I decided to try cooking a rib roast sous vide style and it turned out so beautifully and was so easy I’m going to do it again for Christmas Eve dinner. I seared the roast in a pan after it finished it’s bath which created a flavorful, slightly crispy exterior and I was so delighted to slice it open and find the interior was 100% perfectly medium rare meat, and the clean up was a cinch! Here’s how I did it:
I started with a 4.5 pound boneless rib roast {which is enough for 9 people, in general you should plan on 1/2 pound of meat per person}, the cut was about 6 inches long {size matters for sous vide}. First I rubbed the fatty side of the roast with dry beef rub I get from my butcher. You can use one of your favorite store bought rubs or click on beef rub recipes for some easy rubs you can make yourself and customize to your taste.
Next, I used a pairing knife to stab 1 to 1- 1/2 inch slits on the top and stuffed slivers of garlic in the slits.
Then I pressed the rub onto all of the other surfaces of the roast and sealed it in a zip lock bag and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight. The next afternoon I let the roast sit at room temperature for an hour. I fill a stockpot with hot water and put it on the stove with the heat on to expedite the process of getting the water to the right temperature. When it reached 130 degrees I turned off the stove heat. Then, following the ANOVA recipe instructions, I used my ap to set the sous vide at 130 degrees for 5 hours and then I was free to do everything else I needed to do.
When the alarm went off 5 hours later, I remove the meat from the bag and I seared the roast on all sides in a cast iron pan. I was a little nervous to cut into the beautifully browned beast, but when I did we were all delighted to see the interior of the roast was done to medium rare perfection.
The interior meat was tender and juicy and the exterior with the spice rub and garlic slivers was super flavorful and a little crunchy.
I can’t wait to repeat this process for Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow night, the only challenge I am facing is that I will be serving 18 people for Christmas Eve, so I need a significantly larger piece of meat. After doing some research, I am planning on following these guidelines from the grilling man, who sous-vide a 15 pound bone-in rib roast in a cooler using a turkey browning bag to hold the roast, I am planning on cooking it in my Bayou Classic that I use for shrimp boils. I will be posting pictures on instagram {follow me at splendid7} tomorrow if you want to follow along.
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