Prime Rib...lots of ?s

[scout]

My ds is getting baptized the week before Christmas, and I want to make a special dinner for my extended family. There will be 8 people total. I thought Prime Rib would be the perfect main course. The only problem is that I've never prepared it before. I'm an average cook (sometimes less than average!)

1. Is it hard to prepare?
2. If not, any special tips? (and if so...any other main course ideas?) :)
3. How big of a prime rib do I get?
4. What side dishes would go with it?

[looch]

Do you have a rotiserrie? gosh, i can't spell today.

That's how my mom prepares hers. It couldn't be simpler or tastier that way.

[scout]

I don't have one. :( Can I roast it? I'm stealing the recipe from the holiday party thread! :)

[looch]

Yes, you can certainly roast it, I would recommend a roasting pan with a rack. I prefer simple preparations, like cutting in slits and stuffing with garlic slivers and then a light drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper.
I don't have any info on number of minutes per pound though.

If you are going to be using your oven for the roast, then I would suggest the following sides:

a tossed salad with a vinagrette dressing
oven roasted potatoes
steamed string beans with garlic, hot red pepper flakes and oil
and if you really feel that you need one more side, another vegetable, such as acorn squash puree
for dessert, a lemon tart is nice and refreshing, in additon to the christening cake for the baby to stick his hand in!:p

[scout]

MMM! You're making me hungry! Thanks for the tips!

[KarenS]

Roast it in a slow oven (like 250 or 300 deg) and use a thermometer. Cook it until the internal temp is around 125-130 - that's medium rare. Then once it's done, let it rest for a few minutes, raise the temp in the oven to 500, pop it back in and let it crust up on the outside for about 15 minutes at the most.

It'll be perfect that way.

I serve roast beef with:
green beans sauted in butter and garlic
roasted red potatoes
spinach salad (with mandarin oranges, blue cheese, and dried cranberries)

Karen

[scout]

Thanks, Karen!

spinach salad (with mandarin oranges, blue cheese, and dried cranberries)
This is my signature salad! My family all refer to it as the Tracie salad....even though I took the recipe from the WC a year ago...maybe from you? :)

[looch]

Hey, if you have the foodnetwork, bobby flay is doing a prime rib on his show Boy Meets Grill at 1:30 ET today.

[SingleWhiteFemale]

Actually, 140 degrees is rare, 160 is medium. I use a rotisserie, but the biggest hint I can use is that if you want a medium-done roast, take it out before it hits 160, because it wil continue to cook after you take it out of the oven. I like to have it medium, so I take it out at 150 or so, so its perfectly done.

As to size, maybe a 4 bone prime rib? For us 3 adults, we usually have a 3 bone, and have around half left over. I think the 3-bone ones are around 5-6 pounds.

It's not hard at all. I usually just salt and pepper it, then sprinkle with onion powder and garlic powder, then roast it.

[KarenS]

Actually, 140 degrees is rare, 160 is medium.Prime rib at 140 is medium or more. At 160 it's nothing more than shoe leather. And prime rib is meant to be served rare or medium rare - never cooked more.

Joy of Cooking says 125-130 degrees is rare
epicurious.com says cook it to 115 in the oven and then let it rest and come to 125 which is rare.
allrecipes.com says 130 degrees is medium rare
netcooks.com says 130 degrees is rare and 140 is medium

I don't mean to be pedantic about this, but it's *really* easy to overcook a standing rib roast or a prime rib and while you can always cook it a little more, once it's overdone and tough, you can't uncook it. It's better to cook it to 125 or so and check it than to cook it to 160 (which is over well done) and regret it with a very expensive piece of meat.

Karen

[SingleWhiteFemale]

I use my Ronco Showtime Rotiserrie, and the manual states that for a 6 lb standing rib roast, 140 is rare, 160 is medium. And no, cooking it to what they say, I've never had "shoe leather" of my meat or regretted it with an "expensive" peice of meat.

We'll agree to disagree, Karen.

[KarenS]

Well, honestly, I tend to trust Joy of Cooking and epicurious.com before I trust Ronco on anything. :) Also, weight has nothing to do with doneness when you're measuring temperature. Weight only counts when you're cooking by time. 140 degrees internal is 140 degrees internal, no matter whether your roast is 3lb, 6lb, or 10 lb.

But sure, I'll agree to disagree with you. I trust my sources more than I trust Ronco. :) Just remind me not to eat prime rib at your place! :D

Karen

[KGif]

We had people over last night and we had prime rib. We cooked to an internal temp of 155 this time (usually do a bit less but we didn't want to make it too red for company) and it was PERFECT. It was definitely still red in the center ...the outside slices had more of a pink to dark pink in the center. Regardless it was SO SO good. We make it all the time and this was the best by far.
And I can assure you not one ounce of it resembled shoe leather in any way :)

One tip -- use FRESH herbs not dried. It really does make a difference.