Prime Rib Au Poivre for New Year’s Dinner

Master Chow loves prime rib, and I had never made it, so this past New Year’s Day I decided to cook up a three-rib roast for him, and learn a few things in the process.

First, I found the meat on sale (at Whole Foods, no less!), and aged it for a week in the refrigerator.  Basically, that involved simply wrapping the roast in cheesecloth, and changing the wrapping a couple times.  To prevent the cheese cloth from sticking to the rib, unwrap and rewrap the cheese cloth after the first day. Before applying any seasoning, cut off the discolored exterior fat and meat of the roast.

Master Chow likes to be able to taste the meat he eats, so I decided on a Prime Rib Au Poivre recipe in the December 1998 issue of Bon Appétit.  He tells me that this is the best meal I’ve ever made for him, and he sat there chewing with his eyes closed, and occasionally murmuring that it was “soooo good.”  If you read the comments that accompany the recipe on the Bon Appetit web site, you will see that a lot of people feel the same way.

The one thing I did after I pulled the roast out of the oven was to pick off all of pepper coating – it seemed really, really strong, and looked a bit burned.  The bottom line, though, is that the flavor had permeated the meat, and Master Chow thought it was wonderful.  I served it with really sticky rice, and iceberg lettuce wedges, which is the only way to go according to my husband, because it’s really good at sopping up the gravy.  And the gravy was good, too!

This is my submission for Yvonne’s Magazine Mondays, so be sure to go over to her blog and see what she and others cooked up from their stack of food magazines!  Recipe after the jump.

Roast Prime Rib au Poivre
Adapted from a recipe in Bon Appetit

• 1 5 to 6-pound prime rib beef roast (about 3 ribs), excess fat trimmed, aged if you like
• 1 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 Tablespoon grainy mustard
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon mixed whole peppercorns, coarsely crushed
• 1/3 cup minced shallots
• 3 1/2 cups canned beef broth
• 1/3 cup Cognac or brandy

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 450°F. Place beef, fat side up, in shallow roasting pan. Sprinkle beef with salt. Mix mustard and garlic in small bowl. Spread mustard mixture over top of beef. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons crushed peppercorns over mustard mixture.

Roast beef 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325°F. Roast until meat thermometer inserted into center of beef registers 125°F. for medium-rare, tenting loosely with foil if crust browns too quickly, about 2 hours 45 minutes. Transfer beef to platter. Tent with foil to keep warm.

Pour pan juices into 2-cup glass measuring cup (do not clean pan). Freeze juices 10 minutes. Spoon fat off top of pan juices, returning 1 tablespoon fat to roasting pan. Reserve juices.  If the pepper flavor is too strong, or the coating looks burned, you can pick it off and the meat will still be well flavored.

Melt fat in same roasting pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté until tender, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan, about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Add canned beef broth, then Cognac (liquid may ignite). Return pan to heat and boil until liquid is reduced to 2 cups, about 15 minutes. Add pan juices and remaining 1 teaspoon crushed peppercorns. Transfer pan juices to sauceboat.

Carve roast and serve with juices.