Smokey ribeye roast

njl

I've kind of always wanted to try doing "prime rib", so earlier in the week I saw a nice looking (though choice) 4lb. boneless ribeye roast at Costco, and decided to give it a shot.  I scored the fat cap, kosher salted it, left it on an open rack in the fridge for about 18 hours, then rubbed it with olive oil, and sprinkled it all over with a mix I keep hand of mostly kosher salt with a bit of ground black pepper and paprika.  I cooked it indirect at about 225F for 3 hours, removed it from the egg, opened the vents, and reverse seared it for 5min at 550-600F.  I started the fire while the roast was still in the fridge, and let it "get ready" while I did the final prep work on the meat.  The fire was going at least 30min before I put the meat on.

When I opened the egg to check on / remove it from searing, the roast was literally on fire.  I guess I'd surpassed the ignition point of beef fat.  Being on fire doesn't seem to have necessarily hurt it...i.e. the meat isn't burnt.  But it does have a smokier flavor than I'd have preferred.  I'm wondering if it having been on fire has something to do with that, or if it was perhaps my choice of smoking wood.  Our lot has a mix of old oaks that have been here since before there were houses and newer oaks planed by the developer.  I've had no issues in the past using trimmings from the old oaks, but for this, I used two discs cut from a thick branch off one of the developer oaks.

Mikee

I cooked many rib roasts over the years. Low and slow with smoking wood does not work out in my opinion.

SGH

njl said:

the roast was literally on fire.


More often than not, this is not a good thing nor ideal.


 I guess I'd surpassed the ignition point of beef fat.  


With no other data to consider, I'm going to concur simply due to it being on fire.



Being on fire doesn't seem to have necessarily hurt it...i.e. the meat isn't burnt.  But it does have a smokier flavor than I'd have preferred.  I'm wondering if it having been on fire has something to do with that,


I'm going to go way out on a limb here and say yes.


 or if it was perhaps my choice of smoking wood.  


Depending on how much you used and how well you maintained your fire, it could certainly have contributed to the smoke profile. However in this case, I feel that your roast catching fire is the culprit here. Beef fat that is literally on fire burns pretty dirty and gives off a real strong taste. It's a wonder your meat didn't have a real acrid or sooty taste. 


 I've had no issues in the past using trimmings from the old oaks, 


You said it yourself, no issues with the wood in the past. I'm sure that the roast and pools of grease catching fire is the culprit that caused the excessive smokiness. 3 hours of clean oak smoke usually will not over smoke 4 pounds of meat. Especially 4 pounds of beef. I have laid clean oak smoke to meat for many, many hours longer than that without over smoking. If you maintained a clean fire from take off to touchdown, I'm willing to bet it was the grease fire and burning roast that caused the issue. Not the oak wood that you have used with success before. Without being there to see the events unfold, I'm drawing a conclusion based on the data at hand. With that said, a roast on fire is simply not a good thing my friend.

SGH

@njl - Brother I have read this post several times. I just keep coming back to it. All I can say is darn the bad luck brother. $hit just happens sometimes my friend, But don't let the fire incident discourage you from cooking prime rib again as that's not the norm. Prime rib is one of the better things in life in my opinion. After re-reading the above, I may can offer a little help. The next time that you do your sear, leave the dome open. This way you can prevent the said fire. Another thing, you honestly don't have to be running at 600 degrees to get a good sear. You can get a excellent sear running at 350. It will just take a tad longer. Either way, try it with the dome open when searing and see what you think. I feel that you will like the out come. Good luck brother and I hope that this helps.  

Tinyfish

A straight cook at 325f would work nicely. 

Darby_Crenshaw

No need to reverse sear. All it does is burn fat. It also takes a perfectly roasted piece of meat and then adds the highest heat possible to it, overcooking the exterior (and blackening fat).

a slow roasted air-dried roast will have a better crust than is possible with a reverse sear. Simple fact

don't bither with the sear the next time. You saw exactly why it's a bad idea. It gets traction because it sounds cool, but it barely is a good idea for a steak. It's a worse one for a roast. 

Sorry you had it happen

njl

I was loosely following the advice given here:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/12/perfect-prime-rib-beef-recipe.html
and
http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/12/the-food-lab-how-to-cook-roast-a-perfect-prime-rib.html

I guess when searing a hunk of meat with lots of exposed fat, hotter isn't necessarily better.

It's not so bad.  I still ate leftovers of it for dinner last night, lunch today, and it'll likely be my dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow.  Ironically, the top and cap are the best tasting parts.