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ribeye roast

Ribeye roast – For special occasions, Sunday dinner, or anytime

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Don’t miss a special Ribeye Roast recipe from ButcherBox Head Chef Yankel Polak at the bottom of this post.

Here at ButcherBox, we believe the best way to bring friends together is over a delicious cut of grass-fed, grass-finished beef.

Our favorite cut to share with others is the ribeye roast. Perfectly-cooked, the ribeye roast goes well with an array of side dishes, red wine, and good friends.

What exactly is a ribeye roast?

Ribeye roasts — and ribeye steaks — come from the rib section of the cow, as the name implies. Specifically, ribeye roasts come from between the sixth and twelfth rib. It is a well-marbled section of muscle that is comprised of the longissimus dorsi, complexus, and spinalis muscles of a cattle. Ribeyes come in a number of different cuts and go by a few different names.

Most ribeye roasts are large, boneless cuts that have generous marbling and are best cooked over a few hours time. Traditionally the cut was used only on special occasions; a beef ribeye roast would be coated with salt and ground black pepper, spend an entire day in a roasting pan, and then be sliced up and presented as Sunday dinner or the centerpiece of a holiday meal.

Some roasts come with the bones included, and in this form is called standing rib roast and sometimes prime rib. It can also, confusingly, be called prime rib without the bone, and to add a level of complexity can be referred to as a roast beef mainly because it is beef roasted in an oven. (Check out our piece on often confused cuts for some clarification on the difference between prime rib roast and ribeye steak.)

The ribeye can be cut into steaks and cooked on a grill — with or without the bone — and has enough fatty, flavorful marbling that it needs little more than a pinch of sea salt and black pepper to make it a tender, mouthwatering treat.

A section of the ribeye can also be further cut down into a hard to find cut of steak known as the ribeye cap. The cut comes from the most tender part of this large muscle known as the spinalis dorsi that is highly-sought-out by discerning steak aficionados. The cut also goes by other names across the globe, including “Scottish fillet” in its boneless steak roast form.

Enough about the details of the ribeye, let’s get to the important stuff: How to prepare a delicious ribeye roast.

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How to cook a ribeye roast

You can order ribeye steaks from a butcher, or cut up a ribeye into steaks if you don’t want to put effort into roasting the cut. However, putting a little time and effort into the roast will pay off in the form of smooth, rich, well-marbled beef that you can easily slice up and serve to a number of dinner guests.

According to our Head Chef Yankel Polak, our ButcherBox boneless ribeye roast is a “breathtakingly marbled and tender hunk of meat.”

It can be prepared in numerous ways. For example, you can cook a ribeye roast in a slow cooker with some spices like fresh rosemary, minced garlic, and some vegetables. However, ribeye roast can be a bit too expensive to cook in this manner. “Pot roast,” beef usually tenderized by a day spent in a slow cooker is best with tough, less inherently flavorful cuts like chuck roast and shoulder steaks.

Below is ButcherBox Chef Yankel’s “Super Easy Ribeye Roast With Roasted Mushrooms and Eggplant.” This recipe serves eight, takes 20 minutes to prepare, and after two and half hours of cooking time, you’ll have a tender roast. It is quite simple and the perfect way to show off your cooking skills and delicious ButcherBox grass-fed beef.

The key is Chef Yankel’s use of a reverse-searing method, which allows you to sear the ribeye roast and let sit until it needs its final 15 minutes of cooking.

According to Chef Yankel, this will give you a medium-rare roast with a delicious brown crust. Also, he says, “This recipe won’t keep you stuck in the kitchen all night if you have guests.”

Super Easy Ribeye Roast With Roasted Mushrooms and Eggplant

Ingredients:

Beef Rub:

  • 1 ButcherBox Ribeye Roast
  • 3 Tbsp kosher salt  
  • 2 Tbsp garlic powder
  • 2 Tbsp onion powder
  • 2 Tbsp paprika
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil

