How Long to get Egg from 500 degrees to 350

Craig

I'm going to be doing a prime rib for Christmas. I'm going to start it at 500 degrees for around 30 minutes, and then go down to 350 for the remainder of time. Do you guys have any guess how long it will take for the Egg to go down to 350? I'm trying to determine at what point I need to start closing the vents. Thanks! Note: My Egg is size Large.

Little Chef

Craig: Sounds like you are doing an AB (Alton Brown) or Cooks Illustrated method. What I have found most successful is to get the dome temp to about 425-450* tops, platesetter and drip pan with spacers (which have come to temp as the Egg heated) add the meat, and immediately close the vents for what I expect to be the vent settings for a target temp of 325-350*. The roast will spend plenty of time in high temp for the initial outer sear, while the egg comes down in temp. It takes a lot longer to cool the ceramic, than it does to cool an oven. I have had great success with this, and wish the same for you! Pull at 122-125 for med rare, and be SURE to allow to rest a good 30 minutes before carving!

Pjoe

I did the same thing with a pork roast last weekend. It took about an hour to get back to 350 with all of the vents closed. Once you get the thermal mass of the egg hot, it takes a while to cool.

The Naked Whiz

Didn't AB do the hot sear at the end? I can't remember. but that would be a way to deal with the temp change.

SmokeyPitt

MM has a similar method.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/madmaxprimerib.htm

"I set up the egg at 500 degrees, grid over inverted plate setter, with some jack daniels chips. As soon as I put the roast in the 500 degree egg, I shut the vents down to get to 325 degrees (the time spent going from 500 to 325 gives a nice sear to the roast). I roasted it at 325 till it was 125 internal."

I tried this method and it worked well for me. I think I may have "helped it" get down to 325 by shutting the vents down completely for a little while until the temp started to drop, then opened them back up to what I thought would give me 325.

civil eggineer

Since there is no right or wrong way to cook things, I will pass on my experiences cooking prime rib. The meat is very fatty thereby making it a good candidate for low and slow cooking. I set mine on the counter or 2 hours and brought the egg to 250 dome temp. Cooked indirect at 250 for 3 hours until meat temp hit around 125. I was planning on doing a reverse sear but the meat had a nice crust so I skipped it. The roast was cooked to perfection with the same level of doneness from the outside edge to the center of the meat. Personally, I don't see any reason to do a high temp cook on one and believe that technique is best for lean meats which the rib roast is not. Good luck!

ResQue

Here is the recipe I follow(with a few minor mods). I love the flavors from the crust you get with this. For the egg do the same, 500* stable, place the roast, and shut ut down. Easy.

http://americanfood.about.com/od/keytipstechniques/ss/Prime_Rib.htm

MCR

The egg takes quite a while to cool or lower its own temperature.

I find one of the most effective ways is to close the bottom vent a few minutes or so before you plan to open the lid so the egg would consume all the oxygen, then quickly introduce a large cold mass to absorb the heat such as the plate settler, cooking stone, extra cast iron grill, etc.

Went the temperature reach your target remove the extra objects and adjust your vent…

Jolly Bill Barker

I don't know were you live but there can be environmental challenges with this type of cook. For instance two nights ago it was 4 degrees here and my egg went from 450 to 150 in about one hour.

I have never thought that it is cheating to do the sear in your oven. You are not smoking with this cook so you don't have to worry about losing the smoke ring. Just put it in your oven at 500 degrees and turn it every so often until it is good and seared and then transfer it to your egg stabilized to whatever temp you want.

Craig

Thanks very much for the responses everyone. I really appreciate it. To respond to two of them. I have done several roasts without doing the sear method and they have none of them ever have any type of crust. It's always been disappointing, so I definitely want to start very hot.

I really liked the idea of searing in the oven, and then going to the Egg. I think if the oven is available at that point, I will probably do that.

Thanks again!