I have to admit to loving prime rib roast. I especially love it with my mother-in-law’s special Bearnaise sauce recipe. It is fantastic. EXPENSIVE, yes! Succulent, yes! Extraordinary, yes! Spectacular, yes! Some of the best prime rib you will ever taste, yes, yes, YES!!!

For the first 13 or so years of our marriage (until we moved to New England) this delicious entree was served for every Christmas dinner. Oh, my! It was wonderful. We have not been down to Florida to see John’s parents for Christmas since before we moved to Texas (we’ve visited other times of the year or they’ve come to Texas for Christmas) so we calculate it has been about 18 years since the last time we had this wonderful Christmas meal.

John’s mom always did such a wonderful job on the standing prime rib roast. She seasoned hers with salt and pepper while roasting while John’s sister adds fresh herbs and garlic. The secret of good prime rib is cooking it at a high temperature the first 20 minutes to seal in the flavors and then dropping the temperature to 325 for the remainder of the cooking time. You want to get the internal temperature to about 120-125 degrees depending on how rare or well done you like your meat.

When John’s sister ordered the prime rib she ordered a four-rib roast which is enough for 8 people (quite frankly, it was enough for 10-12 people with multiple servings). She ordered one of the best cuts and had the butcher crack the ribs and retie the roast. As I said earlier this stuff isn’t cheap. It’s about $13 per pound and when your roast is almost 10 pounds — well, you do the math. It is one of those special occasion treats.  I had asked for prime rib specifically so I could post it on my blog and preserve the recipe for our family.

We love this fabulous recipe. I know most of you probably won’t actually try it, but for those of you who do, I’ve tried to include step-by-step pictures so you can see how to prepare this wonderful entree. Bon Appetit! For step-by-step instructions check out this website.

Here’s a look at this succulent cut of meat.

Here it is on the serving platter.

The ends will be well done and the internal part of the roast will be medium rare depending on the internal temperature of your roast.

Here’s a picture of a slice that’s cooked about medium.

Here’s a slice with delicious Bearnaise sauce covering it. Yum, yum!

Here’s what I did.

Here’s is a picture of the four-rib standing rib roast. The butcher cracked the bones and then retied them.

Here’s another picture of the roast out of the wrapper.

Here’s the rib side.

Another view.

I would normally do this with garlic, but since we had a garlic-hater among our dinner companions we skipped the garlic. I would normally roast 2 whole bulbs of garlic in a 350 oven about 30 minutes. Remove garlic from peel and mash well. We used fresh rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper.

Here, my sister-in law, DeEtte, is rinsing some of the blood off the meat.

Here she’s patting the meat dry. 

This is the big roasting pan we’re going to use to cook this large roast.

We start by making a rub for the prime rib. Here’s a picture of my sister-in-law removing the thyme leaves from the stem. These thyme leaves were so fresh it was a little hard removing them. I find it easier to slide my fingers down the stem against the grain — from the top to the bottom. They come off a lot easier than trying to do it in the reverse.

We were aiming for 2 tbsp. fresh thyme. Here she is snipping the thyme with scissors.

Here’s a stem of rosemary.

We pulled off each piece of rosemary and added it to the thyme in our bowl.

We added about 2 tbsp. fresh rosemary to the bowl.

Here she’s snipping the rosemary with her kitchen scissors into small pieces.

Here’s a picture of the snipped herbs.

Here she’s added pepper.

Here she’s adding Kosher salt.

Mix all together. If you’re using mashed garlic you would be adding this too.

Here we begin by rubbing these ingredients into the roast.

Here my sister-in-law is sprinkling the mixture on top of the roast and patting it in well.

Here she’s patting the rub into the sides.

Now she is working on this side.

Here’s what the meat looks like after we’ve patted in the rub. The meat is supposed to “rest” on the counter for an hour to absorb the rub ingredients before roasting. After resting, put the roast in a 450 oven for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 for about 18-20 minutes per pound for rare to medium-rare roast.

My sister-in-law added a couple of cups of beef stock into the pan just before placing the roast in the oven.

Here you can see the beef stock in the bottom of the pan.

Here’s another look.

