WhiteTrash Christmas Eve Dinner: Prime Rib

Funny thing Christmas Eve Dinner. I've never had a traditional food for the holidays. Many of my friend know exactly what they're going to eat on every holiday because they've always eaten the same things. Me, I never know. I think I'm cursed because I like to cook and I like to experiment. The only tradition we have is that there has to be a lot of food. So I just decided what I'm going to make tomorrow night. Now I just hope the butcher has some Prime Rib left.

Here's a link to an interesting twist on Prime Rib - Salt Crusted Prime Rib that my friend Curt posted on Get Your Grill On. But if you don't feel like surfing, here's a few recipes for Prime Rib that I've found on the net. I'll probably do something similar, but as you know, I never follow recipes exactly. They're just starting off points. The first two are from our friends over at Texas Barbecues.

Best Prime Rib Recipe - Oven Version
Remove roast from the fridge and let stand for about an hour.

• 8 to 10 lb. Standing Rib Roast(bones in)

Mix together:

• 2 Tablespoons onion powder
• 2 Tablespoons dried rosemary
• 2 Tablespoons black pepper
• 1 teaspoon tarragon1 Tablespoon rosemary
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/4 cup paprika
• 1/4 cup salt(I like Kosher salt for a nice crust)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

If rib roast is dry, wet hands slightly and pat down roast before you put the dry herbs on.

Rub dry herb mixture all over and into the rib roast.

Place roast on a wire rack inside a roaster pan, and with the ribs down. Put the meat in oven and roast uncovered for 1 hour. After the hour turn off the oven without opening it.

In about 4 hours, turn on oven to 370°F and roast 30 minutes more for a medium rare, and a little less for rare. Remove the roast from oven and let it rest for about 30 minutes before carving into steaks. Serves 10 people.

Best Prime Rib Recipe - Smoker Version

Herbs and spices stay the same. I do rub the roast down with oil with the herbs. The actually cooking times and methods differ this way:

Get your smoker preheated and ready with soaked wood inside. I like to use hickory or mesquite, and apple will work great too. Push a meat thermometer into the meat but not against a bone. A thermometer with an external reading is best so you won't have to open the smoker to look.

Place the roast on a grate in the heated smoker. Put the lid on and when the thermometer shows 130 degrees it is rare. Pull it off the smoker and let rest 30 minutes. Yes, you guessed the next step. Carve and eat.

*Here's another recipe from my old friend Phil Rizzardi. I've had this numerous times in the past and it's pretty good. It's a fairly confusing recipe, but knowing Phil, I know what he means. I'll try to simplify it, or I should say translate it for you. All measurements are approximate.

Phil's Prime Rib

• 1 cup Teriyaki Sauce
  
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
  
• 1/2 small bottle gravy master
• 1/2 small bottle kitchen bouquet(or you can use a whole bottle of either if ya cant find one or the other).
  

Combine all ingredients and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then pour this all over the roast and rub it in. Pierce the beef with a wide blade fork in several spots to allow the marinade to get into the heart of the meat a little bit. If your prime rib has heavy fat cap, use a knife to slice it open in a few spots to allow the sauce to penetrate through the fat to the meat.

Besides the sauce, you will want to to rub your Prime Rib with 2 cups or more of Turbinado Sugar (you will want to use a heavy hand with the sugar when seasoning the meat) and 3-4 Tablespoons of Montreal Steak Seasoning. Rub the meat well and let sit for about 5 minutes. When the roast is covered with rub and you find it dissolving, then some additional rub on the roars. You will want a layer of wet rub and a layer of dry rub on your meat before cooking. Let the roast sit for about half hour, covered.

Cooking Instructions:
During the first half hour to 45 minutes of cooking, place your roast in the hot spot of your cooker where it is at 375 to 400 degrees. As soon as you put the meat in the cooker, damper down your vents so that your cooker temperatures drop slowly to 275degrees. Leave the meat and your cooker alone until internal temperature of the meat reaches between 90 and 100 degrees, approximately 40 minutes. Move the roast to your normal cooking spot in your cooker where the temperature is about 275 and cook until the meat reaches an internal of 125 degrees.

At this point, either remove the roast from the smoker, cover it loosely with tin foil and let it rest until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees. Or, I prefer to roll it around over hot coals, searing the meat to make a crust. Bring the meat to an internal temperature of 130 degrees or so, but no higher than 135. Then take it off and let it sit, wrapped loosely in aluminum foil. Let the meat rest about 20-30 minutes.

The internal temperatures of the roast will continue to climb into the 140s. This will yield a prime rib with rare meat on the inside and medium meat on the outboard slices.

I hope that makes sense. Good luck and enjoy folks. Merry Christmas!