Slow-Roast No-Watch Standing Rib Roast

TASTIER

GLUTEN-FREE

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Rib roasts are a holiday treat. But let’s face it: They can be a tad, well, boring for such an expensive cut of meat. What can you do besides the salt-and-pepper treatment, especially since any flavorful rubs or sauces will burn in a high-heat oven? Here’s the solution. After massaging a flavorful rub into the meat and roasting it very slowly for a long time at a low temperature, you can then sear it to a crunch right before serving and the spices won’t char during cooking. Bonus: You can roast a spectacular piece of beef without worrying about it, checking on it, or fussing with it. And here’s the best news of all: This technique will result in a rib roast that’s rare (or medium-rare) right to the edge, no overcooked bits around the center eye. So, you might ask, is a recipe that takes longer than the traditional method still a kitchen shortcut? Yes! Because there’s minimal effort with much better results. And this recipe’s something of a holiday miracle, given that there’s an hour lag built into the middle of it. You’ll have time to make a side dish, build a playlist, and open the wine.

Four-Seed Rubbed Rib Roast

One 4- to 6-pound (3- to 4-bone) beef standing rib roast

2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil

1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

1 teaspoon celery seeds

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Southwestern Rubbed Rib Roast

One 4- to 6-pound (3- to 4-bone) beef standing rib roast

2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

Garlic-and-Fennel Rubbed Rib Roast

One 4- to 6-pound (3- to 4-bone) beef standing rib roast

2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil

Up to 3 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons fennel seeds, crushed in a garlic press or under a pot on a cutting board

2 teaspoons kosher salt

Up to ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1. Position the rack in the center of the oven or as close as you can get to its center while still accommodating the beef in a roasting pan. Heat the oven to 175°F (or 200°F, if your oven will not go that low).

2. Rub the beef with the oil. Mix together the seasonings from the rub of your choice, then sprinkle it over the meat, pressing any dried spices so they stick.

3. Set the rib roast in a roasting pan bone side down. Roast until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat (without touching bone) registers 124°F for rare, 127°F for medium-rare, or 135°F for medium, 4 to 5 hours.

4. Remove the beef from the oven and let it stand at room temperature for 1 hour (while you do other things). Meanwhile, increase the oven’s temperature to 500°F.

5. Return the beef in its roasting pan to the oven and roast for 10 minutes to crisp the exterior.

6. Transfer the roast to a cutting board and leave it alone for 10 to 15 minutes. To carve, slice the eye of meat off the bones by running a large, thin carving knife along the interior curve of those bones. Remove the eye and carve it into ½-inch-thick slices. Slice between the bones for roasted beef ribs.

• Pick one of the three spice-rubbed or seed-coated rib roasts below.

• To infuse the flavor of the roasting bones into the meat, do not buy a rib roast where the eye of meat has been cut off the bones and tied back on. Instead, buy one with the meat still attached to the bones. You may have to insist on this at the store. Butchers love to cut the meat off the bones and tie it back on. But when left intact, the rib roast will benefit from the added flavor the bones bring to the meat as it roasts. Even the small barrier of the cut cells between the bones and the eye of meat makes a big difference.

• For the meatiest slices (with less fat and gristle), ask your butcher for bones 1 through 3 (or 4, depending on how many you’d like to feed). And again, insist. This is the preferred part of the rack of ribs. Butchers love to try to get rid of bones 5 through 7 or even 8 when they can.

• Kosher salt makes for a crunchier and more flavorful rub.

• An instant-read meat thermometer is crucial to the success of this recipe. Go by the meat’s internal temperature in step 3. The stated timings there are mere suggestions.

• In step 3, take the temperature after 3½ hours, then again at the 4-hour mark, to see where the meat’s at, the better to judge how long it should continue to roast.

• If your oven has a convection setting, use it in step 5 for the best crunchy crust.

Voilà! Couscous stocked with lots of vegetables makes a much faster veggie side than potatoes or leafy greens. Packaged couscous cooks in about 5 minutes. Once ready, add lots of salad fixings: sliced broccoli florets, sliced sugar snap peas, halved seedless grapes, quartered cherry tomatoes, baby kale, and/or an antipasto selection of pitted olives and marinated artichoke hearts. Add additional olive oil for a dressing.