Standing Rib Roast

Last year I attempted to make a standing rib roast. I was a virgin rib roaster and I still had my crappy old Sears Outlet stove. And little did I know, but I selected a pretty crappy recipe to follow, too. Needless to say, it sucked. The seasoning, not tasty; the meat, too rare. What an expensive disappointment.

I opted to cook a regular old turkey for Christmas this year.

And then The Fresh Market went ahead and featured Standing Rib Roasts for $7.99 a pound. I felt a faint tug in the direction of the meat counter. No, no, no. I only stopped in to pick up a couple of pork chops for dinner. Oh dear, one of the roasts appeared small, in fact, it was a one-rib rib roast. I broke down and purchased the thing.

I found a recipe for Rosemary Rib Roast in the Williams-Sonoma Holiday Entertaining recipe book and prepared the roast thusly this past Sunday:

3 pound rib roast (3 inches thick), tied
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste

Let roast stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine butter, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Slather the butter mixture all over the roast. Place the roast in a roasting pan, rib side up. Let the roast cook for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and roast for 1 hour. Take roast out of oven and loosely tent with foil. Let the roast rest for about 15 minutes. Slice thinly and serve.

I now understand the joys of a Standing Rib Roast. What beefy deliciousness. I really think the high heat at the beginning made all of the difference (and a more manageable piece of beef).