A Christmas Feast J.C. would be proud of

Usually for the Christmas holidays, my sister will take on the main course of prime rib and I handle the appetizers and side dishes, but this year after seeing a recipe that claims to be the perfect prime rib recipe on SeriousEats I had to tackle the beefy beast.

My sister purchased a 20lb wet-aged prime rib, not dry-aged as the recipe suggested since that request needs to be made a few weeks prior, but honestly I don't know if there's a real taste difference.  I had to cut the beast in half to accommodate those who prefer well-done rather than medium rare.  I preheated the convention oven for 200 degrees.  Although this deviates from the recipe, I crushed garlic and thyme and stuffed it into the skin of the prime rib per my sister's suggestion (the family loves garlic).  I then rubbed the entire thing with room temperature butter.  Uncovered, I placed the prime rib in the oven for 3.5 to 4 hours until the internal temperature reached 120 degrees.  I then removed one half of the prime rib and allowed the other half to cook for an additional 30 minutes until it reached 130-135 degrees to get it to medium.




It must also be noted that while the beast was cooking, my family devoured the traditional yearly hor d'oeurvres of bacon wrapped dates (stuffed with either blue cheese or almonds), marinated olives (store bought), my sister's famous bruschetta, and washing it down with a Apple Cider Margetini.  

After taking out the 2nd half and wrapping it with foil, I cranked up the oven to 500 sear the outside while further cooking it to the 125 degree temp for medium rare and 135 for medium-well.  (Note: because the oven gets so hot and smokey, I hope your stove fan is on or have a window open.)  I seared the prime rib for just 8-9 minutes and it came out perfectly seared and crispy!  I personally let it rest for 10 minutes only since I had hungry people waiting anxiously, but I suggest letting it rest for 20 mins at least since it got bloody messy while I was carving it.

The finished product is below-- crispy seared exterior and a perfectly red interior without any grey overcooked sections.  Beautiful.

In addition to the perfect prime rib, I also roasted a "vibrant" medley of root vegetables, made a kale radicchio salad with blue cheese and hazelnuts (inspired by Sycamore Kitchen),  Joël Robuchon's famous potato puree, and my sister sauteed some fresh green beans.  For sure, the puree and root vegetables are coming back next year but I can honestly say without boasting too much that the entire meal was spectacular.