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• Rare Roast Beef
♦ Rare beef is considered by most people to be 130ºF.
♦ The USDA states that full muscle beef when roasted to an internal temperature of 130ºF and
maintained at that temperature for 121 minutes is considered safe to eat.
♦ Overnight roasting requires a roast that is 7 pounds or larger.
♦ Seasonings will penetrate the roast about 1/4” deep.
♦ We will give two examples of roast beef (Prime Rib and Roast Tenderloin):
Both roasts will be cooked elevated on a roasting rack so we have air circulation all around during
the roasting process.
Both roasts will be cooked over a shallow sided pan to collect the pan juices for jus or gravy.
Prime Rib (roast and hold method) -
♦ Hold your beef roast for at least 8 hours, and keep the internal roast temperature from going higher
than 130ºF.
♦ Each hour of holding (between 100ºF and 140ºF) is equal to one day of ageing.
♦ Roast your 8 pound Prime Rib at 225ºF until your internal probe reads 100ºF.
♦ Set the oven for “Infinite/Continuous” time and 140ºF temperature. (You will notice that the lowest
temperature on the dial is 175ºF on manual oven models, so you will have to “best guess” where
140ºF is.)
Roast Tenderloin (quick roast and serve method) –
♦ Preheat your oven to 400ºF
♦ Load the tenderloin in the oven and reduce the roasting temperature to 350ºF
♦ Roast the tenderloin to an internal temperature of 120ºF and remove from the oven. The roast will
continue to rise in temperature.
♦ In about 10 minutes (130ºF) the tenderloin will be ready to slice and serve
• Jus
♦ Use your pan drippings to make jus. Many people say “I’m going to make some au jus”. This is
incorrect and professionals will notice. Au jus means “with juice”. Prime Rib becomes “Prime Rib Au
Jus” when you add jus to the plated Prime Rib.
♦ Use beef/veal/chicken stock to dissolve all that wonderful tasting brown gooey material in the bottom
of your roasting pan. Some add a little red wine, some add tomato, and some make their jus to theme:
Cajun, Southwest, Oriental…..you get the idea.