Prime Rib

Method

1. cure1440 min
   dry brine: salted all over, uncovered, 1-3 days
   the roast salted on every face and refrigerated bare on a rack — the turkey's playbook at beef scale: seasoning to the center, surface dried for the crust to come; three days is better than one and the fridge does all the work
2. prep15 min
   herb-garlic butter rubbed on, 2 hours at room temperature
   butter + garlic + rosemary + thyme + pepper massaged over the whole roast, then the long temper on the counter — a seven-pound cold center is the enemy of even cooking, and two hours off the fridge is cheaper than any oven correction
3. roast210 min
   250°F, probe in the center, to 120°F for medium-rare
   low and slow, bones down, untouched — the reverse sear's first act: at this gentle heat the roast climbs evenly, no gray band forms, and the window between perfect and over is an hour wide instead of ten minutes; the probe's number is the only truth, roughly 30-35 min/lb but the thermometer outranks the clock
4. rest30 min
   tented loose while the oven climbs to its maximum
   the long rest happens HERE, before the sear — the reverse method's clever inversion: juices settle now, so the roast goes from final blast to carving board to table with no second wait
5. sear10 min
   500°F+, until the crust crackles mahogany
   back into the fully preheated inferno for eight to ten minutes — the butter-herb coat blisters into the crust the low oven couldn't build, and because the interior already rested, carving follows immediately
6. slice8 min
   bones off in one cut, then thick slices
   the rib plate freed with one long cut along the bones (the cook's private reward), the roast sliced thick against the grain — edge-to-edge rose from crust to crust, which is the entire argument for the method and the price; horseradish cream alongside, creamed spinach from two entries back, and December is served