Lou’s Famous Christmas Prime Rib

I cook most of the time here in the Perugini house, but Lou is a wonderful cook who has taught me SO many tips and tricks over the years. After the Feast of The Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve (Lou is an Italian, of course!), we usually need a change of pace for Christmas day. Prime rib roast is a family tradition now and Lou is the master of the Prime Rib! We plan on 8 ounces of beef per serving, but some people think it really should be 16 ounces (or more) per serving! All I know is that it is melt-in-your-mouth fabulous!

This is Lou’s recipe and I’m thrilled to share it with you all!

3 hours/easy/10 servings
nutrition per serving:
773 calories, 51g protein, 0g carbs, 61g fat, 0g sugar

ingredients

• 5 lbs. prime or choice rib roast
• butcher’s twine
• 3-4 tbsp of olive oil
• 1/2 cup of Stew Leonard’s Ultimate Steakhouse Prime Rib seasoning (or any seasoning rub of your choice)
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3 cups water or beef broth
• 3 servings of granulated beef bouillon (more or less to your taste)
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (preferably Lea and Perrins brand)
• salt and pepper to taste

directions

1. Buy your roast at least 5 days before you plan on serving. We assume one pound of roast will serve two people.
2. Either ask the butcher to remove the rib bones for you or remove them yourself when you get the roast home.
3. Using the butcher’s twine, tie the rib bones back on to the roast.
4. Place your roast on a sheet pan or in a roasting pan.
5. Cover the roast with paper towels.
6. Place the roast into your refrigerator for five days to dry age. Change the paper towels whenever they get soaked.
   (Do not allow the roast to sit in its own juices, it needs to be elevated. A sheet pan with a matching rack is perfect for this.)
7. On the day of serving remove the meat from the refrigerator, untie the rib bones, and cover all surfaces with olive oil.
8. Liberally season the meat on all sides with Stew Leonard’s Ultimate Steakhouse Prime Rib seasoning. You may use any other spice mix of your choosing. But prime rib really needs at least salt, pepper, granulated onion, and granulated garlic
9. Once seasoned, tie the rib bones back on.
10. Leave the roast on the counter and let it come up to room temperature. It is important that you don’t try to cook a cold piece of meat. Allow at least 6 hours of counter time for the seasoning to soak in and the meat to warm to room temperature.
11. If you have a thermometer with a meat probe, now is the time to insert the probe into the thickest part of the roast as close to the center of the meat as you can get it. Be sure your probe is not touching the bones or you will get an inaccurate reading.
12. Three hours before serving time, preheat your oven to 500 degrees or as hot as it will go.
13. Once the oven comes up to temperature, place the roast in a roasting pan with a rack and into the oven, uncovered for 15-20 minutes. BE WARNED your house will get a little smoky. That’s OK, you will have lots of time to ventilate before guests arrive.
14. After 15 minutes (or so) at high heat, drop the heat to 325 degrees. Try not to open the oven or peek in on the roast. Cook for 10-12 min per pound for rare, or 13-14 min per pound for medium rare, or 14-15 min per pound for medium well.
15. Roast your prime rib until the thermometer registers:
    115-120˚F for rare
    125-130˚F for medium rare
    135-140° F for medium
    145-150 F° for medium well
16. When the roast reaches your desired temperature, remove it from the oven. Leave the meat on the rack and cover with foil. Rest your meat for a MINIMUM of thirty minutes. Don’t poke it, don’t cut it, don’t do anything to it until thirty minutes have passed.
17. Once the roast is done resting, cut off the butcher’s twine and remove the rib bones before slicing. In our house, the rib bones are reserved for the cook and special guests only!
18. NOW IT’S TIME TO MAKE THE GRAVY!    Take the roasting pan and drain off all but 3-4 tbsp of beef fat. Place the pan on your stove top and turn on a burner under it to medium heat.
19. Once the pan comes up to temperature, stir in the flour and whisk for 5-6 minutes to create a roux. Be sure to cook the roux long enough to get rid of the raw flour taste. But you don’t need to go beyond a blonde roux for this recipe. Adjust the burner as you go to prevent burning.
20. Add the water or beef broth to the pan and continue whisking. Be sure to scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.
21. Add the beef bouillon, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.
22. Bring the mix to a boil and continue whisking. Once it boils you have reached maximum thickness that the roux will provide. If the gravy is thick enough, serve as is. If it requires additional thickening, make a slurry of 3 ounces of water and 2 tablespoons of corn starch. Stir that in while whisking and allow to thicken.

notes

We always shoot for a cooking temperature of 125 degrees. After a rest, this will yield the perfect medium rare prime rib. The end slices will be just a bit more done for folks who want it more medium.

We usually serve this with steak house mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. We like to keep it simple. Serve more sides if you are leaning towards 8-ounce portions of ribs. Serve fewer sides if you are leaning more towards 16 ounces per person. In our opinion, you will almost never serve an entire bone in rib serving per guest. Its just too much food. Prime rib is more expensive and actually fattier. We actually prefer to use a choice grade of rib roast, as it is a little meatier, a little leaner and often tastes “beefier” in our experience.

Serve with your favorite sides! Try my Red Wine Mushrooms! Recipe is HERE! And try my garlic parmesan mashed potatoes! You will be oh-so-glad you did!