Roasted Mushrooms and Eggplant

  • 2 lbs mushrooms, assorted variety, cut into similar size pieces
  • 4 Japanese eggplants, halved lengthwise
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 shallots, minced
  • 3 Tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
  • 3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
  • 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Mix all ribeye rub ingredients and rub all over ribeye roast. Refrigerate on lowest shelf uncovered overnight. Remove from fridge 1 hr before roasting.
  2. Preheat oven to 250°F. Roast ribeye in a roasting pan until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part reads 115°F. Remove from oven and let rest for at least 20 min. The ribeye can sit out up to 2 hrs or be refrigerated until Step 7. If refrigerating, make sure to bring the ribeye back to room temperature before reheating.
  3. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  4. Mix all ingredients for the roasted vegetables except for the vinegar, then spread the vegetables evenly on sheet pans in a single layer.
  5. Roast vegetables in oven until lightly browned. Eggplant should be tender and mushrooms should shrink to half their original size.
  6. Remove vegetables from oven, sprinkle with vinegar and set aside.
  7. Place roast back in the oven and cook for an additional 15 min, until internal temperature is 125°F and the top is browned and crisp.
  8. Let ribeye roast rest for at least 20 min before carving. Happy Eating!

You can also check out Chef Yankel going through the steps of cooking a “Pan Seared Ribeye with Potatoes and Mushrooms”:

 

braised beef braising meat

How to braise beef and why it’s one of the best cooking methods

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Whenever I come across braised short ribs on a restaurant menu, I have a hard time passing up the delectable dish. Just thinking about it, I can taste the melt-in-your-mouth, flavorful meat. In all my short rib adventures, I’ve never stopped to wonder how chefs create such divine creations.

The secret, I discovered comes down to braising.

A cooking method mixing high dry heat, low moist heat, and time

Braising is a two-step cooking method that uses both high-heat for a short period and low-heat for a longer period of time. First, it involves browning meat in olive oil, butter, ghee, or some other fat — on high heat — usually by sauteing in a pan. Second, the meat is cooked in a covered dish, in the juices left from the browning and often also with an added liquid such as stock, water, etc.

The second, slow-cooking step is done in a tightly covered pot, like a dutch oven, or, often, in a slow-cooker. This process is also sometimes referred to as “pot roasting.”

Slow-cooking — and, well, the use of a slow-cooker or Crock Pot — helps to add flavor and tenderizes tougher cuts of beef and other meats.

According to The Kitchen Encyclopedia, published in 1911, “Braising is a method much used in France, and is a cross between boiling and baking.” The word itself derives from the French word brasier, which is a form of braise, meaning “live coals.” A brasier or brazier, in French and English, is also another name for a receptacle to burn coal or charcoal. Dutch ovens can also be called brasiers. The origin of the term braising seems to come from a French word for a method using both dry heat and moist heat.

Why braise?

Braising can be done with any meat but is most often done with tough cuts of meat, because tender cuts usually don’t need additional tenderizing or flavor.

Cuts that traditionally have less flavor — say a chuck roast, shoulder steak, chuck pot roast, pork butt, or beef chuck arm — are the best cuts to use and may need richer braising liquids. The best way to add great flavor is with beef broth or chicken stock, as well as spices like rosemary, bay leaves, and other fresh herbs. Moreover, braising done in the style of a pot roast can include aromatic vegetables — carrots, onions, and more — for additional flavor.

How to braise meat

The first step of braising takes about ten minutes, but achieving truly fall-apart-tender meat takes many hours of cooking time. Our in-house ButcherBox Chef Yankel Polak recommends seasoning the meat with salt and black pepper, then searing your meat until you get a nice brown crust. When cooking pork, he likes to use apple cider as a braising liquid that can also help scraping the browned bits of meat left from searing. Chef Yankel also recommends adding tomato paste to your braising liquid for texture and taste. For added flavor and simplicity, he also advises using the same pot to sear and cook, covering the dish after the flavorful liquid and browned meat have simmered.

A long, slow cook is crucial for breaking down the proteins and tenderizing the meat. You’ll need to cook for at least an hour and a half to two hours (depending on the size of your cut of meat) in the oven set to 300 degrees. Cooking on low heat allows the meat to cook slowly as the braising liquid evaporates. It is this process that makes dishes like pulled pork, carnitas, and roasts fork-tender.

Whether cooking pork in the slow cooker or keeping a watchful eye on a roast spending a day in a Dutch oven, meat braising in its juices and spiced-up flavor can turn a simple cut of beef or pork into a truly amazing dish.

You can find some of Chef Yankel’s favorite recipes to braise beef, chicken, or pork here, or watch the video below for more braising techniques.

If you want more from Chef Yankel, check out his recommendations for the best red wine to pair with braised beef and other dishes. 

