Chef's Kitchen

Each month, a guest chef gives us a tip that elevates their cooking or simplifies things in the kitchen; something a home cook might not know. They also provide a recipe that uses the tip, so you can practice at home. Our guest chef this month is Chef Matt Andes of Jimmy's on Broadway at the Capitol Hill Silver Cloud Hotel-Seattle Broadway. Jimmy's offers upscale casual American fare in an energetic and fun environment with over 20 beers on tap. Head in to try out their new chef's culinary inspirations. Silver Cloud Hotels & Inns are family and locally owned.

Chef Andes, well known as Chef Big Matt on the Texas BBQ circuit, has honed his skills at BBQ competitions and National Grand Championships since the age of 12. He has also catered to celebrities like Mohammed Ali and Randy Travis. As a renowned chef and expert on Texas BBQ, Big Matt shows his passion for food by using the finest ingredients, specific choice of wood, secret recipes, and technique that crafts each dish to the perfect moment of flavor and tenderness. Matt grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and attended the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park. Most recently he was at The Gaylord Texan in Dallas. With over 20 years of culinary experience, he has been working his way across the country, learning about people and culture through food. He's excited to be in the Pacific Northwest, learning about our seafood and local products, and bringing his passion for BBQ to us.

Best way to roast a prime rib, by Chef Matt Andes

1. Okay! First thing, your meat should be tempered. Allow it to come to room temperature on your counter. This is so your oven temperature recovers more quickly. Think about what happens when you put a cup of ice into boiling water.

2. Use a roasting rack and roasting pan. The rack is used to create room between the meat and pan. This allows air to circulate and your beautiful piece of meat is not sitting in drippings and fat. Use a quality pan. Spend a little money. The thicker, the better. If you would like to create a sauce from your drippings, part of that process is to deglaze your pan. If the pan is too thin, you could easily burn that delicious fond (fond = caramelized brown bits in the bottom of the pan) on the bottom of the pan.

3. Mire poix. Two parts onion, one part carrot, one part celery all diced and mixed together. This is mire poix. Pretty much the base of almost all Western stocks and sauces. If you're going to make a jus or gravy, mire poix is a large portion of flavor, and what's a better way of concentrating the flavors than roasting them, then being basted by the meat above it? Yup! Now we're getting ready to eat.

4. Seasoning!!! First, only use sea or kosher salt. Second, season the meat outside of your roasting pan especially if you are going to use your drippings. This is so your roasting pan doesn't catch all the salt that doesn't adhere to the meat. You don't want to have to run to the store to buy some stock to thin out your gravy if it is too salty. Third, please use a generous amount of salt and pepper. As far as any other flavors? Yes, please. For prime rib I like to make a roasted garlic paste, smear that across the rib, with some ground bay leaf, fresh thyme, salt and pepper.

5. HOT HOT HOT oven!!! We must be talking about roasting. I will turn my oven up to 500°. I know it sounds crazy/scary but as soon as you place the roast into the oven, turn it down to 225°. This is so there is little temperature recovery, and a nice crust of caramelized bits on the outside of the roast is created. The idea is to flash the meat in the oven to start the caramelization process then to slowly bring the meat to the desired internal temp while losing the least amount of cook weight as possible.

6. Last but not least, how long should it cook? I wish there was a standard answer to that question. Unfortunately, it depends on many factors. What kind of oven are you using? Is your oven calibrated? How many times is the oven being opened to take a "quick look"? The more important question is…what temperature should you cook the roast to? How do you like your steak cooked? Buy a nice digital thermometer. It doesn't need to be the most expensive. $15-$20 will get you a good one. Like most people, mid-rare is the temperature of choice. The magic number to mid-rare is 130°. Timing this can be tricky. The general rule is 18-22 minutes per pound. But I like to temp my roasts after 2 hours. This will give you a good idea of how much longer it needs to cook. Just remember your roast needs to rest for 10 min before being carved. And while it rests the roast will continue to cook on your counter by another 5-10°. So if you want your roast at mid-rare, it needs to be pulled at 125°. Good luck and good eating!

Prime Rib

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

Method

1. Set rib roast out and allow it to come to room temperature.

2. Preheat oven to 500

3. In a spice grinder, grind black pepper and bay leaf together, then combine with salt, thyme and rosemary. Mash in a mortar and pestle, allowing your garlic to form a paste. A little salt will help loosen this up after it dissolves.

4. Using your hands, rub the room temp meat with garlic paste, taking care to evenly distribute over the roast.

5. Broadcast salt and herb mixture over the meat as evenly as possible.

6. Place the roast in the center of the oven and turn the temperature to 225°. Roast to an internal temperature of 130° for mid-rare (remembering that while the roast rests for 10 minutes outside the oven, it will continue to cook).

Jimmy's on Broadway
at Silver Cloud Hotel-Seattle Broadway

1100 Broadway (corner of Broadway and Madison)
Seattle, WA 98122
206-204-1188
jimmysonbroadway.com

January 2019