The months of November and December are fun at our house because we love hosting parties during the holidays. This year was no exception as we had our Friendsgiving in November, our Holiday Cookie Swap to kick off December, but our favorite party is easily the Prime Rib Throwdown.
We started this event 3 years ago when my parents decided to move overseas. Growing up, my brother and I loved how we’d celebrate the holidays with Prime Rib as opposed to the traditional turkey on Thanksgiving or ham at Christmas. Instead, we had prime rib roast and king crab legs! When my parents moved abroad, we wanted to keep our holiday tradition alive by having prime rib… but even better was the family competition we always would have. Who’s prime rib was better?! My parents would never name a winner so the competition lives on.
Now on our third year, our Prime Rib Throwdown holiday party has been something our close family and friends have been brought into, in hopes that they will name who’s prime rib is best. Regardless of who wins each year, it’s a fun time! What holiday traditions do you have?
photo by John Angcay Photography
Above is my brother who decided to not only prepare his prime rib,but a melange of roasted vegetables to place his rib roast on for presentation. He also prepared a homemade horseradish sauce from scratch and a chimichurri sauce as an accompaniment to his roast. He definitely put out all the stops this year!
New this year is a third competitor who wanted to throwdown his version of prime rib on the table! We welcomed the challenge of our close friend, coworker and neighbor, John, which made the whole competition even more intense. He prepared his prime rib in a special technique using a greasless fryer…. fancy!
So here are all the prime rib roast entries this year. From left to right, John’s prime rib prepared in a greaseless fryer. Middle is my brother’s prime rib, slow roasted with roasted vegetables, chimichurri & homemade horseradish sauce. Right, is mine, which has a fresh herb & compound butter rub, served with a horseradish sauce.
We cleared out the middle of our kitchen to showcase all three versions… talk about a meat feast!
We didn’t leave out the side dishes! I set up a buffet of side dishes on another kitchen counter that included wild rice pilaf, twice baked loaded potatoed, steamed broccoli, onion rings, steamed asparagus with hollandaise sauce, chopped salad and the usual dinner rolls.
photo by John Angcay Photography
Finally, we all feasted and helped ourselves to a plate (or two… or three…) It certainly was a delicious meal. Before long, we all fell into a prime rib coma! Not show is the dessert table. We also indulged in cheesecake with a berry sauce and a mountain of Christmas cookies!
photo by John Angcay Photography
While most of the adults were slightly lethargic, it was a good time for the kids to enjoy a gift swap. We wrapped up gifts and had the kids pick numbers to select a wrapped gift of their choice. They also had the opportunity to swap gifts if they wanted. Thankfully, it all worked out without any fighting or tears!
After the kids, the adults were up and we followed the same gift swap rules. It worked out perfectly where everyone ended up with the most fitting gift!
photo by John Angcay Photography
With smiles all around after the gift swap, we all had family pictures taken to show off our ugly holiday sweaters… or non-sweaters for some lol. Such a wonderful night with family and friends and I’m so thankful we were able to capture it all with pictures!
photo by John Angcay Photography
So who won this year’s Prime Rib Throwndown 2015? Well, by ONE POINT, my brother won! He was named this year’s winner with me as the runner up and John as the 2nd runner up. All in all, it was fun and I’m okay giving this year to my brother. I won the last 2 years so he can taste the victory for now…. but next year, I’m going to take my title back!
I think this is a great idea. My mouth is watering just looking at the pictures.