Standing rib roast again: cooking two of 'em, one medium, one bloody?

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Sapphireblue

Assistant Cook
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
3
I made my own first standing rib roast, just 2 ribs, a few weeks back. I used a recipe in the Lobel's Prime Cuts cookbook. Summary: let roast come to room temp, poke sliced garlic clove in, rub with thyme/kosher salt/coarse-ground pepper; roast in preheated 350 degree oven. The book had it at 18 minutes per pound, which should have been an hour and a half for my five-pound roast, but it took more like 2, and even then it was on the "cool red" side inside, a bit more rare than I like.

But: it tasted SO good. I decided this would be the entree of choice for the next "I've been elected to cook dinner for all my in-laws" type event... and I have just been informed by my dear husband, one is scheduled for 2 weeks from now. Dinner will be for 7 people. I think 3 ribs would feed us all just fine, but I'm thinking instead of doing 2 roasts of 2 ribs each. My husband really liked the medium-well outermost slices of the first one I did. I think a lot of his family would gravitate in that direction too, but if I'm cooking I deserve some nice warm-red-bloody for myself, don't I?

So, I'm looking for some guidance on the timing of doing 2 roasts, one for a little longer so that it turns out approximately only-slightly-pink-medium at the center, vs. the other one which I want medium-rare in the center. I'm wondering if I start off with just 1 roast in the oven and put in a second later, does that slow down the cook rate for both? Assuming two 5-pound roasts at the same 350 degree temp, what sounds right---my first guess would be, say, 3 hours for the first roast, putting in the second 30 minutes in for a total of 2.5 hours cook time for it?

Sorry this is so long and I hope I'm not asking too much. The last time I cooked for this group, I didn't allow nearly enough prep time (on a dish I knew well, even) so they all had to wait way too long for dinner to be ready after they arrived. Don't wanna do that again.

A couple of other random questions:

How long do I need to let two-rib roasts sit after coming out of the oven? Lobel's cookbook says at least 10 minutes for a 3-rib roast but folks here seem to think much longer.

Will my roasts cook unevenly if they fall over on their side during cooking? I did my first one sitting long-ways in my big roaster pan/rack and it started to fall over a bit in the later cooking; I think for two I'll have to do them sitting crosswise and have no idea if they'll stand nicely for me or not. Does the spacing of the two roasts in the roaster pan next to each other matter?

Thank you so much!
 
Welcome to DC, Sapphireblue!

First of all, it's best to cook a roast or roasts using a thermometer to measure temperatures, rather than using a clock to measure time. Your experience with the last roast supports that. Use the time measurement to approximate the right start time so you can plan your meal, but make the final doneness decision based on the meat's temperature.

If you put both roasts in the same pan, they should have several inches of space between them so the hot air can circulate.

Here are some roast doneness temps another member of DC, Goodweed of the North, posted awhile back:

127 degrees F. for rare,
between 135 and 140 for medium rare,
141 to 145 for medium,
146 to 150 for medium well,
160 and above for well done.


Resting, loosely covered with foil should be around 20 minutes for these small roasts. A large roast should rest for even longer.
 
Glad you came to Sapphire's rescue, Andy. I have never attempted this beast so had no advice to offer. Bienvenue, Sapphire. Lots more good advice to be gleaned from this board.
 
Hi Andy! Thanks for your response. I do, and did, use a thermometer when cooking. I actually had originally included in my first post, but removed for length, that after my first rib roast was in the oven 2 hours and the meat thermometer, whose lowest calibration is 120 degrees, wasn't registering anything, I assumed it was broken (we had just unpacked our kitchen after a renovation job and 2 of my three meat thermometers actually HAD been broken!). So I yanked it out of the roast, threw it away, and carved me some beef. Hey, it LOOKED done. Til I cut it open anyway :D

So yeah, definitely good advice on the thermometer, but still for planning purposes was hoping for some loose time guidelines, since my cookbook was so off. My in-laws may or may not take well to being told they'll eat "whenever the meat thermometer says 140."

And, of course, a girl needs some lead time if she is to prepare her legendary mashed potatoes as a side :)
 
Another example of my own genius: I was sitting here going "Wait a minute... I didn't post much info in my profile... how'd they know I was in DC? And why did they assume I was new here? It's been five years, sheesh..."

I just now figured out you didn't mean Washington ;)

Anyway, thanks to you both for the welcome!
 
Check out this website for some help with times.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beef/ClassicPrimeRib.htm


Also, you may want to check your oven temperature with an oven thermometer. Based on your description of the problem with the original roast, there may be a problem there.

In your shoes, I'd go out and buy a Polder digital thermometer with a remote probe. You can use that to test the oven temp and to cook the roasts.
 
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