Prime Rib Rematch

Who’s the better cook? Me or Bobby Flay? Let’s find out.

A while back, I got a rib roast, aged it for a week, and cooked it using instructions from the Food Network site. The site credited Bobby Flay. I didn’t use his seasoning ideas, but I did use the temperature he suggested, which was 350 degrees. And the roast was tougher than it should have been. That temperature sounded fishy to me, but this was my first rib roast, and I figured surely a professional chef knew how to cook roast beef. I should have known better. Professional cooks give bad advice day in and day out.

I just put a new roast in the oven. I salted it well, but not to the “crusting” point. I tried that before, and it was disgusting. This time, I salted it the day before and let the salt soak in overnight. Before I threw it in the oven, I smeared it with pressed garlic. I’m cooking it at 250, with a probe. I intended to cook it in a plastic bag, but I forgot to buy them, so I wrapped it in foil. When I get close to the target temperature of 135, I’ll remove the foil and raise the heat to 450 to get some browning. Hell, let’s make it 550. Git ‘r done.

If it was just me, I’d stop roasting at 120, but my old man will be partaking, so I have to compromise.

Mike says the Showtime Oven is the way to go. I called him before the last prime rib, figuring he would have better advice than any TV chef, but he couldn’t remember exactly what he did when he used the Showtime Oven. Since then he claims he has remembered. Cagey guy, that Mike.

I aged this one for several days, but only one day of that was dry-aging. I forgot about it during the septic tank debacle, so I inadvertently left it in the wrapper for a while.

Place your bets. Delicious, tender, juicy roast, or another disappointment? Call me cocky, but I think I can’t miss.

How could anyone who cooks for a living think 350 was a good cooking temperature for a roast?