Christmas Dinner Ideas
Holiday centerpieces built for a crowd — prime rib, glazed ham, roast turkey, and beef tenderloin, with sides worthy of the table.
★ Smoked Prime Rib
Smoked Prime RibSmoked Prime Rib
This is a simple (but crowd-pleasing) entree for the holiday season! All you need are
Jason E.Ingredients
- 1 Prime Rib Roast (10-16 lbs)
- 2 tbsp Kosher Salt
- 2 tbsp Coarse Ground Pepper
Instructions
- 1Season your roast generously with salt and pepper! (Approximately 1/4 cup of total seasoning should do the trick)
- 2Place roast in a smoker (I like using my Masterbuilt, but you may have a stick burner or pellet grill) - approximate temperature should be around 225°F
- 3Smoke until internal temperature approaches 125°F - I like to monitor with a digital meat thermometer - this is important! You don’t want to overcook such a beautiful piece of meat. Plan for approximately 30 min per pound of meat.
- 4Remove roast from smoker at 125°F internal temperature. Allow meat to rest at least 30 minutes.
- 5Place a large cast iron skillet on HIGH heat and allow get to at least 450°F - add butter and oil to pan right before introducing the roast.
- 6Sear that sucker!!! This will probably be done in about 10 minutes total. I flip the roast on each of its sides and get a nice crispy sear in the butter and oil.
- 7Remove from heat, rest another 10-15 minutes under a foil ‘tent’ then slice and serve! This goes nice with a compound butter or au jous.
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Open in Pepper →A Christmas Table Worth the Wait
Christmas dinner is the meal the whole year has been building up to — the centerpiece has to be impressive, and everything on the table has to hold up while the presents get opened.
Cooks on Pepper reach for this collection because every recipe scales for a full table: prime rib for 8-12, glazed ham for a crowd, roast turkey with pan gravy.
Every recipe here includes timing notes so the whole meal lands hot at the same time — no cold sides while the roast rests, no scrambling at the finish.
Quick Tips
- 1
Salt the roast 24 hours ahead
Dry-brining a prime rib or turkey overnight gets you crispy skin and seasoned-through meat.
- 2
Buy a probe thermometer
No probe = no way to nail 125°F medium-rare on an expensive roast. This is not the day to guess.
- 3
Rest longer than you think
A prime rib needs 30-45 minutes; a turkey needs 30 minutes. Use that window to finish sides.
- 4
Make the gravy from drippings
Skip the packet — pan drippings + flour + stock gets you real gravy in ten minutes.
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