Sous vide and seared prime rib

Plutonium

I didn't take as many pictures as I should have, this came out too amazing not to post though. My first prime rib cook ever and couldn't be more satisfied.

Started with a 4.25lb USDA prime roast from Costco, 2 bone. Says blade tenderized, but I'm not sure why it would have been or if it actually was. Didn't stop me from doing medium rare. I carefully carved out the two bones, minimizing any meat trimmed, instead of carving them off in a slab.




I used mostly salt and pepper for the rub, added a little garlic and some fresh thyme. Also added some dabs of butter to the vacuum seal bag. Here it is fresh out of the 9hr bath:


I picked off the herb sprigs and let it rest in the microwave for a few minutes while I timed everything properly for the meal. Seared it off on the egg at 750F on the 4 big sides for 2.5 minutes each:



The main fat cap part caked with salt/pepper really shriveled up and scorched, I still ate it on my slice and it was delicious.


Here's the lady's end slice, my middle slice had much better edge to edge, since the end didn't turn out perfectly flat and took a big sear heat hit.


Nice outdoor dinner with some broccoli, au gratin potatoes, and a nice local red wine. After verifying the bag juices weren't too salty, I used all of it in a red wine reduction au jus. Simply just the juices, red wine, more herbs and peppercorns reduced down by about half.

Wanted garlic bread at the last second too, so I split and toasted leftover hotdog buns from Saturday's party, then slathered with some garlic and herb butter:


I debated back and forth all week about smoking/reverse sear vs sous vide/sear. This came out so ridiculously good, honestly the best prime rib I've ever had. Absolutely will do again and again.

Slicing this within a minute after coming off the sear makes me really wonder how steakhouses maintain quality of prime rib. It's not like a steak where they just cook it when you order it. I'm envisioning several roasts in the back at some lingering temperature minimizing their transition to the next doneness level and they just slice you off a piece when ordered. There's no way that can compare in quality to a real fresh roast and is probably why I don't order prime rib out very much.