Brick Oven Beef Rib Roast

You should fire your oven until the soot on the dome cokes off and let it drop in temperature until the bricks are running about 250-275F before starting to prepare the roast. This is a good time to make a pizza lunch followed by a few loaves of bread.

You’ll be cooking the roast for several hours (30 minutes per pound) at relatively low heat (200-250F) which means you need to brown the roast before you put it in the oven (this will kill any surface bacteria which is important when roasting at temps where the surface won’t reach 180F within a couple of hours).

Splash olive oil to cover the bottom of a heavy saute pan on medium-high heat, add 2 TBS of butter to melt. Brown the roast on all sides. It won’t get any more browning in the oven so this is where you’re getting the crispy brown outside you want.

Take a half cup of Dijon mustard, add 2-3 cloves of crushed garlic, a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary (crushed), fresh ground pepper and a splash of red wine in a small bowl. Stir to mix completely. Pat mixture all over the roast with a spoon, making sure it sticks to the meat.

Place the roast on a rack in a shallow roasting pan and place it into your oven. Close the door tightly. (This is a good time to get yourself a remote cooking thermometer & receiver — you can find one at Amazon.com for about $40. You can also a get digital thermometer that sits outside the oven but I like to be able to “set it and forget it”, the remote will beep me in the kitchen.)

Medium (140F) will take approximately 30 minutes per pound for an 8lb roast. Rare is 125-130F, medium-rare is 130-135F. When cooked like this you won’t get a temperature “bump” when you take it out (where the internal temp rises another 10-15F) like you do with a regular high-heat roasting in your home oven so take it out as soon as the internal temp is what you want. If you’re not quite ready for dinner yet you can put it in a 140F oven for up to an hour without it cooking any further.

Let the roast stand for about 15 – 20 minutes to cool slightly and for the juices to pull back into the interior. Now you’re ready to slice and serve the best prime rib you’ve eaten.