Merry Christmas

And all that jazz

25 December 2011. The usual suspects, et al, gathered chez moi to observe Christmas with the customary good cheer and feasting.

Mother Nature (Santa Claus?) was very good to us, at least with respect to the Christmas weather, clearing the skies and sending the temperature over 70° for our enjoyment. And enjoy we did.

The pièce de résistance for this year's feast was a rib-eye (aka "standing") rib roast. I flavored it with the horseradish, rosemary, and thyme crust from Tyler Florence's recipe, but I decided to bravely try a new roasting method recommended by Bob, courtesy of Cook's. The essence of the method is that you preheat the oven as hot as it will go (450°, 500°, or even higher), put the roast in the oven and roast for 30 min at that temperature, then turn off the oven and do not under any circumstances open the oven door for the next 3 hours. Supposedly, this works for any size roast.

About that "supposedly" — after 1½ hours, the internal temperature stopped rising at 106°. At that point I lost courage and re-ignited the oven and set it at 250° to continue the roasting, which worked just fine. When I sliced into the roast it was nice and pink (OK, kinda red) and extremely juicy. For those who like their beef a little more-surely dead, I popped a few slices into the microwave for a couple of minutes, making every carnivore happy.

• Although I took the roast out of the refrigerator a couple of hours before starting, so it could rise to room temperature, it was only 42° when I stuck the thermometer in. It was such big roast that perhaps it needed several more hours to warm up. Had it indeed been room temperature, starting with an extra 30° it may very well have come out at just the right temperature.
• I think that the next time I do this I will turn the oven down to, say, 200° and let it go for another hour before turning the oven off. Just to be sure.

As usual, we had a fabulous feast. Besides the roast, there was ham, scalloped potatoes, wild rice, scalloped carrots, green beans, Kenny's famous cheesecake, apple pie, and a compote of assorted fruit with cream puffs.

The usual suspects in attendance were Réal, Bob, Ken, Rafe, Kenny, Richard. Three other Québecois who came directly from LAX — Franco, Jason, and Didier — were also supposed to have dinner with us, but Franco was not feeling well, and they took him home before dinner. After dinner we made them doggie bags so they didn't miss out entirely.

Kenny brought a ginormous bag from which he distributed party favors, which turned out to be wee stuffed animals, at least one of which barked. Woof!