During winter breaks from my golf club job, I would meander down towards Lake Huron, under the dual Blue Water bridges and work at The Thomas Edison Inn. The entire venue was ahead of its time. Couldn’t fit into the town whatsoever, it was bulky. Very swank with meeting and ballrooms, a full size work out gym and pool with hot tub and sauna. Not the typical find in this town. Halls done up in very nice woodworking and the kitchen was very large with an employee cafeteria down in the basement.

The first season I worked there I was still a green horn and didn’t know too much. Just happy to have work and not depend on unemployment. Working with a friend from my summer job, we mainly did prep work in between bong hits and shots of vodka. I think we had a good season.

The second season I had become more knowledgable and useful and was doing banquet event cooking. I had learned a tremendous amount over the course of the previous summer and was looking forward to showing off my skils that winter at the hotel. Things were going fine, getting along with everyone and learning the areas of the hotel that I hadn’t before been privy to.

We had a large wedding coming up and the star of the show was Roasted Prime Rib of Beef set at a carving station. Yours truly was going to be the one in charge of seasoning and firing the prime rib. The Chef walked me through what it was he wanted and set me out to complete the task, explaining that there was a cart downstairs in the walk in with all the prime ribs set up on it and to bring it up and get to work.

Downstairs and into the cooler I go for my cart. But wait. What is this? They look like New York Strip Loins. They’re thin in the middle and much more flat than the roasts I had worked with at the golf club. I don’t think these are Lip-ons. However I’m new and green so I take the cart up and unload the cargo. Looking to find the Chef before opening anything up, we come back and he looks at them and says, “yep, them are those”! I said those are the prime ribs, they look like NY Strips. He looks at me, points to his Title under his name on his Chef coat and replies, “what’s that say”? It reads Chef. “That’s right, and don’t you forget it”.

I ripped into the packages and began to pull the primal cuts from their cryovac. This is not a Lip-on, I think to myself. Doing my thing, I get them all seasoned and ready to go into the oven. I went over and got another cook and asked him what he thought and he too thought they were NY Strips.

The wedding party was done with pictures and all the guests had arrived. Guys in their tuxedos and suits and the ladies looking lovely with freshly done hair, make up and complimenting the bride.

Ding goes the timer! I slide over to the oven to check and then start removing the ‘prime rib’. As you may know, proteins shrink when cooking. shrink they did, there was no mistaking them at this point. I didn’t know what to do, so I went and I got the Chef and asked if he would come and check there to make sure they were at the temp he requested. I could tell as soon as we rounded the corner that those were indeed NOT, prime rib. Walking over to the table he pokes one as if to test the doneness. He looked at me and states, “hmm! Strips”! And just walked away.

We served them and every single person knew it wasn’t prime rib. He got a ton of complaints and the next winter he was gone. The stories of The Thomas Edison Inn don’t end there though. The Sous Chef became the Executive Chef. Coming soon. Fried Chicken.

But for now, this is my recipe for Roasted Prime Rib of Beef

1 Prime Rib roast to your weight size. This is for a full roast.

4 garlic bulbs

Fresh rosemary sprigs

Fresh thyme sprigs

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Take 3 bulbs of garlic, peel and place in food processor, them half of your rosemary and thyme, remembering to separate from the branch.

Pulse that in your processor till it forms a paste.

Remove and put in a bowl adding in (depending on size of roast) the salt, pepper and olive oil. You want this to be pasty by also runny enough to be able to spread.

Take a knife and carefully stab the roast along the top in two rows appx 3 inches apart.

In these you will stuff the remainder if the garlic cloves, the rosemary sprigs and also the thyme sprigs.

Set oven to 350° and roast till the internal temperature is to your liking.