Holiday Prime Rib

When my wife called to ask if $160 was too much to spend on meat for Christmas Dinner....I nearly had a heart attack.  She said the butcher was hooking us up with some fabulous meat to smoke for the holidays.  $160 is not fabulous....it's our entire grocery budget for the week!

A 15-lb prime rib roast was sitting on my kitchen counter within 30 minutes.  I looked at this thing and had no idea what to do with it.  So I started by trimming a lot of the fat off the top.  A lot of people swear that fat = flavor.....I agree!.....but the thick layer all around the meat prevents my rub from working.  Most people cut off all that fat when served anyways.....thus, wasting my rub!

Now it was ready for a good dose of salt & pepper!  I then put this sucker on my barrel smoker for 6-8 hours @ 230 degrees.....and Santa Claus could enjoy some delicious prime rib tomorrow!  I also added a water pan below the meat which helps me control my smoker temps throughout the cook.  It pretty much held steady during the entire cook.

Pulled the meat off once it hit 140-ish degrees (medium) after arguing with the wife over how pink it looked.  She hates anything not well-done.  Pink and juicy is actually what this meat is SUPPOSED to look like!  This meat was probably 10 degrees OVER what it should've been in hopes of pleasing the anti-pink family members coming for dinner tomorrow.

Needless to say....it tasted like $160!  Ho! Ho! Holy shit!  We wrapped the meat and refrigerated it overnight.  Put it in a foil tray and re-heated it @ 400 degrees the following day for our holiday party with the relatives.