This week the local Safeway has USDA Select rib roast on sale for a good price. Has anyone tried to cook one of these? If so, how and would you do it again. If I bite the bullet, I'm going to smoke, sous vide for 12+ hours and sear using compound butter.

I fall for this almost annually.   And with a long low smoke, olive oil, Montreal seasoning, rosemary mix in the food processor, then a quick sear on the gasser.   It's really good, but it's not great.  A little prepared horseradish, pepper, sour cream, scallions, or even a Béarnaise ... that can take it up to great.   

I'm going to try to seek out a higher grade rib roast this year. 

I have done them similar to you, Paul.  The exception being that I don't sear them.  I run them through a slicer for very thin slices and use for roast beef sandwiches.

A set of new ads came out today and USDA choice is $4.97 at a different store. Since I'm having company, I think that I'm going to opt for one of the choice roast instead. Although, your method sounds good, I may try both. Thanks for sharing.

It's $5.99/lb in this neck of the woods!  And since you are the Sous Vide Master I would think it is a no brainer!

Same price here.  Did one low and slow a couple of years ago and it was pretty good.  Definitely not like doing  a prime grade.

My local market used to have them for $4.99/pound during the holidays. I cooked quite a few of them. I have not seen that price lately.

In fact, it was low-cost rib roast that led me to cook my first brisket and to buy my smoker.

We had cooked one rib roast for Thanksgiving and wanted another for the following weekend when we would do a second Thanksgiving gathering.

When my wife got to the store to get the second rib roast, they had raised the price back to normal. The butcher convinced her to get a brisket flat instead.

I had to figure out how to cook the brisket on my Weber cooker. It turned out great but was not done in time. Fortunately, I had also bbq'd a turkey.

By the way, it is still probably the best brisket I have ever cooked.

My wife really liked the brisket and was all for it when I told her that we should get a smoker. Within a week we had purchased our GMG Daniel Boone.

It is very likely that I would have never thought of buying a smoker if this had not occurred. Up until then, I was perfectly happy with charcoal.

Update: I ended up buying one of the select roast. It was a whole rib roast and weighed 17 lbs. I think that this site helped convince me to give it a try. https://www.erikssmokingbbq.com/post/smoked-sous-vide-select-prime-rib

Sorry this site was not able to help convivence you!

I guess I think half the fun of cooking is just venturing out and trying something I would like to do, whether someone has done it before or not.  Then you get to share your results here and be the pathfinder, not the follower.

Sorry this site was not able to help convivence you!

I rely on this site almost exclusively except when the subject is not addressed adequately.

I guess I did not see anything in that link that I have not seen multiple times on this site!

We have done those holiday specials. I smoke them on our Ole Hickory Pits for one hour using three fist size chunks of wood. Then sous vide. We found this helps with the color. Once you have sous vide one there is no going back IMHO.

We have done those holiday specials. I smoke them on our Ole Hickory Pits for one hour using three fist size chunks of wood. Then sous vide. We found this helps with the color. Once you have sous vide one there is no going back IMHO.

I think where this thing in this thread failed for hughver (and this is my opinion not his) are some of the following:

1.  Do you put a rub on the roast before smoking?  If so, what?  And what smoker temp do you set it at and what IT do you cook it to?
2.  Do you cool the roast before you put in a vac seal bag or put direct in vac seal bag right off the smoker?
3.  Do you add anything in the bag before you vac seal?
3.  What sous vide temp do you put the vac sealed roast at in the water bath/
4.  How long do you leave it in the sous vide?
5.  How do finish it off after the sous vide?

Like most things we all have different preferences.

I have not bought a rib roast in a very long time, I am the only one that will eat it so I just go out for it. Although the place that made the best I had ever had has closed, owner retired, so I had been thinking of picking one up and just cutting it in to steaks and sealing for the freezer.

For me I would probably open the bag and salt and pepper then reseal, maybe even put it in the SV frozen, temp for me would be probably 110-112. then when done I would chill in just cold water. Take it out and if I wanted smoke I would use the electric as it can make smoke down at 100 or a little lower and I would bring it back to my 110-112 temp. then bust out the horseradish and the baked tater and butter.

SV time would depend on thickness. 1.5" 35-40mm from frozen I would go 3.5-4 hours at my 110 and if thawed reduce that by an hour. These would be consumed with in a day or so as they would not hit pasteurization times.