This is our standing joke for my sister-in-law’s husband. He’s a wreck in the kitchen. No kidding. Hey, we love you anyway, Gil!

Here’s a picture of the roast after it’s finished baking.

This internal temperature is about 10 degrees higher than we intended. You really have to keep checking the thermometer every 15 minutes or so after the meat has been cooking for 2 hours. I don’t think we checked it until about 3 hours after we started and by then the meat was well cooked.

Here we cover the meat while I make the Bearnaise sauce. (Recipe to follow in another post).

Here, my sister-in-law, DeEtte, is snipping the strings that tie the rib roast together.

Here she’s cutting another strand.

Here’s another look at the finished roast.

Here we separated the ribs with bones from the meat we were going to slice down as prime rib and serve.

Here, my husband, John, has separated the rib section with bones from the other roast section. You can reheat the ribs and serve alone or with BBQ sauce later if you wish.

Here’s a look at the internal part of the roast.

Now John is cutting down the roast.

He continues to cut down the prime rib roast.

If you don’t have an electric knife they are invaluable. We use ours for bread and meats all the time. They are relatively inexpensive and very helpful in getting really straight cuts on the meat so the meat doesn’t look like it’s been hacked due to using inferior, non-sharp knives.

He continues to slice down the roast.

John’s method is to use a large fork right before the place he wants to cut the meat.

Here’s another look at this great cut of meat.

Here he’s cut down almost all of it.

Here’s another look.

The pieces on this end of the roast are rarer than what we have seen on the other side, gratefully, because we had a few diners that wanted their meat to be rare.

Delicious, succulent, tasty, melt in your mouth goodness.

He’s cut down all but about 3 or 4 inches of the roast, but this was enough for our small dinner party of 6.

Here’s the prime rib on a serving platter.

Here’s a piece on a plate.

We cut through this delicious roast rather quickly.

Here’s my second piece. You can see some of the leftover Bearnaise sauce on the top of the plate. I prefer my pieces well-cooked so I got the ends and other well-cooked pieces.

Here’s my piece with delicious homemade Bearnaise sauce.

Here’s a close up of this fabulous prime rib dinner.

Here I’ve seasoned my meat with salt and pepper.

Here’s the recipe.

PRIME RIB ROAST

(Recipe from my mother-in-law, Joan McNally, Largo, FL, and my sister-in-law, DeEtte Amspaugh, Safety Harbor, FL)

9 ½ -10-lb. standing rib roast (4 ribs broken and retied)

2 tbsp. fresh thyme, snipped

2 tbsp. fresh rosemary, snipped

3 ½ tsp. Kosher salt

2 tsp. pepper

2 whole garlic cloves, roasted at 350 for 30 minutes, peeled, and smashed (we omitted this because we had a garlic-hater but I would normally add garlic)

2 cups beef broth

Rinse meat and pat dry with paper towels. Mix rub ingredients: thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper and garlic together. Rub and press the rub ingredients into the roast on top and sides. Let roast “rest” on counter for 1 hour before baking to absorb flavors. Put beef stock in roasting pan with prime rib right before baking. Bake uncovered, fat-side-up at 450° for about 20 minutes. This sears the meat and enhances the flavors. Reduce heat to 325° for approximately 18-20 minutes per pound for rare, 22 minutes per pound for medium or 27 minutes per pound for well done. Baste every 30 minutes or so with the broth in the pan. After about 2 hours start checking the meat with a meat thermometer. You are trying to attain an internal temperature of 120°-125° for medium rare.

NOTE:   You really must invest in a good meat thermometer for this recipe rather than cooking strictly by time. Place the thermometer into the meat in the thickest section not next to the bones or fat. You want to get the most accurate reading of internal temperature possible.

Here’s a look at this fabulous Prime Rib. Oh, my, with a ladle full of Mom’s delicious Bearnaise sauce we were in seventh heaven!

We love this fabulous sauce served over our prime rib roast.

This sauce is so easy it’s made in the microwave!

I’ve saved a serving for you! Yum, yum!

Here’s a look at this fabulous roast without sauce.

Here’s another look. Pull up a chair and have a slab!

You may also enjoy this sauce recipe:

Bearnaise Sauce:

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