Prime Rib

Ingredients:
1 Standing rib roast, 3 to 7 ribs (estimate serving 2 people per rib), bones cut away from the roast and tied back to the roast with kitchen string (ask your butcher to prepare the roast this way)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Prepare:
Remove roast from the refrigerator, loosely wrapped, a few hours before cooking.
Roasts should always be brought close to room temperature first, before they go in the oven.

If your butcher hasn't already done so, cut the bones away from the roast and tie them back on to the roast with string. This will make it much easier to carve the roast, while still allowing you to stand the roast on the rib bones while cooking.

Preheat your oven to 500°F, or the highest it will go. Generously sprinkle salt and pepper all over the roast.

Place the roast, fat side up, rib side down in a roasting pan in oven.

After 15 minutes on 500°F, reduce the heat to 325°F. To figure out the total cooking time, allow about 13-15 minutes per pound for rare and 15-17 minutes per pound for medium rare. The actual cooking time will depend on the shape of the roast and your particular oven. A flatter roast will cook more quickly than a thicker one. So make sure to use a meat thermometer. If in doubt guess to the rare side.

Roast in oven until thermometer registers 115°-120°F for rare or 125°-130°F for medium.

Check the temperature of the roast using a meat thermometer a half hour before you expect the roast to be done. For example, with a 10 pound roast, you would expect 2 1/2 hours of total cooking time (15 minutes at 500° and 2 1/4 hours at 325°). In this case, check after 2 hours of total cooking time, or 1 hour 45 minutes after you lowered the oven temp to 325°.

Once the roast has reached the desired internal temperature, remove it from oven and let rest 15 minutes, covered with aluminum foil, before carving. The roast will continue to cook while it is resting.

With a knife or scissors, cut the strings which attach the meat to the bones. Remove the bones. Use a carving knife to slice meat across the grain for serving, making the slices about 1/4-1/2 inch thick.

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