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Finishing pre-cooked prime rib, day-of?

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Q: Finishing pre-cooked prime rib, day-of?

I’m ordering a 6lb. bone-out prime rib roast from a local butcher. I want to have them season and (mostly) cook it for me in their rotisserie on Christmas Eve (pickup at 4pm) so I can just finish it quickly in my oven Christmas Day (12pm).

I have a couple questions:

  1. what internal temperature should I ask them to cook? Thinking 110°.
  2. what’s the best method to finish it? I’m thinking rest to room temperature then 375° uncovered oven roast until 120° internal to get a crisp herb crusted exterior (as opposed to a foil tent or foil wrap).
  3. am I insane? Should I just roast it all myself?

Thanks!



Answer

Your goal is to reduce cooking time. Having your roast previously partially cooked won't help.

Ultimately, on Christmas Day, you'll need to heat a 6-lb roast from <40°F (fridge temp) to >120°F(cooked temp). That will take roughly the same amount of time whether it's raw or partially cooked. There's some variance, but not enough to matter on your cook time.

The only way you might save time is if you have your roast FULLY cooked, then on Christmas Day, you could reheat to a lower temperature than it was previously cooked to. This is essentially how most hams are sold in the US--they are fully cooked and just need to be reheated to serve.

Precooking and reheating doesn't work as well with beef as it does with ham.

Personally, I'd simply get the roast uncooked, and fully cook it myself on Christmas Day.