I have a problem: I have champagne taste and a sparkling wine budget. This usually isn’t a bad thing–I just have to plan those occasional champagne splurges, and it makes me appreciate them. The first recipe I’m trying this week is in that spirit: Poor Man’s Prime Rib. I love me some prime rib, but it’s not something you’ll find on my table at home. In a restaurant for a special occasion, sure, but restaurants sell prime rib a few slices at a time. An entire standing rib roast (AKA prime rib) that’s not even cooked is a lot more than your average prime rib dinner. But can any other cut of meat compare? I have my doubts, but I’m going to find out.
This is seriously the best way to cook a roast. It makes an inexpensive piece of meat taste like prime rib! Tender and delicious!
The Ingredients
As I mentioned above, the main reason I tried this recipe was the rice of a standing rib roast. It’s an expensive cut of meat. While I was shopping for my Poor Man’s Prime Rib, I took a look at the real thing and almost fainted.
It was on sale for $9.39 per pound, making one roast about $60. Pretty splurgy, but the regular price is what gave me the vapors—it was just over $98. That’s right, almost $100 for a roast that would still need to be cooked by yours truly.
I noped right out of that and over to the eye round roast that was priced a lot more reasonably at $5.29 a pound. It was 4 pounds and just over $22. That’s a downright steal compared to the standing rib roast!
The rest of the ingredients were simple seasonings I had in my pantry: salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
The Process
Preparing my Poor Man’s Prime Rib was almost as easy as tackling that one-item shopping list. Scratch that—it was easier since I didn’t have to leave the house.
Preheating the oven to 500ºF took a while, but I didn’t include that in my time. I just turned the oven on and prepped the roast while it preheated.
The prep work was nothing but sprinkling the meat with the seasonings. I skipped the bottom because it had a fairly thick layer of fat, but I did season the top and sides. After that, it was into the oven. Here is how my time was spent:
- 3 minutes to prep
- 2 hours 58 minutes to cook
- 3 hours 2 minutes total
I had to adjust the time since my roast was larger than 3 pounds. Fortunately, the recipe says to roast for 7 minutes per pound, then turn the oven off and let it sit for 2 1/2 hours. The internal temperature was supposed to have been at least 145ºF, but my roast was 132ºF.
I thought about putting the roast back into the oven to cook more, but I ended up serving it as-is. I cut from both ends for dinner that night and saved the rest for leftovers. It had to be reheated anyway so that cooked it a little more.
