At a Seabrook home, this dish is a tasty New Year’s tradition

Seabrook resident Duane Myers has a New Year’s Day dish so mighty his family calls it “The Roast Beast.”

He coats the sumptuous, bone-in, rib-eye roast in a garlic and herb butter, making for a dish that looks impressive and tastes even better.

“It is an expensive cut of meat, but New Year’s is a special occasion, so why not make it special?” he said. “This roast is so moist, and so tender, you almost don’t have to chew, it basically melts on your tongue. When you eat it, you will feel like you’ve been kissed by God.”

Myers, originally from Willis, Texas, is the son of a butcher, so he learned from his father all about different cuts of meat and how to cook them, he said.

“I can remember him aging meat by hanging it on the barbed-wire fence at home,” Myers said. “While you don’t have to age this roast, I would recommend bringing the meat up to room temperature before you cook it.”

As a child and teenager, his first jobs were food-related: He worked in the family store and on the buffet line of a Mississippi-style river boat on Lake Conroe. His love of food took him to Texas Tech University where he graduated with a Hotel and Restaurant Management degree, and then to a career within a Houston-based restaurant chain.

“I worked the window and would be on quality control checking 200 to 250 meals a night,” he said. “It was a real rush.”

He left hospitality a few years back and is now owner/operations manager of C&D Hardware and Gifts in Houston. And while he sometimes misses the buzz of working hospitality, retail hours are more conducive to family life with his wife, Tari, and son, Will.

Myers cooks 80 percent of the family meals, and thanks to his hospitality career, he tends to cook big, which also benefited neighbors after Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

“We can often be eating the same thing three days later,” he said. “And I remember after Harvey, when the power was out, we pretty much fed the whole neighborhood, grilling all the meat we had in the freezer.”

Smoking brisket and grilling are two of his favorite pastimes, along with cooking up a batch of chili that Tari said is different each time, but always delicious.

His Easy Rib-Eye Roast is a hybrid of at least three different recipes and his own adaptations, and patience is a key ingredient to success, he said.

“It is going to smell delicious as it wafts through the house, but do not open the oven door for the first hour or so of cooking,” he said. “Then, when it’s done, don’t pick at it or cut it until the meat rests for at least 45 minutes.”

He recommends serving it with green beans drizzled with honey and mashed potatoes made with plenty of butter and heavy whipping cream and just a dash of wasabi.

“It’s decadent, but then it’s New Year’s Day, so don’t skimp,” he said.

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EASY RIB-EYE ROAST

1 (4- to 5-pound) bone-in rib-eye roast

Garlic Herb Butter (see below)

Rub herb butter all over rib roast and then place on a roasting tray with a rack.

Preheat oven to 500 F.

Roast for 20 minutes then, reduce heat to 325 F and continue cooking for 1½ to 2½ hours until roast is reddish-pink and juicy in the center. Keep the oven door closed for the first 20 minutes. Only open it at 1½ hours and then every 30 minutes to check temperature. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 145 F.

GARLIC HERB BUTTER

1 cup butter, softened

7 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped

2 tablespoons fresh thyme, finely chopped

2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon pepper

Mix together the butter, garlic, herb, salt and pepper in a bowl until evenly combined.

GRAVY

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups beef stock

Whisk flour in pan drippings and slowly add beef stock to make a gravy.