Jacques Pépin | September 17, 2011

I have made this roast several times for holiday dinners, and it is just wonderful. However, if you want to have a gravy to enhance your sides, then check out his website below for his basic brown sauce recipe. My family prefers their meat more well done, so I cook the roast longer than suggested but keep a close eye on it.

From Jacques Pepin, “Although my wife is normally not an aficionado of roast beef, she loves this recipe. The spicy rub — garlic, ginger, sugar, soy sauce, cayenne, dry mustard, and paprika — is the reason why.

The roast should be from the smaller, less fatty end of the rib section. Cleaned of the layer of fat on top, the meat is roasted in a hot oven, then allowed to rest for at least 20 minutes and up to 1 hour in a warm oven before serving so it is totally pink throughout.”

Serves 6 to 8

RUB
3 large garlic cloves
1 piece ginger (about the same size as the combined garlic cloves), peeled
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon paprika

1 3-rib beef rib roast (about 7 pounds), all visible fat trimmed from top (about 6 pounds trimmed)

Sauce:
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup sturdy red wine
1 small bunch watercress, washed and dried, for garnish (optional)
1/2 cup Basic Brown Sauce https://ww2.kqed.org/essentialpepin/2011/09/17/spicy-rib-roast/

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

FOR THE RUB: Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Rub the mixture over the top and sides of the roast.

Place the roast meat side up in a small roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Turn the meat bone side up and roast for another 30 minutes. Remove the roast from the oven, and leave the oven door open to cool the oven to about 140 degrees.

Transfer the roast to a platter.

If you want the sauce:

Skim off and discard all the fat that accumulated in the roasting pan. Add the water, wine, and brown sauce to the drippings in the pan and stir to melt the solidified juices.

Return the roast, bone side up, to the roasting pan with the juices and let rest in the warm oven for 20 to 30 minutes before carving.

To serve, carve the roast into thin slices. Arrange on the watercress, if using, on individual plates or a platter, and serve with the juices.