The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 773

sous-videorsearthemwithvariouspiecesofindustrial
machinery?
Leave the fancy-pants methods to the fancy-pants. In my
experience, cooking large roasts—whether prime rib or
turkey—in a sous-vide water bath certainly guarantees
perfectly,evenlycookedresults,butthedeeproastedflavor
notes you get from meatroasted in the open air are
completelyabsent.It’salsoapaininthebutttovacuum-seal
an entire prime rib. I much prefer mine done in a lowtemperatureoven.
Asfortorching,itlooksreallycool,buttheresultsarenot
worth the trouble. Torching before roasting gives you a
surface that’s nearly burnt in spots and barely browned in
others, while torching after roasting doesn’t do nearly as
good a job as a hot oven or roasting pan set over a couple
burners.

HOWTOROASTBEEF(AKA
PERFECTPRIMERIB)
A four-pound roast of well-marbled prime beef rib is not
cheap. And while my friends provide me with as many
mentalandphilosophicalrichesasamancouldaskfor,and
my wife supplies an adequate amount of emotional wealth,
dollarsandcentsarenotsomethingI,beingahumblefood
writer,partwithlightly.Assuch,whenIbuyagoodquality
piece of beef—and honestly, does beef get any better than
primerib?—Ihaveastrongimpetusnottomessitup,asdo,
Iimagine,mostofyou.Inwritingthissection,Idecidedto
getthroughalifetime’sworthofmessings-upsothatI(and,


I hope, you too!) will never again serve anything but a

perfectlycookedroast.
First,adefinitionofperfection:
• Commandment I: The Perfect Prime Rib must have a
deepbrown,crisp,crackly,saltyexteriorcrust.
• CommandmentII:The gradient at the interface between
the brown crust and the perfectly medium-rare interior of
thePerfectPrimeRibmustbeabsolutelyminimized(asin,
I don’t want a layer of overcooked meat around the
edges).
• CommandmentIII:ThePerfectPrimeRibmustretainas
manyjuicesaspossible.
• Sub-Commandment i: The Perfect Prime Rib must be
cooked without the use of heavy or specialized
equipment, including propane or oxyacetylene torches,
sous-videmachines,andC-vapovens.
HighsandLows
Before I tried to start figuring out how to achieve all these
goals simultaneously, it was helpful to note that when
cooking beef to medium-rare, there are really only two
temperaturesthatmatter:
•125°Fisthetemperatureatwhichbeefismedium-rare—
thatis,hotbutstillpink,cookedbutstillmoist,andableto
retain its juices. Any higher than that, and the muscle
fibersstarttorapidlyshrink,forcingflavorfuljuicesoutof
themeatandintothebottomoftheroastingpan.
•310°FisthetemperatureatwhichtheMaillardreaction—