Lee Ruffin, is a pro when it comes to cooking prime rib. He says that he tried many different methods of cooking and different flavor rubs but this recipe is the best. One of his favorite restaurants to eat prime rib is Lawry’s. He says, “Any prime rib I eat is always compared to Lawry’s restaurant.” 

Lee Ruffin’s Prime Rib

One prime rib
olive oil
Lawry’s seasoned salt

Bring prime rib to room temperature. Do not trim any fat. If bones are still on the prime rib, run a knife along the bones to separate the bones from the meat. Tie the bones back on the meat with string or butcher’s twine. That way the bones will flavor the meat and be easy to remove after cooking. Lightly coat prime rib with olive oil. Liberally sprinkle Lawry’s seasoned salt on all sides of prime rib. Let prime rib rest at room temperature for 1 hour. 

Preheat oven to 500ºF. Place roast on roasting pan, fat side up. Pat roast dry with paper towels (the salt will remove some moisture) and sprinkle more seasoned salt on meat. Place roast in center of oven and cook 15 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 325ºF and cook prime rib to desired temperature. 115ºF for rare. 120ºF for medium rare. Lee says it comes out to about 11-12 minutes a pound for rare and 13-15 minutes a pound for medium rare. 

Remove prime rib from oven and let rest 15-30 minutes to redistribute juices. That way the juices won’t run out when you cut the meat. Recipe makes 1 prime rib. To figure out how much to purchase, buy one pound per person. A bone-in prime rib roast will feed about 2 people per bone. 

Tip from Mary Duke! To take the guesswork out of the equation, buy a digital meat thermometer that has a temperature probe with a stainless cord. I put the probe in the prime rib and run the cord and controller to the outside of the oven door. Mine has an alarm that rings when the meat gets to the temperature I want. Easy, Peasy. Costs about $21.00 on Amazon. 

Published in The News and Neighbor on December 21, 2022.