A Prime Roast

Credit: Hugh Palmer

Most people think of prime rib of beef as the king of roasts—but at our English New Year's Eve dinner, a shell roast was the hero. Ask your butcher for a prime first-cut shell roast of about 8 lbs, with the bone on. (This is unusual, as the bone is nearly always removed.) Have him saw through the chine bone between the vertebrae, then tie the whole roast so that it retains its shape while cooking. After many tests, we settled on an oven temperature of 450° for 9 minutes per lb., or until the temperature in the center of the roast reaches 110°. The meat will continue to cook to 120° as it rests for about 20 minutes, and will be medium-rare on the ends and rare in the middle. Just carve it between the bones into thick slices and serve.

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #15

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Comments (3)

by randyjohnsonhve on 2010-02-15

I believe that this is way too hot to get the best out of a Standing Rib...I stud with garlic,coarse sea salt and course black pepper season, cook at 375F until roast is 70F internal, reduce heat to 200F and cook until 125F internal. Remove from oven, tent, and let rest until temp starts to decrease, about 30 minutes, it will max out at about 133F-135F, before it goes backwards...Cut, serve with au jus, spectacular, tender meat...Also, do not let the butcher cut away the bones, and tie back on, you will just loose moisture unneededly...Just food for thought...Thanks, Randy

by ACHITEA on 2012-04-20

Too hot.
Low and slow is the best for rib roasts. Google it. This is wrong.

by BOB3443 on 2013-02-05

OK, here's the deal. You can bake a Prime Rib or roast a Prime Rib. Roasting IS ALWAYS done at temperatures above 400 degrees. The main benefits are that the meat is quickly seared or crusted over thus sealing in the juices. 9 minutes at 450 degrees does do the job beautifully. The only concern is that you should check the accuracy of your oven's temp. settings.

Relieving the meat from the bone and then tying back onto the ribs will not cause the meat to dry out. It will lead to a very easy carving time when the roast is served.

I personally like rubbing the whole "relieved" roast with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic. I actually prefer using fresh garlic mixed with salt and pepper, but some people just don't like to deal with fresh garlic especially at holiday time.

On a personal note, I have been in restaurant work (mostly in management positions) for better than 50 years. I learned this procedure as a young man and have always had my various staffs prepare Prime Rib in this fashion. In all those years, we literally went through tons and tons and tons of Prime Rib with very few complaints.

Robert Hayes Halfpenny