Prime Rib on WSM - suggestions?


 
Dave Penn

Dave Penn

TVWBB Fan
I did a 5-1/4 lb. prime rib for dinner yesterday. Turned out pretty well overall. Made a past of fresh thyme, marjoram, rosemary, garlic, and olive oil and let the paste sit on it for an our or so prior to putting it on the WSM. Ran it at 300 degrees over mesquite for about 2 hours and 20 minutes until it hit 120 degrees internal temperature. I might pull it a couple degrees sooner next time, since it continued to rise while it rested and ended up at 131 degrees after 40 minutes of resting time. Fairly mild smoky taste on the outside, and fabulously tender all the way through.

I'm considering un-tying it next time and trimming some of the fat off in order to get more smoke and flavor into it from the outside.

I'm also looking for a way to drive more flavor into the center of the meat. What have you guys tried that's worked well? I'm considering a brine or marinade, maybe un-tying it and stuffing it with an herb mixture and tying it back up...? I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks!

Just home from the butcher shop...
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On the WSM, ready for its trip to the land of yummy...
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Time to bring it in to go night-night for a little while...
prime_rib_smoker_done_small_zpsb9919bef.jpg


Let's eat!
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That looks perfect, got to try that. Can you use an injector and put in some additional blended seasoning into the heart of it?
 
If you want flavor prob have to stuff or inject. From what I've read and seen so far is that marinade really doesn't go that deep, only the salt moves into it deep. I don't want anything other than beef flavor when I enjoy prime rib though, so salt getting deep is all I like. I can see how it's nice to mix it up sometimes.

When you say untie and roll, are you going to butterfly it or something? I think that wouldn't be a prime rib roast anymore would it if it was cut in any way? I can see how a little less fat may be good, give it more room to render what's there. I know on porchetta I always get better results when I do that but it's in the center of a rolled roast so it can't render out either. A lot of chewy fat ain't good for sure! A little bit of that softer fat I like though, and with lots of crispy is my idea of perfection. That roast you did looks mighty fine to me, I'd eat it!
 
I would sooner do two small roasts than one big one. We will often buy the smaller roasts with one or two bones. It's just easier to get the smokey flavour. I guess it's a bit of a trade off because I have more well done meat from four sides instead of two but it's all good.
 
I like Timothy's Red Oak idea, like a lot of folks do Tri-Tips. You can try injecting
with some beef broth too. The prime rib in your picture looks really good.
 
That looks good to me. I usually do prime rib on the OTG rubbed with Kosher salt and cracked pepper. I like to taste the beef so I don't apply any extra smoke during the cook. Applying smoke to prime rib makes it taste like hot dogs to me. That being said I certainly wouldn't turn down a piece of your prime rib. :)
 
I smoked a few standing rib roasts very similar to the way you describe and got similar results, where I thought they were good but not great. I switched to beef tenderloin, used a virtually identical procedure (including the herb paste), but added a searing step at the end. The results turned out GREAT. When I make it for get-togethers, it always goes fast, there are never leftovers, and now friends and family request it frequently. I think one of the big differences has to do with the difference in the diameter of a standing rib roast as compared to the diameter of a tenderloin. In the tenderloin, there just isn't such a large inner section that lacks some of the smoky, herb flavor of the outer sections. Somewhat related, you get a better ratio of smoky, herb flavored outer meat to less flavored inner meat. I doubt I'll go back to the standing rib roasts and will probably stick with tenderloins instead. If I try another one, I will definitely add the searing step at the end.
 
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When you guys mention searing are you going to set up hot charcoals on the grill and do it like that? Going to try this soon so any suggestions would be welcomed.
 
Bill Schultz said:
When you guys mention searing are you going to set up hot charcoals on the grill and do it like that? Going to try this soon so any suggestions would be welcomed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the general idea Bill. I've done this with a couple of roasts, and it did add some flavor. I'm sure it'd really add some flavor to a tenderloin too. I'd consider doing it with a prime rib although I'd want to trim most or all of the exterior fat off the raw roast and re-tying it; there's no point searing something you're not going to eat. I suppose you could slice a prime rib up post-smoke and sear the slices but at that point you're eating rib eye steaks, so you might just as well start with the steaks.
 
Yes. I fire up the OTG about 30 or 40 minutes before the tenderloin is ready to come off the smoker, and get my GrillGrates good and HOT. I typically sear it for a total of about 7 or 8 minutes with the lid off (2 minutes on the two larger sides (I guess I'd call them the top and bottom sides) and 1.5 minutes on the two smaller sides). To get cross-hatched sear marks on the top and bottom sides, I'll usually do 1 minute, pivot about 45 degrees, and go 1 more minute before rolling it to the next side.
 
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