Garlic Studded Prime Rib

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was as filled with food and family as mine was! It was another Thanksgiving and another year I cooked the Thanksgiving meal. One of my favorite aspects about the Thanksgiving meal is that you get to eat and cook "special occasion" food full of fat, cream, butter and salt. Diets better be left at the door because you are about to eat some full flavored and full fat food that will put you in a legit food coma. 

As an annual tradition, my family's Thanksgiving center piece has and always will be a Prime Rib. Juicy, fatty and flavorful. If you like meat, this is one for you. I make this Prime rib like I always do, studding the whole thing with 2  heads of garlic and seasoning it simply with salt, pepper and garlic powder. This is literally a 3 ingredient dish if you don't count salt, pepper and olive oil as ingredients since everyone should have those on hand.

Prime Rib is one of my favorite Thanksgiving main courses and is a definite show stopper. Place it in the oven and literally forget about it. It's all about timing. Make sure you have a schedule made up to when you want to eat dinner and when you place the Prime Rib into the oven. Get it in at the right time and you'll be eating like a king.

AJ's Secret:

• I use a two temperature cooking method. The first 30 minutes begin at 450 degrees F to sear the meat and give it lots of flavor. The remainder of the cooking period is at 350 degrees F to evenly cook the meat from the inside out.  
• As a general rule, cook the Prime Rib about 15-20 minutes a pound. For a medium cooked roast, remove the roast when the internal temperature is about 140 degrees F. It still has a bit of pink but not overbearingly bloody. If you're more of a pink lover, remove the roast when the internal temperature reaches about 130 degrees F.

Garlic Studded Prime Rib

Recipe by Me

Ingredients

1-10 lb Prime Rib Roast

2 heads of garlic

~ 3 tbsp Olive oil

~2 tbsp Kosher Salt

~1 1/2 tsp Pepper

~1 tbsp Garlic Powder

Directions

3 hours before roasting, take out the prime rib from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.

Preheat the oven the oven to 450 degrees F. While the oven is heating, quickly rinse the Prime Rib under cold water just to ensure it is clean. Dry with paper towels. Once dry, transfer the prime rib to a large roasting pan (a roasting rack is not necessary) and set aside. 

Take the 2 heads of garlic and remove the peel from each clove. Proceed to cut the individual garlic cloves in half or into thirds. With a small paring knife, cut small slits that are about 1 to 2 inches deep into the meat and begin to insert the pieces of garlic into each slit. Make enough slits to use up all the garlic.

When the Rib roast is completely studded with garlic cloves, evenly spread olive oil to cover the meat completely. Then, evenly spread the kosher salt, pepper and garlic powder so that every inch of meat has seasoning.

Place the seasoned and studded roast into the oven and bake at 450 degrees F for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue to cook the roast for about 15-20 minutes a pound. For a 10 pound roast to get to medium, it should take about 3 hours or until the internal temperature reaches about 140 degrees F. For more of a medium rare, remove the rib roast when an internal temperature reaches about 130 degrees F.

Allow the roast to rest for at least 30 minutes before carving to prevent the juices from running out.

-Aaron John