This is how my dad (George) titled the directions to me, and I know we should credit our sources. Parenthetical remarks are mine.

The outside of the roast is nice and brown and tasty, and the inside is superb!

If you serve this for guests, the house will smell wonderful when they arrive!

Method Summary: Figure out when you want to sit down and work backwards from that. There will be an oven pre-heat period, cooking period, "resting" period, and a re-heat period.

Here are his steps:

1. Weigh roast or believe wrapper weight. (This is one of my favorite George-isms.) Let it come to room temperature. If you like, put slivers of fresh garlic several places in the roast: use a sharp paring knife to cut vertical slits and put part of a garlic clove in each.

Do not salt the roast, as this draws out the moisture. This is the same reason you don't drink seawater when you're adrift on a life raft in the ocean.

2. Decide when you want to sit down to eat. Plan. Use a clock and work backwards.

3. From the dinner time the clock says, back up 15 minutes. Note this time. This is when you'll take the roast out of the oven.

4. From the clock time of step 3, back up 2 hours. This is the "resting" time between the periods the oven is on. Note this time.

5. From this clock time, you'll back up a number of minutes you'll calculate. Note this time. More on this number in a moment.

6. From that clock time, you'll back up 15 minutes to pre-heat the oven.

To calculate the number of cooking minutes (step 5), multiply the weight by one of the following "magic numbers":

• 5 or 5.5 - very rare (This is the one I use. This isn't "purplish-blue," the way you sometimes can get a steak in restaurants, but a nice rosy red.)
• 6 - rare (Daddy calls this one very rare.)
• 7.5 - medium rare
• 8 - medium
• more done than this my family does not go; you're on your own; maybe 9 for medium well and 10 for well done?

Multiply the weight by the magic number for the cooking period in minutes. Use this in step 5.

Note: If yours is a bone-in roast, add a flat 4 minutes for levels 5 through 6; 5 minutes for the other levels.

7. The planning is done.

8. Place roast on a rack and the rack on a shallow pan. (I put a piece of aluminum foil on a jellyroll pan, making a "French seam" if I must use two pieces to get the width. I spray the rack with Pam.

9. Turn oven on at 375 degrees at the clock time calculated and noted in step 5.

10. Roast the number of minutes you calculated and clock time you noted in step 4.

11. Turn off the oven. This will be the clock time you calculated in step 3.....BUT.....

***Do not open oven door*** now or at any time until you are ready to take the roast out to serve it. Let roast sit in oven undisturbed. Do not even peek. Choose your veggies accordingly because you won't have access to the oven (for baked potatoes, for example).

12. 15 minutes before you want to sit down (clock time calculated in step 5), turn the oven back on at 375 degrees. You have not opened the oven door, yes?

13. Remove roast at the clock time you calculated to sit down.

15. Cover roast with foil to keep it warm if there are some last-minute preparations to be done, such as tossing the salad. (The salad is put together, right?  No? You have to start from scratch washing the lettuce?!  Ack! Your roast will be cold!  Skip the salad!)

16. Call the family. By the time they all get to the table - - having stopped by the bathroom and whatever else should have been done long before dinner was called because they knew what time you'd be serving - - you will have carved the meat and be ready to serve.  If you have to wait just a tad longer to carve, keep the tinfoil tent over the roast and yell at your family again.  If you feel the need to yell for them a third time, don't.  Carve for yourself and sit down to dinner without them.

Here is an example, using 7:30 as dinnertime and a 9-pound boned roast done rare (magic number 5 ……. 9 pounds x 5 = 45 minutes). I have calculated backwards, as per instructions above.

7:30 remove roast
<….this is the reheat time – always 15 minutes>
7:15 turn oven back on to 375 degrees
<….this is the "rest" time – always 2 hours>
5:15 turn off oven
<….this is the cook time – this is the number of pounds times the magic number>
4:30 put roast in oven
<….this is the oven preheat time – always 15 minutes>
4:15 turn on oven for preheat at 375 degrees

Recipe: Bake half as many potatoes as diners.   Large-diameter potatoes are better than long potatoes with a smaller diameter.  Cut in half lengthwise and scoop out flesh. Mash flesh and mix in some sour cream, cream, and/or butter. Stuff skins; put a little cheese on top if you like; may be made ahead to this point. Refrigerate if you like.  (If it's the day of the prime rib dinner, I don't bother because the potatoes are already cooked.) Reheat in the microwave. I usually bake an extra potato to make sure there is enough stuffing and in case I damage one of the skin cases (especially if the potatoes halves were shallow and long), which I usually do.

Caution: Keep track of the time when cooking prime rib this way. One time, I forgot to turn the oven off after the magic number cooking time had elapsed and was very upset.