The 2-Garlic Marinade For Michelin-Level Prime Rib At Home

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While most of us reach for standard seasonings to try to master the absolute best prime rib to serve for dinner, Michelin-star chefs have perfected recipes that lead to new levels of tender, flavorful bites. Some of these professionals are generous enough to share their secrets; chef Sungchul Shim of New York's Gui Steakhouse revealed to Danny Kim on his Danny Grubbs YouTube channel that the secret to the best-tasting prime rib is temperature and seasoning. But there's also more to it than that.

Shim's Korean-influenced rich marinade is part of what transforms his cut of meat into something that tastes like it came out of an acclaimed restaurant's kitchen. The marinade calls for two types of garlic, white and black, as well as koji, mustard, and water. Shim first dries the roast for several days in the fridge before resting it in this marinade overnight. White garlic — the kind most cooks know about — is sharp and pungent, but black garlic, fermented until it is dark in color, is sweet like molasses and offers an additional umami layer. Using both types of garlic means that this marinade doubles down on flavor. Those who eat at Shim's restaurant agree. "This is honestly one of the best prime ribs I've ever had," enthused one of Gui's customers on Instagram.

Shim's marinade also relies on koji — fermented rice mold found in Japanese and Korean cooking – to help tenderize the meat. Though trying to follow Shim's prime rib recipe at home will take some planning and a lot of time, it doesn't require any special equipment to achieve professional results. Once it's been marinated, Shim coats the meat in a peppercorn-based dry rub. Then his preferred low and slow roast takes around 10 hours, and for a truly restaurant-worthy finish, hot rendered beef fat is drizzled over the roast to sear the crust while protecting the delicate interior. "I wanted to make it at home until I realized how many days it takes. I'm drooling over this," lamented an admirer on Instagram.

Following Shim's exact steps to make a delicious prime rib is a tall order; Shim is a Michelin-starred chef for a reason. But copying his marinade is an easy step, so once you have both black garlic and koji stocked in your kitchen (both of which you can source online — like this black fermented garlic on Amazon, and this koji paste), you may find yourself sprucing up other recipes with umami-rich marinades and surprising dinner guests with your culinary creations.