The holidays are a special time of year for people of all backgrounds. For some, it's a chance to catch up with friends and family. For others, it's enjoying a feast of holiday favorites, retreating to the couch to watch football or basketball, and listening to young cousins and older uncles argue about who was better—Jordan vs. Lebron or Brady vs. Montana.

No matter how you celebrate, the one thing that brings everyone together is a perfectly cooked holiday roast. Continue reading this article to learn helpful holiday roast ideas, tips, and recipes to make sure the centerpiece of the dining room table is as exciting as the gifts under the tree.

Holiday Roast Ideas That Are Sure to Satisfy

Have you ever noticed that the mood changes when a roast turkey on Thanksgiving or a standing rib roast for Christmas dinner is placed in the center of the holiday table? The joyous laughter, "remember when" conversations, and catching up goes quiet. Everyone becomes entranced by the showstopper of this year's holiday dinner. Whether you want to serve a holiday roast steeped in tradition like roast beef or dazzle your guests with a less conventional choice, you have plenty of options.

Let's explore some holiday roast ideas that are sure to become family favorites served on special occasions for years to come.

Prime Rib

There's a reason prime rib has become a staple of holiday dinners and the holiday roast of choice for families across the country—it's delicious. When served on the bone, this intensely marbled cut is savory, beefy, and undeniably appealing to your most primal instincts. And if you've never experienced the enhanced flavors brought on by the intense marbling of an American Wagyu prime rib, prepare to have your mind blown.

Prime ribs don't require many kitchen gadgets or equipment. All you need is an oven, meat thermometer, and a roasting pan for a traditional holiday roast recipe. If you want to add even more flavor, you can put your beef on the smoker to develop those smokey characteristics that barbecue lovers adore.

Tri-Tips

Over the past few years, tri-tips have grown in popularity. There’s a lot of reasons for this. For starters, a tri-tip has a robust, beefy flavor that any meat lover can appreciate. It's also incredibly versatile. Tri-tip can be prepared as a traditional holiday roast, smoked, or grilled to absolute perfection. And as an added benefit, it doesn't take nearly as much time to reach the ideal medium-rare internal temperature as many other cuts do.

If you're cooking tri-tip as a holiday roast, it's hard to beat Santa Maria style. Packed with garlic, rosemary, and black pepper flavors, a Santa Maria tri-tip cut lends itself perfectly to thin slices that melt in your mouth and have you asking your relatives to pass the serving platter back down your way.

Brisket

When you say holiday roast to someone from the Jewish faith, you can only mean one thing—brisket. But briskets have long been the centerpiece of holiday tables for people of all faiths and beliefs. Like tri-tips, briskets are as versatile as they are delectable.

Whole briskets are ideal for your smoker as the crowned king of low and slow cooking. It's hard to imagine anyone not loving their holiday dinner when it includes the salty, sweet, smokey bark that encases the impossibly tender beef it hides below.

If you don't have a smoker or don't need to feed a large gathering, roast-sized briskets are also perfect for oven braising, oven roasting, and slow crockpot cooking. As long as you allow enough time for the tough connective tissues to break down, you'll have a flavorful, tender holiday roast that's sure to have everyone asking you for the recipe.

Chuck Roast

Who doesn't love a classic pot roast? The rich broth, the meatiness, the aromatic vegetables, and the familiar flavors of this American standard are a part of the fibers of so many culinary memories. But pot roast isn't the only way to serve chuck roast.

Using an acidic marinade to break down the tougher fibers allows you to slice and serve chuck roast like any other holiday roast. And the marinade adds new depths of flavor that can elevate this dish from familiar and tasty to a fine dining experience you'd expect only from an expensive steakhouse.

How To Cook a Holiday Roast

As we explained above, you can prepare most holiday roasts in various ways. No matter what cut of beef you're using, the first and one of the most important steps is to take your meat out of the refrigerator at least an hour before you plan to start cooking it. The larger the pieces of beef, the longer they take to reach room temperature. This is essential for even cooking and to prevent low and slow cooking times from pushing your serving time from 6:00 to 9:30.

Garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper are the classic ingredients to rub your prime rib with, but there are no rules when it comes to enjoying the flavors of beef. Whatever your family wants, we encourage you to use those ingredients. Holiday roasts are about sharing in the joy of a good meal, not being beholden to a recipe.

When it comes to prime rib, you have two wonderful options for roasting in the oven. The customary way is to start your standing rib roast in a 500-degree oven to let it brown, then drop the temperature to 325 until the holiday roast reaches your desired level of doneness. Again, medium-rare is recommended, but we're not here to judge your preferences.

For briskets and tri-tips going on the smoker, some salt, pepper, brown sugar, and chili flakes are as simple as it gets. But don't let the simplicity fool you; these combine to make a delicious bark that helps the beefy flavors shine.

Plan for briskets to be on the smoker for about one hour and fifteen minutes per pound. Tri tips typically take 30 minutes per pound. Most importantly, keep your smoker or oven between 225 and 250 degrees to ensure it comes out juicy and melt-in-your-mouth tender.

If braising your brisket, you have a seemingly endless amount of options to choose from. Red wine, balsamic vinegar, beef stock, or beer poured in with the beef and some potatoes, carrots, or other vegetables add a savory flavor to this wonderfully tender preparation. Be sure to give braising an hour per pound to ensure it has time to break down the tough internal tissues.

Irresistible Holiday Roast Recipes

Looking for holiday roast recipes and ideas? Here are some of the most highly reviewed recipes from America's most respected chefs:

• Braised Beef Brisket with Onions, Mushrooms, and Balsamic
• Oklahoma Joe's Smoked Brisket Flat
• Holiday Prime Rib Roast
• Hickory Smoked Prime Rib
• Santa Maria-Style BBQ Tri Tip
• Reverse Seared Tri Tip
• Slow Cooker Red Curry Beef Pot Roast
• Impossible to Mess Up Chuck Steak

Make This Year Special By Serving a Good Silver American Wagyu Holiday Roast

The holidays are a time for splurging, celebrating, and showing your loved ones how much they mean to you. Good Silver's American Wagyu beef is vastly marbled, which means it has more flavor and savoriness and is more buttery tender than even USDA Prime beef.

Whether you're making this year's holiday roast or want to gift the ultimate fork and knife experience to someone you love, reach out to Good Silver today. We offer 17 different cuts of steak, numerous bulk beef and sampler packs, and ground beef and preformed burger patties, sure to be the highlight of any meat lover's holiday haul.