Prime Rib Roast au Jus

Dec 05, 2023 • Tom Jackson

Indulge in the flavors of a Creekstone Farms 3-bone Prime Rib Roast, prepared with Bear & Burton's W Sauce. The roast is generously slathered with The W Sauce and adorned with the bold notes of Cattleman’s Grill Lone Star Brisket Rub. Searing to perfection in Cornhusker Kitchen Beef Tallow, the roast is then pampered with a rich butter baste, featuring a blend of unsalted butter, horseradish, garlic, and more W Sauce! Roasted directly over the flame on the Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill to an internal temperature of 130ºF ensures a melt-in-your-mouth experience. The finishing touch is an exquisite au jus crafted from a marriage of beef stock, red wine, and Bear & Burton’s W Sauce. Rested to let the juices redisperse, this prime rib is served with a side of the flavorful skillet sauce, inviting you to savor each sumptuous bite.

WHAT YOU'LL LOVE

Searing prime rib in beef tallow before roasting builds the crust that makes this recipe different from a standard oven prime rib: The Lodge Cast Iron Skillet in the YS640s firebox at 450°F reaches temperatures close to commercial searing equipment. Beef tallow's high smoke point (400°F+) allows the skillet to reach proper searing temperature before the fat breaks down, producing the deep Maillard crust that seals in the roast's moisture and adds caramelized flavor to the exterior. Butter at this temperature would smoke and burn before the sear is complete.
The butter baste — applied after the sear and during the indirect cook — is what makes this recipe technically distinct from simple "prime rib on a pellet grill": A standard prime rib cook seasons the roast and puts it in the heat. This recipe adds a horseradish-garlic-W Sauce compound butter baste that continuously bastes the exterior during the 2-hour indirect cook. The butter melts and runs back over the surface on every basting pass, carrying horseradish sharpness and garlic depth into every surface area.
The au jus builds in the same skillet as the sear — don't wash it: Direction Step 4 deglazes the skillet immediately after removing the seared roast. All the caramelized beef fond on the bottom of the skillet — the browned bits from the tallow sear — dissolve into the red wine deglaze and become the flavor base of the au jus. The W Sauce and beef stock go in on top. The roast then finishes on a wire rack over this skillet, dripping rendered fat and juices into the developing au jus below. By the time the roast reaches 130°F, the au jus has been enriched for 2 hours.
A 20–30 minute rest before slicing is not optional for prime rib: Direction Step 7 specifies a 20–30 minute rest after pulling at 130°F. During this rest, the internal temperature rises 5–7°F through carryover (finishing at ~135–137°F for medium-rare), and — more critically — the juices redistribute from the center toward the exterior. Slicing immediately after pulling a prime rib releases a significant volume of juice onto the cutting board; a full rest keeps those juices in the meat where they belong.

Prime Rib Roast Au Jus

Tom Jackson

Rated 4.0 stars by 64 users

Cuisine

French

Servings

10

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

2 hours 5 minutes

Calories

185

Elevate your culinary journey with a Creekstone Farms 3-bone Prime Rib Roast, a true spectacle of flavor and tenderness. Begin the symphony of taste by generously applying Bear & Burton’s W Sauce and a dash of Cattleman’s Grill Lone Star Brisket Rub, setting the stage for a mouthwatering experience. Searing in a bath of Cornhusker Kitchen Beef Tallow on the Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill, this prime rib achieves the perfect balance of smokiness and succulence. The pièce de résistance is the butter baste, a luxurious blend of unsalted butter, horseradish, garlic, and Worcestershire, which envelops the roast in a luscious embrace. As the roast reaches an internal temperature of 130ºF, the flavorful au jus, a symphony of beef stock, red wine, and Bear & Burton’s W Sauce, awaits its starring role. Rested and ready, this prime rib is presented with a dipping sauce, inviting you to revel in a culinary masterpiece that promises an unforgettable dining experience.

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Directions

Preheat your Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill to 450ºF set up for direct grilling with the diffuser or diffuser door removed. Place a Lodge 12” Cast Iron Skillet over the flame.
Slather your rib roast with The W Sauce. Season with Cattleman’s Grill Lone Star Brisket Rub.
Melt the beef tallow in the skillet. Sear the roast on all sides, then remove and transfer to a wire roasting rack.
Deglaze skillet with wine. Scrape with wooden spoon. Add the beef stock and The W Sauce to skillet.
Place the rib roast on wire rack over the skillet, and move to the indirect side of the grill, away from the flame.
To make the butter baste, combine all ingredients and mix well. Rub the roast with the butter baste.
Cook the roast to an internal temperature of 130ºF. Remove from the grill. Rest for 20-30 minutes to let the juices redispense.
Slice and serve with the sauce from the skillet for dipping.

