World’s Best Prime Rib with Sour Cream Horseradish Sauce
Until last year I hadn’t cooked a prime rib since I was a teenager, when I listened to vinyl and used hot rollers.
Prime rib is not something people make every day or any day and it’s sort of a retro food that most people will never make or only make on Christmas day.
I can proudly say this is the world’s best prime rib recipe, with the best sour cream horseradish sauce, and will bring raves during any holiday cooking season. One person said “this is the best meal you ever made.”
I’m not sure about that, but it’s indeed testimony that this is a recipe that is just about fail proof, so put all fears of tackling a prime rib away and enjoy this most flavorful cut of meat.
As I stared at this somewhat intimidating piece of meat, I fretted over two things.
Tenderness and Overcooking.
Even the end pieces were melt in your mouth, and you can see it’s perfectly done to a medium rare.
When I saw the words low and slow, I decided upon that roasting direction.
I started with a very hot oven of 450º F degrees for twenty minutes. After that I turned the oven down to 325° degrees for approximately two hours, checking often in the last hour to make sure the temperature of the beef didn’t exceed 130°.
My friend was there early watching me obsess about the temperature. This is one of the most important parts of getting it right, so you must have a quick read thermometer to get it right.
The cooking time is going to vary because not only will size be a factor, but so will the temperature of the meat before you put it in the oven. You want to bring the cold temperature down so the cooking is more even and left the meat out for over two hours.
The Week Before: Prepare the Prime Rib a Week in Advance
But just like in those cool movies, we have to start with the line…The Week Before.
(You know the part where they start in the middle of the story and then back up to the beginning).
The Week Before the Prime Rib Goes in the Oven
Start by Shopping: Websites will tell you to buy the best piece of meat you can find. That’s nice. But what if you could find a reasonably priced standing rib roast. Should you buy it? I did. An 8 pound roast fed 8 people. This may be different for your crowd. You can’t go wrong with more, because left overs mean beef dip sandwiches with sour cream horseradish sauce on crusty rolls.
Seven to 10 days prior to roasting, you want to do your own dry aging. You could purchase an already dry-aged prime rib, and if you do, I want to be your friend. You’re rich. You will be spending anywhere from $200 to $400 for a bone-in roast.
I wasn’t able to do the real dry aging as I only had four days instead of seven, but I still noticed the difference. Of course, this is not the dry aging done from the experts who can control the temperature and humidity. I actually wonder if people who buy that $400 roast are the ones cooking or is it a task left to their private chef. As for me, I’d take that money and go to Kayne Prime, Nashville’s best steakhouse. There is no way I’m cooking anything that costs that much to eat just once.
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Best Prime Rib Recipe Includes the Dry Aging Process:
This article helps to explain why you should consider dry aging your meat and how the meat changes. It also gives you the how, but also gives you complicated information and a method most people won’t apply. This method is the one I used. It calls for a simple dry aging of beef in refrigerator for 7 to 10 days.
Rinse in cold water, pat dry, wrap loosely in cheesecloth layers or in a very clean cotton flour sack cloth (which is what I did). This is a more realistic method for the home cook. The first article proclaims this short method will make no difference, but we thought it did. I’ll leave that up to you.
Whatever you do, do not allow your meat to go above 130 degrees F. You will have to be diligent in checking this in the last moments. I intended to take the roast out at 125 and within a minute, I missed it. The meat will continue to cook during the resting process. Even those who like medium meat were happy with the medium rare pieces.
Use Beef Bones as the Rack
If you plan on making prime rib anytime soon, be on the lookout for some nice long beef ribs on sale. These will serve as your rack and will flavor the juice greatly increasing the deliciousness of the au jus. Roast bones first and use that juice and fat to mix with some beef broth to baste the roast.
Best Prime Rib Recipe, Roast Low and Slow
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- Roast bones which will be used for the rack.
- Set the oven to 450º degrees F.
- You will need your favorite seasoning. I used two different spice blends. Rosemary, sage, thyme, garlic, coriander, sea salt, fennel seed, dehydrated onion. You can use fresh rosemary, thyme, and sage also.
- Leave the bone in. It adds flavor.
- Rub the roast with the seasonings. How much is up to you. I made sure the roast was well covered.
