Christmas Day recap - low and slow prime rib roast with muffin pan potato gratin

Sweet100s

Christmas day 2015 included:  

- Prime Rib Roast with Au Jus (RRP's finely honed recipe) and Horseradish sauce (RRP, Food52) 

- Muffin Pan Potato Au Gratin

- Grilled Romain and Radicchio with Cherry Tomato relish

- Grilled Zucchini spears topped with salted lemon zest

- Yorkshire Pudding

Many thanks to RRP, SGH, fishlessman and PhotoEgg whose recipes and words of wisdom helped this special day be delicious. 

Pics first.  Then cook notes.

=== Prime Rib prep 1 day earlier

Trimmed fat to 1/4" mostly.  Cut bones away from roast.

Salted roast with 1/2 TEA kosher salt per pound the day before.

Stayed uncovered in the garage fridge.

Tied up de-boned roast to form an even cylinder as much as possible

=== Prime Rib prep before going on the Egg

Splashed vegan Worcestershire (family with seafood allergy) on it.

Rubbed with RRP's prime rib rub, minus most of the salt.

Added rub to bones and smoked them also. (Never have tried to make stock.  Might do that next year.) 

Poured beef broth into roasting pan. 

Couldn't find the rack designed for the roasting pan so used a rack on top that wasn't very stable.

=== Egg prep

Filled with lump to top of fire box of Large BGE.

Lit via fishlessman's bacon grease'd paper towels stored in a coffee can trick.

At 150 added smokeware lid and closed lower vent to 1".

Let alone for 45 minutes at 200.

=== SGH Prime Rib roast Directions

"If you will cook it indirect at 200-225 degrees, you will end up with a cross section that approaches that of one that has been SV'd. Also at this low temp, it will spend enough time in the cook chamber to develop a crust very similar to one that has been seared. The best of both worlds if you will. 

When it comes to prime rib, long low and slow over oak is hard to beat. 

One last tip if you chose to do the low and slow. You need to keep it low for the duration. You don't want the temp jumping up and down. Why? Prime rib (pound for pound) cooks considerably faster than say clod or brisket (less adipose and connective tissue). Every temp spike will effect the final cross section appearance. It will still taste great but it will lack the coveted "look". For clarity, 200 degrees is near ideal to achieve the perfect cross section."

--- Photo Egg tip

"A little cherry wood will give such a great color to the roast."

=== Cook notes

The Egg did a great job of staying steady at 200 degrees F

Put on egg.  Meat was 40 degrees F.

T+1 hour:   70 degrees F

T+1 hour:  105 degrees F

T+2 hours: 129 degrees F

Pulled at 130. Target temp: 135. Carry over only took it to 131.  

Was surprised at this but I guess that was a factor of the low temp cook and the 4.7lb nature of the rib roast.

Decided to not cook it more.  We were too hungry! 

It looked much more done than what I expected 131 to look. 

Edge to edge pink, exactly like SGH said it would be.

Beautiful crust color.  Totally moist and delicious meat.

=== Au Jus (RRP's finely honed recipe) and Horseradish sauce (RRP and Food52) 

RRP, I loved the Au Jus during the meal but even more in sandwiches since.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1190075/rrp-question-about-your-au-jus-recipe#latest

The Horseradish sauce added a good contrasting zing.  

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1190075/rrp-question-about-your-au-jus-recipe#latest

http://food52.com/recipes/14661-roasted-prime-rib-with-sauteed-mushrooms-and-mom-s-creamy-horseradish-sauce

I liked the adds of lemon, paprika and cayenne pepper from the Food52 recipe, but 1 cup cream was unnecessary.  

I reduced the cream amount to a couple tablesoons and added sour cream from RRPs recipe.

I'd make both again with a rib roast.

=== 9 hour Burgundy Mushooms (Pioneer Woman with RRP tweaks) 

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1169580/9-hour-burgundy-mushrooms-a-kick-butt-side-dish

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/burgundy-mushrooms/

Everyone loved these.  

=== Muffin pan potato au gratin 

Inspired by Martha Stewart's photos but ended out using the final recipe below.  

Strongly preferred the metal muffin pan ones to the silicon.  Metal muffin pan gave crispy edges.

Big hit.  Not goopy.  Would definitely do these again.

Using a food processor on the thinnest blade possible made this a relatively fast prep.

http://www.marthastewart.com/331771/muffin-pan-potato-gratins

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/242983342367076986/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/individual-potato-gratins.print.html?oc=linkback

http://necessaryindulgences.com/2014/06/muffin-pan-potato-gratins/

=== Zucchini spears with salted Lemon Zest

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/grilled-zucchini-with-yummy-lemon-salt/?printable_recipe=11597

by Ree | The Pioneer Woman

I will re-use the salted lemon zest part of this recipe with other grilled veggie recipes.  Loved the zing.

=== Romaine halves AND Radicchio with Cherry Tomato relish

Pre-grill Prep:  Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper, garlic powder

Chopped the romain and radicchio tossed with blue cheese dressing.

The cherry tomato relish (BON APPÉTIT | JUNE 2000 recipe) on top was so delicious.

I always make this with Tritip.  Have never added it to a salad.  It doesn't really need the salad - it could 

have stood alone.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cherry-tomato-relish-103521

=== Yorkshire Pudding

Ree Drummond’s recipe

These picture perfect orbs looked great but were truly terrible.  

No one liked their taste but they did provide conversational entertainment value.  

=== 2 Changes I'd like to figure out for next rib roast:

1) Bigger roast for more leftovers.

2) I'd like a thicker crust with extra yummies on the roast.

What pushed me into trying a standing rib roast was sampling one just cooked at the local HEB grocery store.  

Overall I liked my crust taste but I missed the extra crunchies that HEB had added into their crust. 

I don't know exactly what they added - maybe it was simply extra green herbs mixed with bread crumbs and garlic? 

Any suggestions? 

johnmitchell

WOW!!!!! Fantastic cook and great detailed post.. Great contribution..

Durangler

Awesome cook, @Sweet100s !
Everything looks great! 
Thank you for sharing!
+1 on what @johnmitchell said

Bart1434

Wow looks great thanks for the details and directions, also great choice of wine there!

Sweet100s

Thank you @johnmitchell, @Durangler, and @Bart1434.

@Bart1434, 19 Crimes is such an excellent value - it's what I love in a red wine, but is only$10

First sampled it at Mazzaro's Italian grocery store in St. Petersburg.  It became our hotel room bottle of wine.

Then I saw our local HEB grocery store actually featured it on sale.

Correction to above:

Typo 

Put on egg.  Meat was 40 degrees F.

T+1 hour:   70 degrees F

T+1 hour:  105 degrees F

T+2 hours: 129 degrees F

Corrected:

Put on egg.  Meat was 40 degrees F.

T+1 hour:   70 degrees F

T+2 hour:  105 degrees F

T+3 hours: 129 degrees F