New Egg owner - Prime Rib Roast question

Unknown

I just got a large BGE last week. I have 15 people coming over for a Prime Rib roast dinner on Thursday night and need some advice. I'm getting a "rolled" prime rib (without the bone).
1.) should I use the stone for the indirect method? Or should it be in the drip pan right over the coals?
2.) I'm assuming I need to keep the temp at 350 degrees, right? How best to do that? I've read on here to adjust the lower damper to 1/4 close plus the same for the daisy wheel ... but then I read to keep the bottom completely open and adjust just the daisy wheel.
3.) I'm going to put chicken breasts and pork chops on the egg about an hour before the roast is done to cook them - is this ok?
Thanks, I'm a new owner and want the dinner to be perfect to show off the Egg to all my friends! Lynn

fishlessman

Lynn ,
have you done steaks yet to the trex method. if not, i would do them atleast 2 times before thursday before you put an expensive piece of meat on the grill.the techniques are similar exept you will roast at a lower temp(325) and the xperience that you will gain on the steaks for temp control will be needed.

Mark Backer

Lynn ,[p]I have not made a rolled prime rib, so I am only responding to number 2. [p]I re-tested this method this weekend and it was spot on perfect. Open the bottom vent wide open. Close the slider on top and open just the daisy wheel to full open. That is 350 perfect at my house.[p]If you end up doing the prime rib indirect (with the plate setter and drip pan) then you should have no worries at all about sharing flavors by cooking the chicken and pork during the last hour with it. [p]If I have mis-spoken on this last part, I feel confident that my friends here will correct me, but I am confident in the temp control issue for 350.[p]Good luck and let us know how it turns out...

Bobby-Q

Mark Backer,
You and the Mrs. have become quite the culinarians. Y'all shoud be very proud of yourselves (and fat as houses from all the lesson work).[p]Happy Holidays to you, Molly and the little light of your lives.

Mark Backer

Bobby-Q,[p]Thanks for the kind words. I have only gained about 5 pounds since I started egging, and I really think that's due to the crap I eat at work at lunch. grilled chicken, pork and occasional steaks aren't bad for me compared to what I used to eat. [p]Today I will be assembling the small BGE addition to our household. Well, I may wait until tomorrow when it's supposed to be 30 degrees warmer. We shall see. I wanna get a couple of moderate fires in the two newbies before we go a'searin'...[p]Happy Holidays to you as well. May the new year be happy and full of good friends and good food!

egghead2004

Mark Backer,
Nevermind building a table, with all those eggs you are going to nee to add to that deck!!

Unknown

fishlessman,
I have done steaks once - they were T-Bones and I got the egg up to 750 and seared the steaks for a minute and a half, then turned them over for another minute and a half, then closed both the top and bottom and let them cook for about 2 minutes and they turned out wonderfully! I haven't done anything yet that requires temp control. I won't be able to until Thursday night. Man...I'm scared now!

Mark Backer

egghead2004,[p]We are already entertaining quotes for a minor addition to that end of the deck.[p]

The Naked Whiz

Lynn,
No need to be afraid, just a little more vigilant, perhaps. Like Mark said, bottom vent open and the top slider vent closed with the daisy wheel openings open, you should come close to 350. I find that eventually, it creeps up to 400 on my egg with these settings though. So, you will need to keep an eye on it. Also, you will find that when you put that big piece of cold meat in the egg, the temp will drop and take a long time to get back up to 350. You can help minimize this by preheating your Egg. You might want to start the Egg 90 minutes early, say, to give yourself time to play with the temperature and learn to get it stable.[p]Make sure you start with plenty of lump. Start with the vents open. As the temperature rises and starts to get to within 50 degrees of 350, start closing down the top vent. You want to approach 350 degrees from below. You don't want the Egg to get real hot and then have to try to cool it down. Then try to keep the egg at 350. Remember to make small adjustments and give them time to take effect. This will allow the egg's shell to heat up. You can't truly achieve a stable temperature until the shell has heated up.[p]When you put the meat in, the temp will drop. Give it 5 minutes to see if the temperature will recover. Then you'll know how much you need to work on bringing it back up. You can open the vent some to get the fire going a bit, but remember to approach 350 from below and start closing the vent down as you get closer.[p]Good luck!
TNW

