It's been a struggle for me and Granny to find something we could both agree on. After months of experimentation, we still don't agree on anything - but I learned quite a bit about roasting beef in the process.
Lesson 1. Meat cooked in a covered pot, submerged in fluid will usually come out dry. Counter-intuitive, right? So often, I see this yummy-looking dish, all covered in au jus, obviously succulently moist, only to choke on the first piece. So if you like your meat moist, avoid roasting it in a pot. Meat exposed to air, such as a proper beef roast, will lock in the moisture.
Lesson 2. You can never put too many spices on the outside of the roast. By the time it comes out of the of the oven, the spices will have penetrated the meat and there is a lot of meat compared to surface area! I am yet to decide I have put enough spices on.
Lesson 3. To add the most flavor to the beef, melt some butter and mix the spices with it, rubbing the buttery mixture over your meat. This will help it penetrate, add the buttery taste and goodness.
Lesson 4. The best gravy is made with real flour: no getting around it. But there are alternatives. My favorite idea goes like this: remove drippings from the pan. Add some red wine. Cook it off, scraping the the bits (double points: now you won't have to scrub it in the sink!) Add to drippings. To thicken, use some tapioca powder or arrowroot. Or else, just cook off what you've got. Add fun spices. (Kitchen bouquet is great for gravy taste and color.)
Lesson 5. There is more than one way to roast your beef! Here comes a very unusual recipe:
Eye of Round Beef Roast
Eye of Roast is a very lean cut of meat, which makes for excellent smooth roast beef. (You may need to add some fat to this meal.)Ingredients
1 Eye of Round Roast (I got mine at US Wellness, but Costco will do in a pinch.)
3 tbs melted butter
2 tsp favorite herbs: herbs de provence is a great mix
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp salt (I told you! It has a long way to penetrate!)
2 tsp pepper (or much much more)
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 450F.
Lovingly rub the roast on all sides. (The claims that the roast cares have not been validated, but I do enjoy the connection we make!) Place roast in the oven. Do not line with foil - you will want to make the gravy out of drippings.
Cooking
Place the roast in the oven, set timer to 20 minutes. Turn off the oven. Do not open as it needs to retain the heat. Keep it in the oven for 20 minutes per lb of roast. Thus, the total cooking time for a 3 lb roast is 80 minutes. (No calculus required.)
The roast is very tender and just a little pink across. Mine measured a temperature of 140F in the center, which is about perfect. If you decide, you wish to cook it longer, set the oven to it lowest setting and check again every ten minutes till the right meat temperature is achieved.
I found this recipe on cooks.com. There are some very nice reviews there as well! My gravy usually contains flour - it's one of the places I simplify paleo as I don't really have any gluten problems. Scroll up to Lesson 4 to make paleo-compliant gravy. Enjoy!
[Kid Reviews: mixed, but ok. The little one ate four slices - more than me. The big one said it wasn't great, but ate the single-slice portion on his plate.]
Awesome. I have always found round difficult to roast, and I agree with your assessment.
ReplyDeleteChuck roast and arm roast seem to work well in the crock pot on low if cut into pieces. However, I find that the longer the better (at least 10 hours). Anything under that, and it will come out dry and tough.
I will try our next Pikes Peak or round roast this way. Thanks!
Nice tip about the crockpot, Monica. I am universally disappointed with crockpot meals. How can meat simultaneously be watery and dry? Sort of like a soggy cardboard, I guess. :-) I'll try going longer next time.
ReplyDelete@ Kate:
ReplyDeleteHeat causes the proteins to shrink and kink and curl, driving moisture out of the protein matrix. Allowing the surface of the meat to dry into a sheath forces most, but not all, of the juices to stay inside. That's why chefs prefer to cook steaks over a very hot fire for a short time: the crust acts as a seal against moisture loss until the steak reaches about the "medium" stage. This protein shrinkage is why eggs sputter and spatter in hot oil: the proteins are shrinking, forcing the water out and into the hot oil.
Putting the meat in a water bath keeps a seal from forming thus allowing the internal moisture to escape. That's why a beef stew or soup tastes so good, all the juices from the meat are driven into the surrounding water.
When I smoke a brisket, I don't baste it; I let the exterior dry out as it desires but when I cut into it, the juices run out all over the place. You can actually see the meat deflate in the area around the cut. (I cook my briskets to the medium rare stage, about five hours at 160F - 170F.)
Lesson 4. The best gravy is made with real flour: no getting around it.
ReplyDeleteActually, for Thanksgiving 2009 I made an almond flour gravy. We had a Paleo Thanksgiving bash with only half of those in attendance eating that way. However, EVERYBODY loved the gravy. Even those who were very picky on gravy.
It thickened up enough, and the almond flour added a bit of nuttiness to the flavor. It was superb! Of course, I have only tried this with chicken and turkey but I can imagine it would work well with red meats, too.
PS - if you can, enable commenting from Name/URL. Not only will I be able to comment with a link back to The Paleo Child, but you'll start receiving more comments, too!
I just roasted a bison round roast from a recipe in food network saying to keep it for 2 hours covered in the ducth pan with 2 cups of broth and 2 cups of wine.
ReplyDeleteJust came out SOOOOOO DRYYYYY.
The juice and vegetables taste fantastic but the meat is in the trash can.
This is for a dinner tomorrow nite. Any suggestions??
So sorry this happened to you! Yes, cooking for a long time, covered in liquid will guarantee a disaster - unless you are into dry meat. Here is what I would do to save it - unless it is literally in the trashcan:
ReplyDelete1. Make gravy. Use juices if you have any from this dish plus lots of butter. If no juices left - beef broth. Make sure there is plenty of salt.
2. Serve with cranberry sauce or apple sauce on the side.
3. Serve with wine. :-)
Good luck!
Thanks! Roast is in the oven now!
ReplyDeleteBut I'm confused about your time directions. If its twenty minutes (rest) per pound in the oven, shouldn't a three pound roast be in there for an hour? Your sample in the directions said twenty minutes, but when you pointed to a three pound roast, you said keep it in for 80 minutes. Was that a typo? Sorry, just wante to clarify.
Thanks so much for the facts before the recipe. I'm always learning and I picked up some golden nuggets from your intro! : )
Lisa, thanks for the compliments!
ReplyDeleteThe timing is 20 minutes at 450F *plus* 20 minutes after the oven is off for every lb of beef. So a three-lb roast stays in the oven for a total of 80 minutes. Hope that makes sense! The first 20 minutes of heat are to lock in the juices, the rest is to heat through the meat. That's why the hot portion is fixed while the rest is variable.
made an eye round in the crock pot came out very very dry any suggestions how to save this meal
ReplyDeleteUgh... Crockpot dries out the meat. I would try to turn it into tacos with lots of salsa. It seems, spicy help.
ReplyDelete