Christmas Prime Rib
Now that Thanksgiving Day is far behind us, it’s time to start thinking of what we’re going to do for Christmas dinner and holiday parties. I’ve had ham, turkey and brisket, among other things, many time, but my favorite Christmas meal has got to be prime rib. In fact, prime prime rib!
What is prime prime rib? Prime rib gets its name from the cut of meat, which is the prime cut of the rib roast. It generally has little to do with the grade of the meat, which can be select, choice or prime. Prime grade is the highest grading the USDA gives. So I like to use a prime grade prime rib. However, if I can only find choice, I’m OK with that. Another term for prime rib is standing rib roast, which gets away a bit from the cut vs. grade confusion, but it can also be a cut from the chuck end of the ribs, which is generally of lesser quality than the prime cut.
For serving size, I use a general rule of 1 rib for every 2 people, but I never cook less than 3 ribs to help ensure even cooking. There are 3 basic ways to get a rib roast: boned, not boned or boned and tied. I get mine boned and tied. This way I get the best of both worlds… I get the flavor from having the bones involved in the cooking process, but, when serving, the bones are easily removed.
I know people that love to do a lot of flavoring to the outside of a prime rib, and they like to sear the outside of it. I love searing a good steak, but I don’t sear my prime rib. Instead, I use a kosher salt coating to protect the outside. I know of some that even wrap the salt-coated roast in lettuce to further protect it while cooking, but I haven’t done that. My feeling is that a prime rib cut has very little edge that was exposed, so most of the flavor is just going to be the beef, which is the point of the prime rib. The kosher salt is taken off, mostly, before serving, and just leaves a slightly crusty, deliciously salty edge. The rest of the prime rib slice is just wonderful beef is all it’s glory!
To coat the roast with salt, I take a cookie sheet and pour a whole box of kosher salt into it. I then add enough water to make a paste out of the salt. Pushing this paste to the edges, I place the roast in the middle of the cookie sheet. Using an offset spatula, or my hands, I coat the whole roast with the paste until it’s about half an inch thick. This can be frustrating, as the salt wants to fall off the vertical surfaces, but I keep at it until it’s all coated, patching where needed. I then carefully take the roast out to the smoker, which I run at 225 degrees F, and place it on the smoker with a temperature probe in the meat.
High Heat Cook vs. Low Heat Cook 
Most recipes for prime rib I have seen call for cooking at higher temperatures.
225 F is the temperature I use for barbecue, so why would I use it for such a great cut of meat? The answer is simply that the lower heat allows the roast to get done much more evenly. When I cut into the roast, the meat will be a rare-medium rare the whole way across the cut instead of being more done toward the edges. The one difference between cooking a prime rib and typical barbecue foods, though, is that I use less wood smoke as I want the prime rib flavor to stand as much on its own as possible, and a little smoke will go a long with with a rib roast.
Once the roast reaches 120 degrees F, I take it off the smoker and wrap it tightly in foil, then I place it in a cooler for about 30 minutes to let it rest. Once rested, I remove the salt that’s encased around the roast (you’ll notice that the salt forms a kind of crust), and I wipe as much salt off the meat as I can with a clean cloth or paper towel. The meat is now ready to slice and serve, and the first cut proves that low and slow works well with more than brisket and pork shoulder!
Try this, and I’m sure that prime rib will soon become a holiday tradition with your family.
Beautiful job Bucky. I might think twice about my traditional Christmas beef tenderloin roast.
What type of smoke wood did you use?
Jim