber rotis all setup and have a decent sized Prime Rib... about 5 bones I think.

I just need some help with the details. I'll be using standard Kingsford.

1) How many coals?

2) Do I light them all at once or should I use some minion style method?

3) Do I bank them on either side or just one side?

4) Target kettle temp?

5) Approx time per pound?

Thanks in advance for the help. Having spent $75 for this hunk of meat, I don't want to screw it up and have a dissappointment like my first cook last weekend.
 
A lot of the answers depend on what you're looking for in a finished product. That being said, if it were me I'd:

Bank the coals on one side, and do a minion start. I like to cook them at as low of a temp that I can sustain, in the 200-250 range, until the internal temp is around 125 or so. At that point I pull the roast and tent it under foil for about a half hour. While it's resting I add more fuel and open up the vents, even offset the lid - get the temp up as high as I can in the kettle. I then let it finish for about 8-10 minutes, still indirect, at that high heat, then pull it off and carve!
 
Wow 75$ is a gret price for a 5 bone roast. I did a 9+lbs roast in the oven for Christmas and it took 4.5 hrs for medium at 160, let rest for 45 min and it came up to 170. Pre heated oven to 450, put roast in for 15 min then reduced temp to 325. It was great but a little over done for my father and I. But I had to please everybody.
 
Regardless of how you cook it, if you want any of it to be a good pink cool medium rare, do not let your internal temperature get over 125 degrees while on the heat. Take it off the heat at that point, loosely cover in foil, and let sit for not less that 20 minutes. I do these fairly often and will never let the center of it get beyond 125 degrees again. If you are worried about scaring any of the women with such a red roast, possibly let it stay on until it hits 130 degrees, but get it out of there immediately. Don't cut it or probe it until a solid 20 minutes or more have passed. Good luck.
 
My butcher had some good deal this past weekend. He also had just regular rib roast for $4.99/lb. I bought two good size samples of that as well.

So basically, I'll go low and slow until I get near the target pull temp then pull it off the rotis and sear it up on a hot fire.

about how many coals should I start with?
 
I'm definately going medium rare. I've just never cooked a Prime Rib in a kettle (this is only my second cook) or on a rotisserie. I've done several in my smoker rig with great results but cooked them at a higher temp... around 325-ish.


Originally posted by C. Moore:
Regardless of how you cook it, if you want any of it to be a good pink cool medium rare, do not let your internal temperature get over 125 degrees while on the heat. Take it off the heat at that point, loosely cover in foil, and let sit for not less that 20 minutes. I do these fairly often and will never let the center of it get beyond 125 degrees again. If you are worried about scaring any of the women with such a red roast, possibly let it stay on until it hits 130 degrees, but get it out of there immediately. Don't cut it or probe it until a solid 20 minutes or more have passed. Good luck.
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The benefit of low temps with prime/rib roasts is that you can achieve the same level of done-ness from edge to edge. Temperature checking is important, and if you plan to sear at the end and want a medium rare finish, I would pull at 120 since it is going to get some high heat, and then rest. Overshooting your temp is unable to be remedied, and if someone wants it done more you'll have plenty of heat left on your coals to just throw their particular piece back on for a short time. Admitedly, I'm horribly intolerant of people that go past medium for their preference, so that influences my temp decisions!
 
Thanx everyone for the solid advice. My prime rib came out absolutely perfect. I would put in the top five of any pr i,ve had. I did take some pics which I'll post later on. Thanx again.
 
Originally posted by Jeremy Erwin:
5 bone roast
oven
medium at 160,
let rest for 45 min and it came up to 170
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Things that should never be used in the same paragraph.
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One more...

It's a bit blurry because I was do **** hungry I rushed the shot so I could eat.

Cauliflower mash, sauted grilled corn, and PR:

025.jpg
 
All in all, I'm quite pleased. The kettle ran hotter than I would have liked. I ran into the problem that a lot of folks have with the rotis leaving the air gap. I didn't have the rope gasket yet but I'll have it on hand for next time. After about an hour, it was still running around 310 even with everything shut down pretty tight. Finally I just shovled out some of the coal and it went right down to about 250. I wish I just would have thought about doing that sooner. Sometimes the simplest answers are the best. I think next time, I'd use about 1/2 to 2/3 of a chimney total with about 12-15 lit instead of the 20 I used.

Still though, it was pretty **** good. It was medium rare pretty much throughout with only a small amount of medium near the edges. I can live with that. The only other thing is that I tied the bones on before I seasoned. That was pretty dumb, but it was getting late and I was in a bit of a hurry.
 
Originally posted by Wolgast:
Looks like you nailed that cook Chris!

Love your backyard
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Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks! That's our little oasis. We spend a lot of time out there. We both have very stressful jobs so it's a nice way to unwind. I'm doing leftover tonight... I can't wait.
 
Looks absolutely wonderful.
Question about the rotisserie itself.
Do you like it? How many pounds of product do you think the motor can handle? Is it fairly easy to balance?

Thanks.
 
Hey John, I'm a huge fan of the rotisserie. I've been a grilling all my life and got into smoking about 5 years ago after exhausting just about everything I could do on my gas grill. I just never messed with charcoal that much for grilling though. I think it was era I grew up in. Anyway, I just finally bought my kettle and ordered the Weber rotis a couple of days later after reading a lot posts on this site.

I've never used a rotis before, but it seemed perfectly intuitive to me. The prime rib in my pics is about 8-8.5lbs. I didn't think the motor had any problem spinning it whatsoever. I think you could easily do a roast twice that and still have no issues whatsoever. I've read guys doing 20+lb turkeys, so I I think it's a pretty hefty unit.

Balancing was easy... I did it the way I thought made since but thinking about it now... maybe there's a more sophisticated way. I just put the roast on as even as I could get it. I then rested the rod in the groves and let it rotate where it wanted... i.e. let the heavier part rotate to the bottom. I then just took my counterbalance and secured 180 degrees from that. Seemed to make sense, but maybe there's a smarter way.. I never thought about it and don't really know better, so if i'm wrong, hopefully someone will chime in and let me know.

Anyway, you won't regret buying the rotis. Believe me, I've eaten a lot of Prime Rib in my day from mom's kitchen to the 5 star restaurants. I would put the PR I had in the top 5 or 10 of any I've had. It was just that good. Obviously the meat itself makes a huge impact and I spared little expense on it, but it was just done so well, so even, and had a fantastic crust on it. I made a standard rib roast last night as well. I just made it for sandwhiches and what not since I had it on hand, but I have to say that came out really really great as well and it wasn't even an expensive grade... just a normal rib roast you'd get anywhere.

I also got the ribolator which I'll be trying out this weekend. Bob is the absolutely the kind of guy you want to do business with. I'm anxious to try that out because I think it just makes the rotis that much more versatile.

Hope this helps.



Originally posted by John Leopard:
Looks absolutely wonderful.
Question about the rotisserie itself.
Do you like it? How many pounds of product do you think the motor can handle? Is it fairly easy to balance?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
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