This is how I do my prime rib. This is a 3 bone Prime Rib, seared
first and cooked at 200° (yep!) until 125° IT. Rested ~20 mins and served. I do not pre-smoke, I just cook straight through at 200°. These come out so consistent now, that it'd be hard to mess one up...which is quite the contrast to others that I've cooked and...well...messed up pretty bad!
I start by pre-salting ~24 hours ahead of time. I apply Morton's Kosher at the rate of 2.5g/lb. I then wrap tightly in saran, and back in the fridge it goes.
When I'm ready to cook, I'll season with Montreal Steak seasoning about an hour or so ahead of time so the spices can rehydrate a bit. I go easy, since I've already salted the meat.
If you wanna sear, ya gotta get the pan hot. I keep the meat in the fridge until the moment I put it in the pan. That way the coldness of the meat limits how much of the outer part of the meat gets cooked, while still forming a nice crust. This is how I get a very even edge-to-edge cook on such a large cut.
Sear that sucker
Get all the sides
This was done on my JB. Once it hits 125° IT, it's ready to pull. This will coast up to a medium. If your guests want it more done, do like the restaurants do and use your broiler to touch up the meat. This way you'll easily be able to keep everyone happy. The low cook temp will give a very even cook, so the end slices won't be overdone and the middle won't be too rare.
First slice, perfect medium
Yep, they all look good. Note how consistent from slice to slice.
Arr nom nom... Also note how much more red this has got since being sliced. This is due to the air hitting the meat, and the hemoglobin is coloring back up. When first sliced, you can see it's much more of the light pink that people traditionally associate with medium done meat. This is why you can't always equate color with doneness.
This method works very, very well for me. I know a lot of people like to do reverse sear, but I can't see any reason to change. My goal is to get a very even cook from the middle of the eye to the rib cap. There is a small area of the rib cap that is a touch more done, but it's not much. Many other roasts I've seen have a completely brown rib cap, which is really a shame.