Our monthly ButcherBox comes often comes with cuts like pork butt and grass-fed beef roasts that are perfect for braising. You can also get these cuts in a custom ButcherBox. If you’re not a member already, you can sign up here. 

Digging into shepherd’s pie: A rich, simple dish with a complex history

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As the days start to get warmer, let’s skip the stew and dig into a dish that’s a lot easier to make. 

The dish itself is not complicated. Popular in the British Isles, it is usually some combination of meat, spices, vegetables, with a mashed potato crust. 

A problem arises, however, when discussing the name of the entree. Shepherd’s pie? Cottage pie? “Pâté chinois?

Here in America, we usually refer to any dish that contains beef, hearty veggies, and is topped with potatoes as “shepherd’s pie.” However, what we know as shepherd’s pie is actually a “cottage pie,” which is popular in Ireland, Scotland, and England. A shepherd’s pie is the same except the featured meat is lamb instead of beef. 

The background for the name differences is quite interesting. Cottage pies have traditionally been more common because they were made from the leftovers of from larger meals. So commonfolk in places like Ireland and England — who predominantly lived in country cottages — would take leftover beef they had, cut it up, and throw it into a pot or dish with whatever veggies they had lying around. 

As our in-house chef, Yankel Polak explains, “There are endless variations since its basically a free-form stew topped with mashed potatoes.”

Because potatoes have been such a prevalent and accessible crop to broader swaths of the population — especially in Ireland — it made more sense to use mashed potatoes as a crust or topping than any grain-based foods. And so, the cottage pie became a staple in Ireland, Britain, Scotland, and, eventually America.

It is a bit odd that a cottage pie — the dish with beef as its meat — would be called shepherd’s pie more commonly here in the U.S. 

If you haven’t made the connection yet, shepherd’s pie gets its name because it features lamb, the livestock tended to by shepherds.

Whatever name it goes by, the savory dish is good just about any time you happen to have ground beef or any leftover meat and vegetables handy. But it is a perfect hearty meal for the winter, especially in the more snow-blanketed, northern sections of the country.

ButcherBox’s Chef Yankel likes to make a beef stew and store mash potatoes in a pastry bag. “When I’m hungry,” he explains, “I heat up the stew in a saute pan, pour it into an oven safe dish, pipe the mash on top with a sprinkle of parmesan and pepper and broil it till golden.” 

For another variation on the cottage pie/shepherd’s pie, check out Chef Yankel’s “Spiced-Up Shepherd’s Pie,” which adds some more complexity with Indian-inspired flavors and a unique potato topping that blends in cauliflower for a lower carb count:

“shepherds-pie"

Spiced-up Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients:

Meat Filling

- 1 ButcherBox Ground Beef

- 1 c butternut squash, small dice

- 1 c carrots, small dice

- 1 c peas (if frozen do not thaw)

- One can (15½oz) garbanzo beans

- 1 can (14½oz) diced tomatoes

- 1 medium yellow onion, small dice

- 4 garlic cloves, minced

- ½ tsp cinnamon

- 1 tsp muchi-curry powder

- 1 tsp garam masala

- 1 Tbsp tomato paste

- 2 tsp kosher salt

- 1/3 c beef stock

Cauliflower Topping

- 1 cauliflower

- 2 russet potatoes

- ½ tsp muchi-curry powder

- ½ tsp ground black pepper

- 1 tsp kosher salt

- 1 tsp ghee

Preparation:

30 minutes cooking time:

Serves: 4-6

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Rinse potatoes, poke them twice with a fork and place on baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 1 hr or until fork-tender. Peel the skin off once you are able to handle them.

3. Cut up cauliflower and place in a steaming basket. Steam for 10 min, or until very soft.

4. Place cooked cauliflower, peeled potatoes, and remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

5. With a hand mixer, mix until smooth.

6. Set aside.

Meat Filling

7. Preheat sauté pan. Crumble ground beef into the hot pan, and sauté until slightly pink, then drain liquid.

8. Return the meat back to pan and add garlic, onion, butternut squash, carrots, and spices. Sauté until onions are translucent.

9. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and beef broth mix, and cook for 3 min.

10. Add garbanzo beans and peas. Mix everything together and pour meat filling into a casserole dish.

11. Spread the mashed cauliflower and potato mixture evenly on top of meat.

12. Bake for 30 min. Remove from oven and enjoy!