Alton Brown and Allrecipes: Herbed Prime Rib

It seems like each major holiday has its designated meat.  Thanksgiving has turkey.  Easter has ham or lamb.  But what does Christmas dinner have?  Well, going forward, I think it has this amazing prime rib roast.  It's a bit of a production to get the thing cooked to the perfect medium-rare, but good grief is it delicious after all of that work.  We cut it a little thinner than the traditional restaurant serving, and it was still fantastic.  This is going in the rotation.

Herbed Prime Rib
Adapted from Alton Brown and Chef John at Allrecipes

1 (5-pound) bone-in prime rib roast
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried chervil or parsley
½ tablespoon dried marjoram
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Remove any plastic wrapping or butcher's paper from the roast. Place the standing rib roast upright onto a half sheet pan fitted with a rack. The rack is essential for drainage. Place dry towels loosely on top of the roast. This will help to draw moisture away from the meat. Place into a refrigerator at approximately 50 to 60 percent humidity and between 34 and 38 degrees F. You can measure both with a refrigerator thermometer. Change the towels daily for 3 days.

Place rib roast on a plate and bring to room temperature, about 4 hours.  Preheat an oven to 500°F.

Combine butter and herbs in a bowl; mix until well blended. Season roast generously with salt and pepper.  Spread butter mixture evenly over entire roast.

Roast the prime rib in the preheated oven for 25 minutes*. Turn the oven off and keep the oven door shut.  At the one hour mark, check the oven temp by setting it to bake at 325°F. If your oven is below 325°F and begins to heat up, your oven either has a vent fan or cools off too quickly. Set it to 275°F and leave it for the next hour. You are now at 1½ hours after the blast. Turn the oven off for the last half hour. If your oven is over 325°F at the one hour mark, let the roast sit in the oven for another 1½ hours. Remove roast from the oven, slice, and serve.

*Your cooking times will vary depending on the size of your prime rib roast. To calculate your cooking time, multiply the exact weight of the roast by 5. Round the resulting number to the nearest whole number. The rib is cooked at 500°F for exactly that many minutes. For example, for a 6-pound roast: 6x5=30, so cooking time is 30 minutes.