PRIMED FOR CHRISTMAS LUNCH

 I threw caution to the wind and went to Cartwright's meat counter and ordered a 2-bone prime rib...a true PRIME grade, 3 pound roast. What I got when I picked it up a few days later was a 4 pound roast...$75 worth of prime meat. Oye!  
Christmas Day: I took the beast out of the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter for 2 hours.  

I didn't have the required roasting pan so I just plunked it down into my heavy pot and skewered in the big thermometer. I elected NOT to salt it much...a bit of Trader Joe's onion salt sprinkled on the top fat.
I heated my big oven (which I hadn't used in over a year) since getting a big toaster oven. 
The stove oven smelled dusty as it heated up to 450 degrees. 
I discovered that there are as many prime rib recipes as there are turkey recipes, with recommended roasting temperatures from 325 to 550!  

What to do? I heated the oven to 450 and set in the roast on one of the lower racks. I let it cook for 15 minutes and then lowered the temp to 350. I checked the thermometer periodically at first waiting for the thermometer needle to move. Finally after about 45 minutes, it headed towards the bottom of the meter...still no temp markings, but it was getting warm. I set the timer for 10 minutes, over and over and checked it, over and over. At about 1.75 hours, it finally read almost 140 degrees, rare or medium rare...depending on whose recipe I read.   

I pulled it out and let it set in the pan for about 15 minutes. The temp did climb to 140 degrees. I used my good German meat knife and undid the strings that held the ribs to the bottom of the roast. I sliced off the end piece and cut it in half, giving each of us an outer section of dark and then I split a slice of rare.  It was fork tender!

Bon, bon appetite! Served with a baked potato...baked in the pan with the roast and some Italian green beans from the garden, via the freezer. 

Since we have over 2 lbs of leftover beef, we'll be having this again on the weekend. I also used the bones on Boxing Day to make broth for the minestrone.