How to conquer a standing crown rib roast at home
It is one of the showiest special-occasion meals a home cook can make. And one of the most terrifying.
Michael Majkszak says he understands the fears a standing crown rib roast incites. Cooking this big hunk of top-tier beef involves forethought, patience and great expense, he admits.
“There are a lot of people who are scared to death of it,” he says of the beef rib roast that butchers tie up so that its bones form a regal, circular crown.
But thanks to his cooking instructions, which he calls the “500-degree method,” he promises a foolproof rib roast for those meals that call for pulling out all the stops.
More on that recipe later. Let’s talk about the beef first. Beef is a subject Majkszak knows well. The owner of Majkszak’s Meat Market in Conroe has raised animals since his teens and developed an early passion for butchering. With a degree in meat processing and marketing from Texas State Technical College in Waco, Majkszak opened his retail butcher shop
in 2002. He represented the Houston area in the 2017 Beef Loving Texans’ Best Butcher in Texas competition sponsored by the Texas Beef Council.
Majkszak says the winter holidays — through New Year’s Eve — are the busiest time for butchers selling expensive beef (second only to Easter). And the standing crown rib roast is the ne plus ultra of beef roasts — usually attempted only by the most dedicated and fearless meat-eating home cooks.
“People usually eat it just once a year,” he says. “It’s a big commitment, that big old roast.”
The commitment begins with the grade of beef. Majkszak sells USDA Choice and the superior USDA Prime, the latter commanding $19.99 per pound. Because of the labor involved, he charges $24.99 for fashioning the crown roast, which he can make with seven to a dozen or more standing bones. Majkszak recommends a pound of beef per person for a bone-in roast. That means feeding 10 people would require a $250 outlay.
After you get past the sticker shock, there is the no small consideration of cooking this meat behemoth. Though home cooks can find any number of recipes online for cooking a standing crown rib roast, Majkszak employs a method that involves a very hot oven. He learned his “500-degree method” from a neighbor about five years ago, and he calls it foolproof.
There is one factor in his method that is hard to come by, though: trust. His instructions call for an initial high-temperature roasting, then turning off the oven and letting the meat continue to cook for two hours without opening the oven door. No peeking. No thermometer. That is asking a lot from home cooks who may like to visually inspect the progress as well as poke and prod.
Anyone who buys a big rib roast from Majkszak’s Meat Market leaves with the 500-degree instructions as well as two other typical oven-roasting methods. He acknowledges that his preferred method is unconventional and maybe not for everyone. But, he says, “nine out of 10” of his customers who have tried it have found delicious success.
Whatever method is used, the crown rib roast is an entertaining powerhouse that offers a sense of accomplishment for the cook and a delicious centerpiece for guests on the special-occasion table.
Standing Crown Rib Roast Courtesy Michael Majkszak
Equipment: Heavy, deep roasting pan with rack
Meat: Crown rib roast prepared by butcher, which can weigh 10 to 15 pounds or more. Majkszak recommends allowing 1 pound of beef per person for a bone-in roast. Know the weight of your crown roast before you begin.
Meat seasoning: Season the roast liberally with a rub of four parts kosher salt and four parts freshly cracked black pepper (or coarse-ground pepper) mixed with two parts garlic powder and two parts onion powder. Evenly coat roast with seasoning.
Roasting: Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Season beef and allow to come to room temperature. Place roast on a rack in roasting pan. Pour two cups of beef broth into the roasting pan so that the pan is covered but the broth does not touch the roast.
Place in oven, uncovered. Depending on how you like your meat cooked, leave in the oven at 500 degrees for the following times: Rare (5 minutes per pound); medium rare (6 minutes per pound); medium (7 minutes per pound); medium well (8 minutes per pound); well (9 minutes per pound). Doing the math: a 12-pound crown rib roast cooked to medium-rare would require 72 minutes in the oven.
When the cooking time has elapsed, turn off oven and walk away for two hours. The key here is to do nothing — don’t even open the door. After two hours, remove from oven. It is now ready to serve with au jus and/or horseradish and cream sauce (recipes follow).
Easy Au Jus: Pour the leftover broth and drippings from the roasting pan into a medium saucepan. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce or sherry. Cook to combine to desired thickness. Serve with roast.
Horseradish & Cream Sauce: Mix 1 tablespoon extra-hot prepared horseradish with 1 cup mayonnaise, 1 cup sour cream and 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce. Mix ingredients, chill and serve with roast.