- Place roast on the already roasted bones. Add two cups of beef broth and a half bottle of red wine to bottom of pan.
- Cook for twenty minutes. Turn down the heat to 325º F (for a convection oven). Baste with juices every 30 minutes.
- Cook to medium rare no higher than 130º F.
- Rest for thirty minutes prior to serving. The roast continues to cook and will maintain its juices.
- Serve with sour cream horseradish sauce.
The Best Prime Rib Recipe Must be Served with a Sour Cream Horseradish Sauce
I love au jus over my beef. I also love sour cream horseradish sauce. It just makes for an exciting bite of food. If you use sour cream with a prepared horseradish, you can control the heat. I suggest 3 tablespoons of prepared horseradish to one cup of sour cream with a splash of Worcestershire Sauce. You can add more sour cream (or more horseradish) to your own taste.
If you decide to make sandwiches with the left overs, use a crusty bread, the sour cream horseradish sauce on the bottom and some arugula. It’s a great combo.
Sides for Prime Rib
Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing
How to Make Roast Tenderloin of Beef
What to do with Left Over Roast Beef from Spinach Tiger
Disclosure: This site contains Amazon affiliate links which earn a small commission but does not increase your prices.
- six pound bone-in prime rib roast
- 3-4 beef ribs
- 1 tablespoon each freshly chopped rosemary, thyme, sage, fennel seeds,
- or Chef's Blend Spice (order here)
- olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 cups beef broth
- ½ bottle red wine
- !Tools Needed
- Cheesecloth (order here)
- or Flour Sack (order here)
- Meat thermometer (order here)
- Carving knife (order here)
- Dry Age the Meat: Give yourself 7 days, at least 4 days.
- Rinse meat in cold water, pat dry, wrap loosely in cheesecloth layers or in a very clean cotton flour sack cloth (which is what I did). Place in refrigerator for 4 to 7 days.
- Rub the meat with olive oil and spices. Do not remove the bone. Bone means flavor.
- Leave out on counter for two hours.
- In the meantime, roast several beef bones with garlic cloves. These will serve as the meat rack.
- Save the fat and juice of the bones and add to the beef broth.
- Heat oven to 450°
- Place bones in roasting pan. Add wine and beef broth.
- Put meat over the bones. Roast for 30 minutes.
- Reduce the oven to 325° and cook for approximately 90 more minutes. You must use a meat thermometer. Roast to medium rare, 125°, no higher than 130° internal temperature. Even people who like medium will love this. Do not over cook. You can always put individual slices back in the oven.
- Take prime rib out of oven. Allow to sit for 30 minutes before carving.
- Serve with the au jus or with a horseradish cream.
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
- dash worcestershire sauce
- Mix ingredients.
Lindsey Williams says
October 29, 2016 at 8:59 amSusan showed me this Angela….made my mouth water! Nice pix too!
Nothing like the smell of prime rib roasting on Christmas Day. Last year we tried a new dry aging technique. We filled a large sheet pan with coarse himalayan salt, put a rack over it and then placed an uncovered bone in prime rib roast (choice cut from Costco) on the rack. We let it age for a month in the refrigerator. On Christmas Day we cut off the hardened crusty parts of the roast, then cut the roast to the size we wanted to serve (cut steaks off the rest of the roast & froze them for grilling at a later date). It was the absolute best tasting dry aged prime rib (other than Kayne Prime) that we’ve ever had……gonna buy another roast at Thanksgiving and dry-age it for a month this year too…..
Angela Roberts says
October 30, 2016 at 10:51 amWow a month. That’s some serious business. I’m sure it was fabulous. I don’t have the guts to do that, but I applaud you for such an amazing technique.
Vince T says
October 27, 2016 at 3:50 pmI have a different method.
I do a similar drying method, but I cook the prime at 210 Degrees. when it hit the temp (I like 120) I hit it with the broiler for a few minutes. Take it out and let rest. (by then it will be 125 ) Doing this the meat shrinks less and it is virtually the same degree of done end to end. Takes about an hour longer.
Angela Roberts says
October 27, 2016 at 3:56 pmThat sound like a great plan. I do my ribs and roast pork like that. I can see it working.
Thanks