How to Cook the Best Roast Beef Despite Your Fears
The Best Roast Beef
Trip Down Memory Lane
When I was growing up, beef for dinner was considered a treat. Beef was as expensive then as it is today. When we did have it, it was usually ground chuck stretched with canned cream of mushroom soup or made into a meatloaf. Sometimes though, my mother would cook "chicken steaks," horrible thin cuts of beef with the vein running down the middle. She'd fry them in a pan on the top of the stove and cook them until they were ashen. I hated those steaks, and I have never, nor will I ever, cook one. They are called something else today, although I don't know what. (I did google "chicken steak" and found a lot of great recipes for chicken and steak dinners and for chicken-fried steak, but no leads on the slab of ash I ate as a kid.)
Thus my fear of cooking beef. What if I made a pile of ash?
Experimenting with Beef and a Meat Thermometer
I've had wonderful steaks and roasts in my adult life, cooked by friends or enjoyed at dinners out. But it was only a few years ago that I found the courage to experiment with cooking beef on my own. The turning point was when my mother gave me a meat thermometer as a housewarming gift, which was really funny, because I don't think she ever used a meat thermometer in her life. However, my mother is a genius at finding previously used and sale items for pennies on the dollar. I expect this meat thermometer was one of her "finds".
Armed with a meat thermometer, I now needed something to stick it into.
Although you can stick a thermometer into a number of meats (chicken, turkey, pork, lamb, veal, and even fish), I chose a beef roast because it was beef and therefore a challenge. Besides, true to my mother's bargain hunting instincts, I found the roast offered at a very good sale price and I couldn't pass it up. I brought the roast home and attacked it with the meat thermometer and a little creativity. The rest is history.
All You Need Is Beef
To make this wonderful beef, you need an eye round roast, a container of Mrs. Dash (I use the "original" blend), a meat thermometer, a pan with a rack that fits into it, and an oven. That's it.
Start with an eye round roast that's at least 3 pounds.
Take the roast out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before you start to pre-heat the oven.
Pre-heat the oven to 475 degrees F.
The Seasoning
Shake the Mrs. Dash onto all parts of the beef-top, bottom, and sides-and press this wonderful seasoning into the flesh. You might want to do this in your freshly scrubbed kitchen sink. It can make a mess.
When all the seasoning is pressed into the flesh, place the beef onto the rack with the fat side down.
Put the rack and the beef into the pan.
Poke the thermometer into the fattest part of the roast so that the stabbing end of the thermometer goes only half-way down.
Time and Temperature
Your meat thermometer may have a temperature setting for rare, medium, and well done beef, or it may not. So set the desired doneness either by words or numbers:
Rare = 140 degrees F
Medium = 160 degrees F
Well done = 170 degrees F
When the oven is up to 475, put the pan and its beef in, uncovered.
Set a timer for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, turn the oven down to 275 degrees F.
Depending on the size of the roast, the rest of the cooking may take an hour or two or more. Just check the thermometer's progress. You can do this by turning on your oven's light and looking through the glass door. If you don't have an oven door with glass that you can see through, then you will have to open the door and look, which will delay the cooking time.
The beautiful thing about the meat thermometer is that it doesn't lie. It doesn't matter whether your oven's internal thermometer is working or not. The meat thermometer will tell you when the beef is done.
When the beef is done, take it out of the oven and let it sit in its pan on your kitchen counter for about 10 minutes before you slice it.
About Slicing the Roast
You need a sharp, finely honed knife. I use Sabatier carbon steel knives, which I acquired in the late 60's.
Cut across the grain. Think about your own muscles here. Like in your arm. Muscle tissue runs in very discernable straight lines from your elbow to your wrist. You can imagine threads of tissue in a straight line from elbow to wrist. When you cut across these threads, you are cutting across the grain. This is very obvious with a hunk of beef. You can see how the muscle strands go the length of a roast. You just cut across that.
As you cut, the roast will bleed. Make sure your cutting board can catch the juice, or make sure that you are prepared to pour the juice into a container as it flows. You want to save that juice.
Before you serve your magnificent roast, pre-heat your plates. A warm plate will keep a rare slice of beef warm without cooking it more.
Heat the reserved juice in a sauce pot for pouring over the beef-laden plates when you are ready to serve.
About Using the Leftovers
If you like rare roast beef, then you know heating the leftovers will turn the rare into the medium or well done. So here's an alternative...
We like cold roast beef sandwiches. To have these treats, slice what's left over of the roast very thinly. Freeze the thinly-sliced leftovers in little packets that approximate the size and shape of a deck of playing cards.
Are You Cooking for One?
Don't hesitate to make this recipe just because you usually cook only for yourself. Those frozen and thawed decks of cards are not only great for sandwiches but delicious when heated in a pan with homemade or prepared au jus.
When you want a roast beef sandwich for lunch one day, put a frozen packet in your refrigerator the night before. On the next day at noon, just make a sandwich!
My Future Engagement with Beef
I still have a long way to go to master the art of cooking beef. For now, don't ask me to charcoal grill steaks for a dinner party. I'd simply swill some Scotch and turn the tongs over to the nearest guy.
