'Twas the night OF Christmas, and all through the house... meal prep ruled all day, targeting 5:30 guests. Well, Enzo ruled, I cannot lie. As usual. Four walks, lots of playing throughout the day, second in priority was meal prep.
Behold, the anchor dish, also called the nekkid clod, but formally known as Costco's USDA Prime Prime Rib Roast, boneless:
First, add Kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper pepper (black and pink peppercorns combined), Simon & Garfunkel rub (parsely, sage, rosemary and thyme) and a smattering of garlic clove chunks (Linda is Sicilian, recall):
Preheat a cast-iron dutch oven (the high sides help with clean-up) to 400 F (yes I do have an industrial laser thermometer so it's legit), and sear everybody:
Then a bunch of other stuff happens. Alchemy? I was subtly made aware that there's more to dinner than the beef, so lots of things had to happen beyond the grill.
But just for the pitmasters, I brought a pile of lump charcoal to 245 degrees (target was 225), filled the Big Green Egg with the so-called plate setter, a ceramic shelf which forces the indirect heat, a water pan, the cooking grill, and then the meat on a rack.
I did not tie the meat as I was aiming to finish some meat at 130, and some at 150, and my eyeballing of the varying thickness of the meat, I thought that would occur naturally. And because I have three probes (in addition to the pit probe) I could monitor the cook and get the variance I desired.
Great plan.
At 4:20 I put the meat on, put the probes in, and closed the hood. Other things needed tending to, but my first inkling of potential disaster came when one of my probes failed. Luckily (I suppose) my Thermoworks Signals head unit alerted me to the failure, which was a notch or two above disconcerting. Especially since all their pre-holiday sales ended, as this is now post-holiday, right?
Anyway, by 5:20 we were registering 120 and 125 on the working probes, the pit had held steady at 245, so I figured there wasn't enough differential to properly serve our "not rare" guest, and was mulling how to get there. They arrived at the appointed hour, 5:30, which I missed due to my dithering out at the grill as to what to do about the cook temp.
That inattentiveness nearly cost us a night from hell, as Linda greeted Bruce and Trish alone, trying to wrangle the beast, who was in over-stimulation mode, and that set the tone. Dammit. We were able to crate him several times to calm him, but it was a struggle. Thankfully Bruce and Trish know him, and love him, although I can't understand why.
In any event, the table was set with Linda's centerpiece. Floating candles atop floating cranberries:
There are stories about both the candles and the cranberries, but we'll save those for another day.
The salad included mandarin oranges, pomegranates, dried cranberries, pecans, and mixed baby greens, with goat cheese:
And of course, where would be be without the money shot, the plated beef:
Oh, there were mashed potatoes, green beans wrapped in prosciutto, mushrooms marinated in wine and butter:
The beef rested 20 minutes (or one glass of wine), and rose to 130 F, which our "not rare" guest deemed acceptable.
Staging note: food shooters, do not wait until after cocktails to shoot the platter full of beef. Perhaps you didn't wonder why that shot (second-to-last, above) is such a close-up. There's a reason, and it has to do with... well, you get the picture. I almost didn't.
In the end, it all worked. Always a miracle, in my view. And a good time was had by all.
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