This method follows “The Science Of Cooking Prime Rib, Tenderloin, And Other Beef Roasts,” by Meathead Goldwyn of Meathead’s AmazingRibs.com, a reverse-sear method built for a smoker or grill rather than an oven. The USDA’s own safe-temperature guidance is layered in separately, because — as covered below — the published recipe’s target doneness sits below USDA’s minimum safe temperature for a whole beef roast, and that gap is worth understanding before you commit an expensive roast to it.
Trimming and Dry-Brining, a Day Ahead
AmazingRibs’ method starts with a boneless roast: cut the rib bones off (saving them for gravy) and trim the fat cap down close to the meat, along with the tougher silverskin, then press the roast into as round a shape as possible — tying it with string every inch or two if it won’t hold that shape on its own. About six to twenty-four hours before cooking, salt it generously with kosher salt, roughly half a teaspoon per pound of trimmed meat, sprinkled from height for even coverage, then left uncovered or loosely wrapped in the fridge. That dry brine pulls moisture out, dissolves the salt, and draws it back into the meat over time — well before any spice rub goes on.
The Rub and a Light Touch of Smoke
About an hour before cooking, the recipe calls for a wet spice paste — a blend of herbs, spices, and water — worked over every visible surface of the roast, top, bottom, and sides. If cooking outdoors, the method adds a small amount of hardwood or fruitwood to the fire at the start of the cook, no more than two to four ounces. Meathead is specific that this cut doesn’t want a heavy smoke flavor: a little in the background is the goal, since too much can overpower the beef itself.
The Reverse Sear: Low Heat First, High Heat Last
The grill or smoker is set up for two-zone cooking, with the indirect side preheated to 225°F (107°C) — and the recipe is firm that it should not run hotter than about 250°F (121°C). Going in low and slow lets heat travel gradually from the surface toward the center, rather than building up a thick band of overcooked gray meat just under the crust the way starting with a hard sear would. A drip pan of stock and aromatics sits under the roast the whole time to catch drippings for gravy, kept topped up with hot water so it never scorches dry. The roast comes off the indirect heat once a probe thermometer in the thickest part reads 115°F (46°C); at that point the recipe calls for moving it directly over the hottest part of the fire, lid up, browning each of four sides for roughly five to ten minutes at a time until the surface is a deep, dark crust — the internal temperature will climb another 5 to 10°F during this stage. The roast comes off when it reaches 130°F (54°C) to 135°F (57°C) at the center, which the recipe describes as medium rare.
Where This Recipe and USDA Guidance Genuinely Diverge
This is the part worth reading closely before deciding how to cook your own roast. USDA’s food safety guidance sets 145°F as the safe minimum internal temperature for whole cuts of beef, adding a three-minute rest time as part of that recommendation: “for beef, veal, and lamb cuts, the safe temperature remains unchanged at 145°F, but the department has added a three-minute rest time.” That rest isn’t about texture — USDA describes it as an active safety step, since “during the three minutes after meat is removed the heat source, its temperature remains constant or continues to rise, which destroys harmful bacteria.”
The AmazingRibs recipe above targets 130° to 135°F at the center — a medium-rare finish that sits 10 to 15 degrees below USDA’s 145°F minimum — and its author goes further, arguing rest periods don’t improve juiciness and recommending the roast be carved as soon as possible after searing rather than rested at all. That’s a common position among barbecue and steakhouse cooks chasing a specific texture, and it’s presented in the original as a quality judgment, not a food-safety one. It’s also a widely published approach: many chef-driven prime rib recipes target the same rare-to-medium-rare range. But it means following this recipe exactly, as written, does not meet USDA’s stated minimum for beef roasts. Cooking to USDA’s 145°F with the full three-minute rest is the higher food-safety margin of the two approaches, particularly for anyone serving guests who are pregnant, elderly, very young, or immunocompromised; cooking to 130–135°F without a rest is a doneness choice some cooks make deliberately, understanding it falls short of that federal minimum.
Making the Gravy
The same drip pan doubles as the base for a beef gravy: while the roast sears, strain its collected juices, taste, and reduce in a wide pan over high heat if the flavor needs concentrating. Season only after it’s reduced to the right consistency, since the drippings are already salted from the dry brine. Carve in slices about half an inch thick, pouring any juice that collects on the cutting board back over the meat before serving.
Keep reading
- Reverse-Seared Tomahawk Ribeye: Hey Grill Hey’s Recipe
- J. Kenji López-Alt’s Reverse Sear: Why Cooking Steak Backwards Works Better
- Weber’s Smoked Short Ribs (Dino Ribs), Step by Step
- Smoked Chuck Roast: Sliced or Pulled (AmazingRibs Recipe)