The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 777

pan? That’s the sound of moisture evaporating and bubbling out from underneath the meat A prime rib that has first been roasted, on the other hand, has had several hours in a hot oven, during which time the exterior has completely dried out, making searing much more efficient and thus giving all but the very exterior of the meat less chance of overcooking Taking what I had learned from both the oventemperature testing and the searing testing into account, I knew what I had to do to fulfill all three commandments: my goal should be to cook the interior of the roast as slowly as possible (i.e., at as low a temperature as my oven could maintain), then sear it as fast as possible (i.e., at as high a heat as possible) But searing in a pan is not that practical for a roast bigger than a couple of ribs, so I needed a way to do this all in the oven While some recipes simply have you pump up the oven temperature toward the end of cooking, this is suboptimal An oven can take 20 or 30 minutes to go from its lowest temperature to its highest temperature setting, during which time, once again, the outer layers of beef are busy overcooking But then I thought, 20 to 30 minutes is exactly how long a rib roast needs to rest anyhow What if I were to first cook it at a low temperature (200°F or lower), then take it out of the oven and allow it to rest while I heated the oven to its highest temperature (500° to 550°F), and pop it back in just long enough to achieve a crust? What I achieved was nothing less than Prime Rib Perfection: Score: • Commandment I: Perfect Crust? Check • Commandment II: No Gray Zone? Check • Commandment III: Full-on Juiciness? Check As you can see above, a crisp brown crust, no gray overcooked meat, and a rosy pink from center to edges But wait—there’s more! The best part? I found that by using this two-stage method, I had a much larger window of time within which to serve the beef Once I finished the initial low-temperature phase of cooking, as long as I kept the roast covered in foil, it would stay warm for over an hour All I had to was pop it into the 550°F oven for minutes, and the roast ... overcooked meat, and a rosy pink from center to edges But wait—there’s more! The best part? I found that by using this two-stage method, I had a much larger window of time within which to serve the beef Once I finished the initial low-temperature... Once I finished the initial low-temperature phase of cooking, as long as I kept the roast covered in foil, it would stay warm for over an hour All I had to was pop it into the 550°F oven for minutes, and the roast