For the first time I was in charge of my family’s Christmas dinner. It was a welcoming kind of pressure and I wanted the challenge of my mother’s request: prime rib with homemade horseradish sauce. I added the Yorkshire pudding for good measure. Everything turned out phenomenal and I did it without a meat thermometer. Oh, yeah. My aunt’s dingy piece of crap broke and refused to read. Whatever. I timed that hunk of meat perfectly.

PRIME RIB ROAST
This is for a 4 ribs/10.5 lbs standing rib roast

Let your rib roast come to room temperature

Preheat oven to 450
Rub with fresh chopped lemon thyme, rosemary, and garlic
Place rib roast fat side up on a rack in a heavy duty roasting pan
Place in oven and cook for 15 minutes
Turn temperature down to 325
Baste your roast with its juices every 1/2 hour
Estimated cooking time: two hours but don’t forget to check with your digital thermometer
About 45 minutes before the estimated end of the roasting time, check the internal temperature with use a good digital meat thermometer.
When the internal temperature reaches 120 degrees, remove from oven, cover with foil and let your roast stand for another 20 minutes or until your desired readiness. I recommend no higher than 130 degrees for perfectly cooked medium rare.

NOTE: Believe it or not, I managed to achieve perfection without the use of a thermometer. Not including the 15 minute sear job, my roast took about two hours plus another half hour under the foil. My aunt’s oven is also notoriously temperamental, running colder than it ought to. I consider this feat a Christmas miracle.

HORSERADISH CREAM SAUCE
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup grated fresh horseradish
2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Place in the refrigerator for 4 hours (minimum) to overnight to allow flavors to mingle

YORKSHIRE PUDDING

3/4th cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3/4th cup milk
1/2 cup pan drippings from roast prime rib

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Sift together the flour and salt in a bowl.
In another bowl, beat together the eggs and milk until light and foamy.
Stir in the dry ingredients just until incorporated.
Divide the drippings into muffin tins, about 1 tsp each (I used medium sized 12 muffin tins)
Put the muffin tin in oven and get the drippings smoking hot.
Carefully take the tin out of the oven and pour in the batter.
Put the pan back in oven and cook until puffed and dry, 15 to 20 minutes.

Notes: I actually doubled this batch and made one with muffin tins, one in a pie pan to divvy up in wedges. The muffin style was received better.