Published November 1, 1995.
For a roast that's as pink, juicy, and tender at the surface as it is in the center, sear it first, then roast it long and low.
A prime rib is a little like a turkey: You probably cook only one a year, usually for an important occasion, almost always for a crowd. Although you know there are alternative cooking methods that might deliver a better roast, they're too risky. You don't want to be remembered as the cook who carved slices of almost raw standing rib, or the host who delayed dinner for hours waiting for the roast to get done. Rather than chance it, you stick with the standard 350 degrees for X minutes per pound.
We wanted to find the best way to cook a prime rib, a method that guaranteed a crisp, brown crust and perfectly cooked, moist interior.
Surprisingly, our perfect prime rib turned out to be one cooked in a 200-degree oven. Unlike roasts that cooked at higher temperatures, this one was rosy pink from the surface to the center and was the juiciest and most tender of all the roasts we cooked. The only thing that bothered us about this slow-roasted prime rib was its raw-looking, unrendered fatty exterior. By searing the meat on top of the stove before low-roasting it, though, we solved this problem.
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