This Easy Prime Rib Upgrade Costs Zero Dollars

For most of us, cooking prime rib is a once-a-year indulgence. It's expensive and takes enough time to roast that you plan your whole day around it. So the pressure is on for it to be the best that it can be. Memorably majestic!

Outside of not overcooking it, the best way to do that is to wring every ounce of beefy flavor from your meaty investment. And you have the key to that right on the meat itself.

The Case for a Standing Rib Roast

A prime rib with the bones still in it is called a standing rib roast. Visually, the bones in the finished roast elicit the sort of primal glee that true beef eaters treasure. Functionally, they help your prime rib roast more evenly than one without the bones.

Perhaps you went to Costco and grabbed the Cryovac-ed prime rib whose size matched your needs, or you ordered one from your butcher and thought no more about it. If you’ve not ordered it yet, go for the bone-in option of the standing rib roast. And if your pre-packaged prime rib came with the bones, here’s how to handle them—and why it’s worth the small amount of extra hassle.

The Best of Both Worlds

I used to do standing rib roasts and struggle to carve them for serving, despite the sharpness of my knife. Working around those bones is tiresome. So it’s best to trim them off before you stick that beast in the oven. But don’t pitch them or save them for your dog. Use the ribs as a roasting rack.

This is what Simply Recipes founder Elise Bauer does in her prime rib recipe, which has been the internet’s go-to prime rib recipe for years. She advises asking your butcher to cut the bones away from the roast but then tie them back on in the same position with butcher’s twine. This creates a boneless roast/standing rib roast hybrid. You get the utility of the bones and the convenience of a boneless prime rib. If you’re buying a standing rib roast and there’s no butcher in sight, you can give a shot at cutting the bones away and tying them back on yourself.

The bones act as a natural roasting rack, elevating the meat so the heat circulates around the prime rib better in the oven. I hate messing with those giant metal roasting racks (they take up so much space and are impossible to store in a cupboard), so this is a big plus for grouches like me. 

Once your roast is ready to carve, slicing the portions is easy-peasy because all you have to do is lift the meaty boneless portion off of the bones. Promise me you’ll save the bones for later. Why? Once you are all done with your special prime rib dinner, there’s another splendid way you can put those bones to use.

Deviled Ribs: An Antiquated Second Act for the Bones

If you’re uninhibited when it comes to your carnivorous leanings (and I’m guessing so, if a standing rib roast is your thing), this is the year to save the bones from your roast and make deviled bones to wring even more pleasure from the grandeur of your prime rib.

Deviled bones? Yes! It’s a very old English preparation that I ran across in the giant yellow Gourmet cookbook that came out in 2004, but I’ve also seen a version by James Beard.

To make deviled bones, you slather a flavorful paste of mustard and herbs on the leftover rib bones, then bread them with breadcrumbs and broil them. It’s a zero-waste recipe where you get to enjoy all of the bits of meat clinging to the bones.

I’ve never tried it, but you can bet the next time I roast a prime rib I’m giving deviled bones a shot, and I hope you do, too. I mean, you have nothing to lose! You can even freeze the bones to make deviled bones later.

Deviled Beef Ribs Recipe, paraphrased from The Gourmet Cookbook.

This only serves two, so there may be some fighting over who gets what. 

You’ll need:

• 6 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons dry mustard powder
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 2/3 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cooked meaty bones from a standing rib roast, cut apart if still attached
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the broiler. Then stir together the cream, mustard powder, and Parm in a small bowl. 

Tear off a sheet of waxed paper and mix the breadcrumbs, parsley, salt, and pepper on it. Smear the mustard paste all over the bones, then dredge them in the breadcrumbs.

Set the bones on a sheet pan (don’t line with parchment) and then drizzle them with the butter. Set the broiler rack two inches from the heating element and broil the ribs, turning frequently, until the breadcrumbs are golden brown all over, about five minutes total. Serve hot and gnaw away.