Cajun Prime Rib - Blackened
Submitted by christineb
Blackened Cajun prime rib: a 10-pound roast seasoned with pepper, garlic, and onion, roasted, chilled, then sliced into steaks and seared in a white-hot cast iron skillet until charred and crusty.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
1 daysCOOK
1 hrsREADY
1 daysHere’s the full-send version of Cajun prime rib, built around a massive 10-pound roast that gets transformed into individual blackened steaks.
The process starts a full day ahead. The roast gets punctured everywhere, layered in black pepper, garlic powder, and salt, topped with thinly sliced onions, and capped with its own fat. It sits in the fridge for 24 hours absorbing all that heat and flavor.
After a blast of high-heat roasting to render that fat cap dark and crispy, the whole thing goes back in the fridge to chill. Cold meat means clean slices between the bones, giving you six thick steaks that stay rare in the center when you blacken them.
The blackening itself is pure Cajun theater. A cast iron skillet heated until white ash forms on the bottom. Each steak coated in a fennel, cayenne, white pepper, and mustard seasoning blend, then seared until the crust turns jet black and the kitchen fills with smoke.
Fair warning: without a commercial hood vent, you might need to open every window in the house. Or better yet, take the cast iron outside to a gas grill.
Worth every bit of the drama.
Kitchen Tips
- This is a two-day recipe. Plan your 24-hour marinate and 3-hour chill time accordingly.
- The cast iron skillet needs at least 10 minutes of preheating on the highest flame you have. White ash on the bottom means it’s ready.
- Cook one steak at a time. Crowding the skillet drops the temperature and you’ll steam the meat instead of blackening it.
- A gas grill burner cranked to maximum makes a great outdoor alternative. Charcoal doesn’t generate enough sustained heat for true blackening.
Ingredients
Directions
Remove fat cap off top of meat (butcher can do this for you) and save. Place the roast, standing on the rib bones, in a very large roasting pan. Then with a knife make several dozen punctures through the silver skin so seasoning can permeate meat. Pour a very generous, even layer of black pepper over the top of the meat (the pepper should completely cover it); repeat with the garlic powder, then the salt, totally covering the preceding layer. Carefully arrange the onions in an even layer on top so as not to knock off the seasoning. Place the fat cap back on top. Refrigerate 24 hours.
Bake ribs in a 550F oven until the fat is dark brown and crispy on top, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours. (This is done so the juices will solidify and the steaks can be cooked rare.) Remove fat cap and disgard. With the blade of a large knife, scrape off the onions and as much of the seasonings as possible and discard. Then with a long knife, slice between ribs into 6 steaks (4 will have bones); trim the cooked surface of meat from the 2 pieces that were on the outside of the roast. Season and cook in your favorite way for steaks.
TO BLACKEN THE STEAKS: Combine the ingredients of the seasoning mix thoroughly in a small bowl; you will have about 8 Tb. Sprinkle the steaks generously and evenly on both sides with the mix. using about 4 teaspoons on each steak and pressing it in with your hands.
Heat a cast iron skillet over very high heat until it is beyond the smoking stage and you see white ash on the skillet bottom--at least 10 minutes. (The skillet cannot be too hot for this method.) Place one steak in the hot skillet (cook only one side at a time) and cook over a very high heat until the underside starts to develop a heavy, black crust, about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the steak over and cook until the underside is crusted like the first, about 2 to 3 minutes more. Repeat with the remaining steaks. Serve each steak while piping hot.
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