Alton Brown's 5-Day Method For Seasoning Rib Roast

A tender, juicy, flavorful roast can be the perfect centerpiece of a family holiday meal. It can be prepared with all kinds of spices and ensures there's plenty of food to go around. To get a holiday roast perfectly seasoned for the holiday season celebrity foodist Alton Brown recommends giving it plenty of time to sit and allow flavor to develop.

For top-notch holiday roasts, Brown seasons his rib roast for nearly a week before it hits the oven. "I completely encrust the thing with salt and cracked pepper for at least five days before I cook it," Brown tells Tasting Table in an exclusive interview. Once the cut is coated, you'll need something to cover it that's permeable, but not too porous. For Brown, the natural choice is cheesecloth. "I can pull out as much extra moisture as possible, without actually drying the surface too much," he says.

For the "Good Eats" star, holiday classics like roast are about tradition, togetherness, and tasty food, so it's important to get them just right. His 5-day seasoning method for rib roast is known as dry curing, which helps pull moisture out of meat and concentrates its flavor along with the flavor of the seasoning.

Dry curing also helps the meat tenderize as it cooks, resulting in a melt-in-your-mouth roast to serve at the table. Alton Brown favors a simple salt and cracked pepper for his 5-day dry cure, but there are plenty of other options for a flavorful roast. Brown sugar can add sweetness and balance out the bitterness of salt. 

Paprika, one of Brown's favorite chicken seasonings, can add earthy, smoky notes, and spices like garlic and mustard powder can add pungency to complement the roast's savoriness. Meanwhile, a bit of cayenne pepper can add heat, giving the finished roast just enough bite without being overpowering.

A finished rib roast can pair perfectly with mashed potatoes and of course, Brown has his own tricks for garlic mashed potatoes. After mashing up spuds for mashed potatoes, Brown creates a garlic-infused cream sauce that gets mashed with the potatoes for a savory, creamy finish.