Prime Rib Roast Experiment

For Christmas this year, I wanted to start developing my own "traditional Christmas meal." With Mary Elizabeth on her way and our family expanding, I'm excited to begin to see what our family Christmas will evolve to become. I remember growing up, we had so many fun traditions about what we would do and what we would eat. I look back at these memories so fondly and I'm so excited to start developing my own for my children.

Of course, when I start to think about holiday traditions, the first thing I think of is cooking. To me, food really makes the holidays memorable. Cooking all day with family, sitting around the table eating and sharing stories. I decided that I wanted to start making my own traditions using some of the traditions of my childhood. My mom always made a delicious roast so naturally, that's where I'm starting.

I bought a roast this week thinking it would be me, Parker, Collette, mom and David. However, after I purchased my beautiful 5.6 pound prime rib roast, I found out my mom and David wouldn't be joining us...leaving me with about twice as much as I need for just the 3 of us. Parker came up with a great idea...cut it in half and cook the rest later. So that's exactly what I'm planning on doing.

For tonight, I'm doing it my way. I pretty much just winged it with marinade, seasoning and cooking. Below is what I did and if I do say so myself, it turned out amazing! The meat was tender and flavorful, very delicious. For the other half, I'm trying a Guy Fieri technique of dry aging. Guy is one of my favorite Food Network personalities and I've never been disappointed in his recipes. This one's a little dicey though. I'm a little worried, not gonna lie. It involves drying the meat in the refrigerator for a week, using a dry rub (which I may or may not alter) and roasting it in the oven. Thus, my prime rib experiment. I'll let you know how the experiment goes and which ones becomes the winner for the Christmas tradition. I may end up merging the two techniques and developing my own.

Nic's Prime Rib Roast with Au Jus

2.75 lb prime rib roast (mine had 1 or 2 bones. Feel free to get a larger one and adjust recipe)
1 cup cabernet sauvignon
2 ts kosher salt
1 ts pepper
1 ts dried thyme
1 ts garlic powder
1/4 ts paprika
1/4 ts cayenne

Marinate meat in cabernet 2-3 hours, turning halfway through. Let meat sit out about half an hour until its room temperature before cooking. Remove meat from wine and reserve wine for au jus.

Preheat oven to 500. Combine salt, pepper, thyme, garlic powder, paprika and cayenne and coat meat on all sides with mixture. Place meat on roasting pan with fat side up. (Positioning it with the fat side up makes it juicier as the fat melts and drips down roast.) Roast at 500 for 20 minutes. Turn oven off, keeping roast in there. Do not open the oven after you turn it off! As the oven cools, it will continue to cook the meat. However, if you open the door, all the heat escapes. Keep roast in closed oven for 45 min-1 hour. It should read about 145 on a meat thermometer for best results. For easy monitoring, place a meat thermometer in the roast at the beginning and position it where it can be seen through the oven window.

When roast is done, remove from oven and slice thinly. In a small suacepan, combine reserved wine marinade and pan drippings. Heat over high heat to a rolling boil. Allow to boil for a few minutes until it thickens up. Boiling it will allow marinade to be eaten without fear of bacteria. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve over beef.