Recipes appearing in Sally’s Trove articles are original, having been created and tested in our family kitchens, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
Temps are wrong..I cook 132 for med. well.it is the best
Your temps are WAY off
Rare 120
Medium Rare 130
Medium 140
Medium Well 150
Well done
Also if the roast is smaller then 5 lbs it will jump 10 degrees afterbyou take it out of the oven and larger roasts will jump 15 so you have to take it out before it hits your desired temp
Does this look like the cut your mom used to make?
great recipe idea! Been looking at them all and I like yours too!
sincere recepie, my stomach is full, only read your recepie, god bless you
I am glad someone else is pointing out the use of a meat thermometer. I never go by time with a roast. The thermometer takes out the guess work and guarantees you the doness you are after.
What a great recipe. I think I just found what I will be making for Sunday's dinner. Thank you Sally.
looks very tasty
I'm always looking for ways to spice up my cooking. Thanks for this. Now I'm hungry!
Wow, this opens up a whole new way of cooking roast to me. Usually I just put it in the crock pot with some veggies and let it go all day. Thanks.
Sally, what a great dish. Cooked it today and it was great. You are such a great talent! lol
Sally when you get ready to grill a steak try to find a grill with an ajustable grate. Most grills these days are to far from the coals and you find it hard to atually sear the meat which is desired.
140 is too high for rare.
It worked! The first recipe for rare roast beef that worked! Thank you!
Looks very yummy. Resting the meat before slicing is an important step
How did I miss this one? I am a huge roast beef fan (especially with horseradish - yum) Very wonderful and giving me ideas for Sunday cooking....
Excellent instructions! It took both of us years to work out how to make decent roast beef.
There is nothing like a nice roast beef on a cold winter day. The best tip that yo gave was to cut across the grain. That makes so much difference.
Wow! Now you make me want to try cooking this for my family. Always wanted to do something like this but you are right about "FEAR". I always resort to stir fry beef with black pepper sauce or grilled slabs of beef. Thanks for this!
I love this method and you did a fabulous job of explaining it. Your roast looks to-die-for!
Great hub...I have had a hard time on the rare occasions I attempted roasts, the worst being a $40 roast that was done much too quickly on Christmas day. Uuggh! Your hub inspires me, I may have to try, try again!
Looks yummy! I'm sick of my slow cooker roast beef recipe so this might be a good alternative!
Great idea on the Mrs. Dash - we use that a lot because it is sodium free and we are 'old' or trying to be good I should say...you are only as old as you feel! I will have to check out more of your cooking hubs and sigh...have yet more recipes. I can't seem to quit - I wonder if there is a Recipes Anonmyous...
sounds like a plan to me..
Mrs Dash! Man, I never thought I'd see a roast beef hub with Mrs Dash as the secret ingred.! This is right in my line of thinking - You are pretty clever, with Mrs Dash and a meat thermometer you could probably cook your way around the world! Also, if you ever have to cook for low salt diets there is "saltless Spike" which is a lot like Mrs Dash only no salt. Man, I'm hungry - thanks for this hub.
Are you sure our mothers weren't sisters? Until I married and left home, I had no idea steak (or any cut of beef for that matter) wasn't supposed to look and taste like shoe leather. And I'll spare you what the woman did to whole chickens for Sunday dinner. Suffice that to this day I avoid oven-roasted chicken like the plague.
But "original" Mrs. Dash was a staple in my kitchen before the kids left home. Wonderful stuff! Wish there was a roast in the fridge right now to rub it into!
Nice hub! I have only recently discovered the wonder of meat thermometers - thay make it so much easier to judge when the roast is right!
My brother in law gave me a recipe for a marinade. Chop up about 1/2 cup fresh sage (takes patience) add 1/2 cup olive oil and 1/3 cup grated orange rind (about 2 or 3 oranges, depending on size). Mix and then rub into the outside of a large piece of beef. (I used this on 7lb rib roast) Cover with cling film and refridgerate overnight.
Make sure you bring the beef up to room temp before shoving in the oven.
nice recipe
Even the newest of cooks, could not find this hard. Thank you for writing this so it is easy to understand. I've been cooking for years and even I get frustrated at complicated recipes.
Thanks.
My husband has used every meat thermomter I've ever bought to grill...and never brought them back to the kitchen alive. I usually cook my roasts in a crockpot, but we tend to like them well done. You make it sound easy in the oven!
Sally: I have been working on cooking a rare roast beef lately, and have come pretty close to excellent. I'm going to try your recipe next. I like my roast beef served with a dijon - horseradish sauce. Delicious!
Thanks for another great hub. It is always so interesting to read your work. Thanks
I love this recipe and also your writing! I'm sending this to some of my newly inducted stay at home mom friends who will gladly admit a lack of experience in the kitchen!
Yum! This sounds great. I haven't made a roast in a while, I think I'll pick one up for the weekend! =)
So, when are you inviting me for dinner? :)
When I rated this page I thought it said tongues up. Oh well we will let it stand.
NEIL
It's funny how moms can be the cause AND the solution of so many of life's little glitches...
And you illustrate another excellent point: no matter how strong, powerful, and independent a woman is, it's still better to make the man grill. The man gets to play with fire, and you get to blame them if the meat becomes "a pile of ash".
BTW - had a roast beast sammie for dinner last night - MMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
Wow. I'm getting hungry already. Well, now it's about lunchtime here in Hong Kong. Would you be willing to cook your recipe for me?
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