fishlessman

Lynn,
if you can do a tbone, then you can do a prime rib. i find that big cuts of meat are more forgiving than the thin ones, the trick is not to panic, write down the recipe that you will be doing, and put down your estimated start time and finish time and add 30-45 minutes for the meat to rest. remember it is best to have the meat ready ahead of time as you can wrap it in foil and it will stay warm for quite a while.if is done way to early you can wrap in foil, a towell and place in a cooler.i write all this down on the refridgerator door.dont panic on exact temps, 300 to 350 dome temp will affect times, but the outcome is about the same.i would recommend a good meat therm though and take it off at your prefered doneness.being the first one you do, i would keep it simple and cook it at 325 plus or minus 25 degrees. if you want a darker sear, you can take it off the grill and while it sits on the counter, open the bottom draft fully and take the daisy off. the temp will climb up to 700 or so and you can sear it then. you can sear it first, before cooking, or sear it after cooking, ive seen recipes both ways. ive only seared first though.

Unknown

Should I use the indirect method with the plate thing? Or just put it in the drip pan over the coals? Thanks, Lynn

Mark Backer

Lynn,[p]In doing my research from some Prime Rib Roast experts (cough cough T-Rex cough cough) I think you should cook it indirect, meaning put the platesetter in feet up and with a drip pan on it and the grid on top of that. [p]One platesetter tip. You don't want it to be wobbly because one of the feet comes thru the hole where you grab the grid, so make sure one of the feet is at either 9 oclock or 3 oclock. That way, if you put your grid on with the handle holes at 12 oclock and 6 oclock, the grid will be stable.[p]Hope this helps...

thirdeye

Lynn , Drop down about 6 or 8 posts and check out the T-Rex Prime Rib thread with pictures. With a little personal variation, (ie searing at the end), this is an excellent method. There have been plenty of prime rib posts in the last few weeks, (most with pictures) not sure if you can search for them with the search engine since thay are so recent, but you can cruse the archives lists. Click on archives, select 2004, select date ranges.

Unknown

Mark Backer,
Feet up?? I'm confused ... I thought the feet of it went on the fire box (so the feet would be down and it made kind of a table). I guess I need to look at it tonight after work. I haven't used it yet - just got it Saturday with some other egg stuff.

Mark Backer

Lynn,[p]Feet up (flat surface down) with the grid resting on the feet will create a place where you can put a drip pan.[p]

mad max beyond eggdome

Lynn,
here is a good picture of a prime rib roast on the grid over the plate setter with feet up. .. .this way you have created an area for air to flow above the heat barrier and under your food (just like in an oven when roasting). . .how i do mine is, set the egg up this way and get temps to 500 degrees... put the roast on the grid, and immediately shut the vents way down to get the temps back to 325. ..let roast at 325 for approx 15 minutes per pound for medium rare. ..i pull when the meat thermometer hits 125. . .[p]its a hard piece of meat to screw up, just don't overcook it... [p][p][p]btw. .. i coat mine with kosher salt and herbs de provence and extra rosemary. .. .delicious. ..

Unknown

Mark Backer,
Thanks, I'll try that. Lynn

Unknown

mad max beyond eggdome,
Cool! So you don't put it on the rack? I sure hope mine looks like yours!!! Thanks for the picture, I needed that! Lynn

mad max beyond eggdome

Lynn,
if you mean 'v rack', no i don't, not with a bone-in prime rib anyway. ..the bones make for a built in rack all by themselves. . .if i was doing a boneless one, then i might consider it. .. .

tenntom

Lynn,
I've cooked the whole boneless rib with/and without a rack,and Max is right, its hard to screw it up, just don't overcook it...

yaB

Lynn,[p]From what I've seen, you've gotten some good advice here. But one thing I didn't spot among all the tips was a reminder to calibrate your thermometer(s).[p]There's (almost) nothing more vexing than trying to do everything right, then finding out that you were misled by the very tools that you were using to measure your cooking and meat temperatures. [p]Above all, make sure you calibrate the dome thermometer. And be careful when you re-insert it into the dome, to avoid twisting it and possibly un-calibrating it.[p]You didn't mention using a meat thermometer, but if you can, it will be further assurance that things are progressing as expected. The meat thermometer should also be calibrated.[p]If all this is new information, please get back to the forum with any questions you may have. Thermometer calibration is a very simple matter, which is far out of proportion to its importance in cooking with the Egg.[p]Good luck,
Bob