I really didn’t want turkey for Christmas dinner. I like turkey and it’d probably be great in February or maybe March but Thanksgiving is just too close to Christmas. I wanted a prime rib, I thought, but eventually found out – in that way that I discovered really late that they weren’t saying “up and adam” – and got a very nice choice standing rib roast for half the price.

I started with Alton Brown’s recipe which is actually really simple. I wanted to taste the roast. My brother tells me that he made a standing rib roast for Christmas, too, but he crusted it with mustard and something. That sounds good, too.

I should say that I made the au jus the day before. I didn’t want to trust that there’d be enough juice from the roast and I didn’t want to mess around at the last minute putting together what should take time to simmer to develop it’s full flavor.

I bought a couple pounds of soup bones – did you know you have to pay for them now? Goes to show how infrequently I buy soup bones. Anyway, I roasted them with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a little granulated garlic at 350°F for a couple hours then I poured off the fat for the pop-overs the next day. I deglazed the pan with a little red wine and then added a can of beef consomme. So, I guess you could call this fortified canned au jus. It worked, anyway. I simmered the bones and stuff for a several hours until the meat was just falling apart, tasted it and added a bit more wine. Strained off the solids and let it set up. There wasn’t that much fat but I scraped off what there was.

I actually dry aged the roast for a couple days as suggested by Alton. I’m not honestly sure it made it any better but it was worth a try. Christmas morning, I took the roast out to bring it to room temperature before sticking it in the oven. Easy peesy, you rub the roast with a little canola oil and – for a change I thought ahead and mixed my salt, fresh ground black pepper, and granulated garlic in a little bowl – rubbed it with the spice rub. Stick your digital thermometer in the middle of the roast being sure not to touch the bone. What? You don’t have one? I don’t know how I existed without one! Roast at 250°F until the temp reads about 120°. I suck at timing roasts and always tell everyone that dinner is ready when the meat is done. Which meant, by the way, that I had to nuke my potatoes because the roast ended up taking about 2 hours to come to temp and the potatoes weren’t done. Works anyway.

Take the roast out and let it rest until the temperature stops rising. Kick the oven up to 475°F and put the roast in for about 10 to 15 minutes to brown the outside. I was surprised at this step, most recipes have you start at high heat and then back it down but this really worked nicely. There was really no risk of over cooking it and although my thermometer read 140°F before the temp stopped rising, it was still nice and rare in the middle.

Now, about those Yorkshire puddings… They’re really easy but they taste best right out of the oven so you really want to wait until everyone is ready to eat before putting them in. I had the fat from the day before so I didn’t have to mess with trying to pour off the fat from the roast so it was easy. I had never made them before and I was planning on using Michael Rulman’s recommended recipe but honestly, the batter was so flat and tasteless I combined that recipe with Alton Brown’s. I still think they needed more salt.

I didn’t take pictures of any of this – though I intended to do so. But here is the recipe I ended up with.

Yorkshire Pudding

1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon mustard powder (either needed more, by the way, or mine was too old)
1 cup whole milk
1 cup eggs (4 large eggs should be just right)
1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
1 tablespoon melted beef fat (from the au jus) + more for the muffin cups. Or popover pan but how many of us have an actual popover pan?

2 hours ahead – Sift the flour, salt and mustard powder into a big old measuring cup or a bowl with a pouring lip. Add the milk, eggs, and fat and beat with an electric mixer (or in your blender) until fully incorporated. Stir occasionally while it rests. When everything else is ready – ideally while the roast does it’s final browning – pour 1 teaspoon melted fat into each muffin cup. Put the muffin pan into the oven for about 10 minutes to heat up. Remove and pour the batter into the cups about 3/4 full. Actually, I ended up with 9 popovers and I wiped the fat out of the 3 empty cups so it wouldn’t burn with they baked.

Make sure you turn your light on in the oven so you don’t have to open the door to check on them. Bake for 10 minutes and reduce the oven temperature to 450°F. I swear they just sat there and looked like failure in a pan for almost the first 10 minutes. Then POOF! Total baking time was about 20 minutes for me. Let them go a little longer than you think they need but don’t let them burn.

Serve immediately! I’m planning to give them another go and will update this post with anything new I learn.