Good morning, fine folks, and thanks for joining us again. It’s Wednesday, the week’s midpoint, so let’s have a good one and set ourselves up to have a productive second half!
Today, April 27, means a lot of things to different people, as evidenced by the three pseudo-holidays we will discuss, the first of which is National Prime Rib Day.
This one is near and dear to me. I love to eat, and that feeling has developed over the years into a parallel love of cooking. Prime rib has become one of my favorite culinary projects, a Christmas-day treat that I usually cannot otherwise afford. As a gift to you, I’m going to share my prime rib secrets today because, despite the decadence, this one is quite easy.
First, you need to start with a good cut of meat. Go for something that is marbled and preferably fresh-cut, either bone-in or boneless. A couple days before you plan to cook, take it out of its packaging, pat dry, apply salt, and sit it back in the fridge. This draws out water and tenderizes the meat. Pull the rib out of the fridge and set it on the counter, out of the way, a couple of hours before you plan to cook.Â
The next step is seasoning the meat. You can do whatever you want here, but this is what I do: Mash together one stick of butter, plenty of salt and pepper, a little bit of garlic or garlic powder, and a little dried rosemary and/or thyme. If you have the fresh version, you can tie on a couple fresh sprigs of rosemary on top. You should tie it with some cooking twine regardless — it helps the roast hold its shape. Once the butter has softened a little, rub the mixture liberally over the entire roast.Â
Now we’re ready for the heat. There are two options here. If your roast is about seven pounds or less in weight, go with the 500 method: Cook the roast in the oven at 500 degrees for five minutes per pound, and then shut the oven off and let finish cooking for two hours. So for a six-pound roast, it’s 500 degrees for 30 minutes, oven off, and then — keeping the oven door closed — it’s finished two hours later. This is a fool-proof method and the only way I have ever cooked a prime rib for several years. The only drawback here is that if the roast is much bigger than about seven pounds, you run the risk of over-cooking the outside, compromising the crust you worked so hard on.Â
Last Christmas, we did a nine-pound roast, and I went with a different method — 325 degrees for about 11 minutes per pound. This method doesn’t burn up the outer crust and doesn’t require two hours to finish cooking. So, for a nine-pound example, it’s 325 degrees for 99 minutes, then you pull the roast off the heat and let it rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing. Last Christmas, I did this over charcoal on a Weber Kettle, but an oven would work just as well and undoubtedly be an easier way to manage the heat.
Whichever method you go with, you can’t really go wrong. I think a lot of people are intimidated by the size and price of prime rib and believe it’s best left to the chefs and steakhouses of the world to prepare, but I’d encourage you to give it a shot. If I can do it, you surely can as well.
Today is also National Administrative Professionals Day and National Babe Ruth Day. Let’s give a quick tip-of-the-hat to each, starting with administrative professionals.
This day used to be called Secretary’s Day, but the name has evolved with the job. These folks are generally the first faces you see or first voices you hear when you interact with a business. These people are the ones who keep offices running smooth and serve as a conduit between the business and the public. These people definitely deserve their own day, so we join with others in recognizing their importance in our society today.
National Babe Ruth Day is a new one to me, but if any baseball player deserves a fake holiday in their honor, it must be the Babe. Like baseball’s version of Steph Curry, the Babe changed the game. Before him, home runs were not an important part of baseball, which had always employed a hit-’em-where-they-ain’t strategy at the plate.Â
I could write paragraph after paragraph explaining the Babe’s impact, but I’ll leave you with this one stat instead. Before Ruth came along, the career Major League home run record was 138, held by Roger Connor, who played his entire career in the 19th century. Babe retired with 714, and it would be another 40 years before anyone else topped 700.
Let’s check in with the intern for today’s weather:
At 6:20 a.m., the thermometer shows a reading of 35 degrees at company headquarters in Russell Springs. Intern correspondents in Columbia and Jamestown report temps of 35 degrees as well. Expect plenty of sunshine today, with temperatures rising rapidly throughout the day. The high will top out in the high 60s.
No birthdays to report today but check back in with us later — there’s plenty more content headed your way!
