Your first line of defense against over-cooked roast beef, is a cooking chart, or a written "time-weight ratio guide" that allows a specific number of minutes of cooking time for each pound of meat.

Cooking charts are found in all basic cook books, and are, at best approximations.

The internal heat of a roast will cause it to continue cooking after it is removed from the oven. This must be taken into consideration, especially when preparing rare or medium-rare roasts.

A good, instant-read thermometer, used along with a cooking chart, is your best assurance of a juicy and flavorful roast beef.

A cooking chart, or timetable for a standing rib roast, looks something like this:

Cut of Meat:
Standing Rib Roast - 7 ribs

Approximate Weight of Single Roast (Pounds)
23 pounds

Oven Temperature
300-degrees

Interior of Roast removed from oven
125-degrees (rare)
140-degrees (medium)
150-degrees (well)

Minutes per pound
Rare - 11 minutes
Medium - 12
Well-Done - 13

Approximate Total Time
Rare - 4 hours
Medium - 4 hours
Well-Done - 5 hours

Still to be considered are: The reliability of temperature calibration of your oven, the over-all shape of the roast, bones, temperature of the roast before going into the oven (it should be as near room temperature as possible).

The temperature of the roast will rise 5 to 10-degrees after the roast is taken from the oven.

With the use of a roast beef cooking chart and an instant-read thermometer, the preparation of a juicy and flavorful roast requires a little bit of information, but is well-worth the effort.

Learn more about this author, Joan Mccord.
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