making my first rib roast

HBear19

I thought I might get some advice. How big of a rib roast to make?

There will be 13 adults and 9 children. I can't imagine every child having the roast (ages 2 to 11). In addition, it is only 1 part of the meal. We're also making a baked ziti beside a variety of appetizers. We will do 1 or 2 side dishes with the meat.

I know they say 2 people per rib. I was just going to do 6 ribs since there is so much other food, but now I'm second guessing myself. Should I just get the 7th rib?

vjcjenn1

I've never made a rib roast...is this what you are eating when you have "short rib", which is awesome BTW.

I assume there is a big difference between 6 and 7 ribs pricewise, otherwise I don't see why you wouldn't just go for it.

I always count kids in half...so I would say you have 17.5 people. Since you'll be having other sides, instead of 2 people to a rib, I would say 2.5 people per rib (but not 3, people still tend to take a full portion of meat even with other stuff)

This works out perfectly to be 7...so I say go with 7

MegPlusFive

You may want to consider getting two smaller roasts. I've done them every year for the past three years, and they've always come out perfectly when cooked 'low and slow' after being seared in a pan - evenly pink all the way through - and that would be hard to do with the larger roasts. It will take you less time to do two smaller roasts, too. I would go with 7 ribs; when you make a really good rib roast, it tends to go fast.

debdebdol

Thanks for posting and answering this.  I will also be making my first rib roast this year and I'm so excited to see how it turns out!