Recipe Note

Recipe FAQ

What is au jus and where does it come from?
Au jus is French for "with juice" — it refers to meat served with the natural juices produced during cooking. The tradition dates to classical French cuisine, where chefs prized the flavors that develop in the roasting pan and developed techniques to capture and enhance them. In classic preparation, the roasting pan is deglazed with wine or stock after the meat is removed, dissolving the caramelized meat fond from the bottom into a light, intensely flavored sauce. This recipe follows the same logic: the prime rib sears in beef tallow in the Lodge Cast Iron Skillet, the skillet is deglazed with red wine, and the roast finishes on a rack over the developing au jus — dripping rendered fat and juices into it for 2 hours before service.

Why sear the roast before the indirect cook instead of after?
This recipe uses the traditional sear-first method rather than the reverse-sear. The sear first creates the caramelized exterior crust and the fond in the skillet that becomes the au jus base — both of which are fundamental to the recipe's structure. The reverse-sear (low-and-slow first, then high-heat sear) produces excellent results for even internal doneness, but it doesn't generate the same skillet fond during the indirect cook phase. For this recipe, the sequence is intentional: sear for crust and fond, indirect for doneness, rest for juice redistribution.

Why pull at 130°F instead of the standard prime rib pull temperature of 120–125°F?
Direction Step 7 specifies 130°F for medium-rare. The standard reverse-sear pull temperature of 120–125°F accounts for a second high-heat sear that adds 5–10°F of carryover. This recipe's butter-basted indirect finish produces less carryover than a high-heat sear finish — the indirect environment is gentler. Pulling at 130°F and resting 20–30 minutes produces a finished temperature of approximately 135–137°F (medium-rare). If you prefer medium, pull at 135–137°F for a finished temperature of approximately 140–143°F.

Can I substitute the beef tallow for oil?
Avocado oil or refined coconut oil are the best substitutes — both have smoke points above 400°F, high enough for the 450°F sear. Vegetable oil works but produces slightly less flavor. Avoid extra virgin olive oil (smoke point ~375°F) and regular butter (smoke point ~300°F), which will smoke excessively and potentially burn before the sear is complete. The beef tallow contributes a distinctive, rich beefy flavor to the sear crust that neutral oils don't replicate — if you want to maximize the crust flavor, the tallow is worth using.

Can I make this recipe without a pellet grill?
Yes — the Lodge Cast Iron Skillet sear works on any stovetop, and the indirect roast finish works in a 325°F oven. Preheat the skillet over the highest available stovetop heat for 5 minutes before adding the tallow and searing. After searing and building the au jus base in the skillet, place the roasting rack over the skillet and transfer to the oven. The wire rack over the skillet setup works in the oven just as it does on the grill — the drippings from the roast continue enriching the au jus below. What you lose is the pellet smoke character during the indirect finish.

Can I make this indoors?
3 out of 5 — Works indoors with adjustments. A cast iron skillet over high stovetop heat handles the sear. The indirect finish in a 325°F oven produces equivalent results. What you lose is the ambient pellet smoke character that penetrates the roast during the 2-hour indirect cook — a subtle but noticeable difference on a premium cut like prime rib.

Recipe Highlights

Season with W Sauce first, then Lone Star Rub — don't reverse the order: Direction Step 2 slathers the W Sauce first, then seasons with the Lone Star Rub. The W Sauce is a wet binder that provides a surface for the rub to adhere to and contributes deep Worcestershire-umami character to the exterior. Applying the rub first and then the sauce washes the rub off the surface. The W Sauce layer should be thin and even — not pooling; it's a binder, not a marinade.
Deglaze the skillet immediately after the sear — don't let it cool: Direction Step 4 deglazes with red wine while the skillet is still at full searing temperature. A hot skillet dissolves the caramelized fond from the bottom efficiently; a cooled skillet bonds the fond more tightly to the surface and requires longer scraping. Add the wine to the hot skillet, scrape immediately with a wooden spoon, and the fond releases cleanly within 30–60 seconds. Add the beef stock and W Sauce while the skillet is still hot.
Apply the butter baste before and during the indirect cook — not at the end: Direction Step 6 applies the butter baste before moving to indirect heat. As the roast cooks over 2 hours, the butter melts and bastes the surface continuously — apply additional baste every 30–45 minutes during the cook. The horseradish and garlic in the baste need time in the heat to mellow and integrate into the roast's exterior rather than tasting raw and sharp. A single application at the end doesn't accomplish this.
Place the wire rack directly over the skillet — don't use a separate pan: Direction Step 5 places the wire rack over the skillet containing the au jus. This single-vessel setup allows the roast's rendered fat and drippings to fall directly into the developing au jus below for the full 2-hour indirect cook. Using a separate sheet pan beneath the roast means all those drippings — brisket rub, W Sauce, horseradish butter, rendered rib fat — go to waste instead of enriching the sauce you'll serve with the finished roast.