Before you cook your Prime Rib or Rib Roast for Christmas dinner, learn why you should wrap it in cheesecloth and where to find it fast.
📋 What's New In This Post (12/8/25) - Added a section on "what if you don't use cheesecloth".
It Doesn't Get Any Simpler To Boost Rib Roast Flavor
If there's one thing I believe in, it's that seasoning shouldn't just happen at the dinner table or even right before the roast goes in the oven. One of the best ways to build flavor is to start while the meat is resting in the fridge. It's just sitting there anyway, so you might as well put that time to work.
This is especially true with a standing rib roast. By wrapping it in cheesecloth, you can begin a gentle dry-aging process that concentrates flavor and improves texture before you ever turn on the oven. And if you've never bought cheesecloth before, don't worry, I'll show you exactly where to find it and how to get it delivered fast.
This post includes affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. These are products and services I recommend because I use or trust them. Cookies will be used to track the affiliate links you click.
Jump to:
🌬️ Why Dry Age
Why should you even bother? What dry aging does is removes some of the water from the meat. But wouldn't that make it dry? We aren't talking about a lot of water just enough to intensify the flavor. With less water there is more beefy flavor. If you cook the meat to the optimal temperature it will still be plenty juicy.
The typical process of dry aging involves hanging the meat up in a humidity-controlled room. Not exactly what your fridge is. But it will work well enough that it's still worth doing. It will improve the flavor of your meat.
🧀 Why Cheesecloth & Where to Buy It
I use cheesecloth to wrap the roast while it's dry aging in the fridge. The cheesecloth allows air to still get into the meat. If you didn't use the cheesecloth the outer part of the meat will get too hard. You want the meat to dry out but you don't want jerky on the outside! This is what a cheesemaker would do to age their cheese without it becoming too hard on the outside.
You will need to wrap your roast in about 3 layers of cheesecloth. If your roast comes tied you can just leave that on. There is no reason to remove it.
Before you wrap season your meat with kosher salt, black pepper, and if you want some dried herbs - I like rosemary. The salt will draw out moisture at first but then it will get sucked into the meat along with the other seasonings so that your roast is seasoned not just on the outside but inside as well.
🛒Order Cheesecloth
You can find cheesecloth in many grocery stores but you also could have it sent directly to you via Amazon. I also use it for homemade Instant Pot yogurt. Here are a couple size options:
📅 How Long to Wrap It In Cheesecloth?
The optimal time would be between 5 and 7 days. 24 hours wouldn't be enough to do much. If I only had 3 days I would still give it a go. It will make some difference.
Not sure when to buy your rib roast for Christmas? Check out my post - How Far in Advance to Buy a Rib Roast? to pick your optimal time so that you can get the best deal and still have time to wrap your roast before cooking it for Christmas dinner.
What If You Don't Use Cheesecloth?
What would happen if you don't use the cheesecloth and just put the roast into the fridge uncovered. Here are some issues you could run into:
- To keep the roast from drying too quickly. Yes, we are looking to dry out the roast but you want it to slowly happen. You don't want the outside to be so hard that when you do roast it, it becomes too hard to eat.
- The roast sitting in its own juices. The cheesecloth will absorb some of the excess liquid from the meat instead of it just dripping onto the pan you have the roast on.
- Picking up unwanted smells. This one is more minor, but other things in the fridge could potentially alter the flavor of the roast. While I am really not too concerned about this because something like onions for example aren't going to hurt the flavor of beef. Then again, why are your onions in the fridge in the first place?
The cheesecloth is really helpful, especially in drying the roast out without overdoing it.
🧪 Before & After: What 4 Days in Cheesecloth Did to My Roast
To show you how much water loss you could expect, I weighed the roast before and after dry aging. It started out as 5 pounds 11.5 ounces. I then dry aged the roast for 4 days in the fridge.
After the 4 days, I weighed the roast again, it was at 5 pounds 7.3 ounces. That is a loss of 4.2 ounces of water weight. The meat darkened in color as well.
At that point, it was time to cook the roast. I did mine sous vide. This process cooks the roast to the perfect temperature. Then I took it out, rubbed it with herb butter, and put it into a 500 degrees oven to brown the outside really fast. That butter on the outside made this roast the absolute best we ever had. Finger licking good. Here is a picture of it.
Are you looking to buy a rib roast that is actually prime beef? Check out my post - Where to Buy Prime Rib Roasts for some suggestions.
Sarah Kuhner
I just bought this for Christmas. We might just have to do this!