Achieve A Savory Crust On Prime Rib By Using One Ingredient Sitting In Your Pantry

No dinner party is complete without a show-stopping protein. And for many, that show-stopping protein is prime rib. It's a cut that truly speaks for itself; it's juicy, tender, and large enough to take up most of the real estate on your plate. However, this cut needs a lot of assistance to bring out its flavor nuances and really make for a bite that tastes as good as it looks. 

If you want to make the best prime rib, you're going to have to query your seasoning rack. You might add the usual suspects, like salt and pepper, but in an exclusive interview with Tasting Table, Scott Thomas, owner of The Grillin' Fools, offered another flavorful suggestion: espresso powder. Espresso powder can be used for many recipes, though many of them are sweet (like in cookies or brownies). It's not the same stuff you'd brew espresso with; it undergoes more processing so that it's fine and dissolves easily — meaning no grittiness.

Thomas explains that this ingredient has flavor nuances of its own; it's acidic, sweet, nutty, rich, and rife with caramel undertones, all of which make it a great prime rib seasoning. "While sweetness and caramel don't normally go with beef, it's more subtle than profound and thus doesn't overpower the natural deliciousness of prime rib," he says. He notes that espresso powder can be used alongside other conventional savory prime rib seasonings, garlic, and alliums for a flavorful crust.

The one thing that Scott Thomas cautioned us about when adding espresso powder to prime rib is not to go overboard and add too much. He claims that it's very rich, meaning that a little bit goes a long way. Depending on the size of your cut, you may only need a few tablespoons of the powder to get your point across. The goal is to have the earthiness of the espresso work into the fat and elevate the umami flavor of the meat rather than have it steal the show entirely. You can counterbalance the espresso powder by adding dried mushroom powder to the seasoning blend alongside your salt and alliums. For optimal flavor, be sure to let this seasoning sit on the cut for several hours before cooking. 

Some folks will also add brown sugar to the prime rib seasoning with the espresso powder, but this is something that Thomas cautions. "I would not add any sort of sweet seasonings," he says. "Subtle sweet is fine on beef, but too much is a crime."