Slow Roasted Beef

I have mentioned before that I am afraid of beef. Ever since the time I cooked it in a frying pan and it came out grey I have been harboring hard feelings. Well, times are a changing.

One of the many things I miss about working with my last manager is that we would always find a few minutes to talk food and share recipes. I recently stopped by his office and he shared with me the concept of salting and slow cooking an eye of the round cut of beef.  It sounded very interesting.  He sent me to the America's Test Kitchen site for the recipe.  The recipe (Slow Roasted Beef) is from the episode, "Resurrceting the Roast Beef Dinner".  You'll salt the beef about a day before you make it.  Prior to it going in the oven you sear it and then roast in the oven at a low temp until it reaches the specified temperatures.  You then shut the oven off (no opening he door!) until your therometer reaches the temperature for rare or medium.

While preparing my order for the Peapod grocery delivery service (yes I do this a lot at it saves me a ton of time!) I saw that eye of the round was on sale. It must be an omen. I added it to my order and planned on making it for a Sunday night dinner. Later in the afternoon, I went to the America's Test Kitchen site and read the recipe in detail. As mentioned above, you need to salt the beef and let it sit in the fridge for 18 to 24 hours. Since my order was not coming until Sunday a.m. I would not be able to make it for Sunday night dinner. Ugh. Plan B. Get in car and drive to Stop and Shop to pick up ANOTHER beef roast eye of the round so that I could still be on track to make it for Sunday night dinner. I wanted to make it Sunday as Monday is a week night and I don't like to fuss in the kitchen too much on weeknights. (I can say now, though, this recipe is not to fussy! ) Luckily, I grabbed the last one in the butcher case and headed home. The one that was delivered has been put in the freezer for another time.

So what is eye of the round and what's the deal with salting it for 18 to 24 hours? Since I am a beginner when it comes to beef I felt the need to finally do some research. Take a look on The Nibble as they show a beef cut diagram by the National Cattleman's Beef Association. I found it to be informative as a starting point. The diagram shows the many sections/cuts of beef. The round is in the back of the cow and since it is has been toughened by exercise it is not as tender as a sirloin or short loin. Top round, bottom round, and eye of the round are a few names of cuts from the Round.  The Cook's Thesarus also has a good high level overview.

Before I move on to the importance of salting the beef, there are two more things that I would like to share with you that I learned. It has to do with marbling and grade. Have you ever heard of marbling in regards to beef? Bare with me.  I am a beef newbie, but yes I was familiar with marbling! Marbling is the flecks of fat found within the muscle. The more marbling you have within a cut of beef the juicer and more flavorful it will be. The amount of marbling determines the quality grade of the beef. The U.S. Department of Agriculture grades meats according to their quality. The more marbling the higher quality grade you have. The higher quality grade the more money out of your pocket.

From what I wrote above we have learned that the eye of the round is considered a tougher piece of meat and has less marbling. The way you cook it is important. Actually, knowing the qualities of any piece of beef is important as the way you cook it can make it or break it. The two key items in the America's Test Kitchen recipe are salting and oven temperature. The salting is going to draw out the juices in the meat, but then they will be reabsorbed.  I won't get all scientific on you here, but when you go review this recipe check out the "Science Desk" piece of the recipe as it goes into the details of what actually occurs when salting meat.  If you want to learn more about different types of salt, Beyond the Shaker has a very good salt guide.  If you sign up for their newsletter you get a free sample!

For this recipe it is important to have a probe meat thermometer.  By using a probe meat thermometer you are able to keep the oven closed the entire time this beef is cooking. The importance of keeping the door closed is to maintain a constant temperature and higher moisture as that will contribute to making your not so prime cut of beef a great tasting piece of beef.  I purchased a probe thermometer at Target for about $20.

I made the recommended horseradish cream sauce to go with this recipe and found it to be a delicious compliment with the beef. Overall, I am quite pleased with the way my beef came out. It was very juicy and tender. The inside flavor was very good, though I thought the outside was a tad bit salty in some areas. I read afterwords that some people washed the beef prior to applying the oil and pepper. I would not recommend that, but instead use a little less salt since I had a smaller piece of meat. My knives are in need of sharpening and I could not slice it as thin as it should have been so that thickness made it just a little chewy. For me, the doneness was perfect. It was true medium and that's the way I like my beef. I would have to say for $7.50 for a 2.5 lb piece of meat it was certainly company worthy. Next time I make it I may start experimenting with my smoky and spicy rubs to see how those would change the flavor! Jump on over to the America's Test Kitchen site to get the recipe. They do require sign up via email. It's worth it!

To follow are some photos along the way.  You will note a cut off the thick piece of fat on the bottom.  I probably was not supposed to, but everything still turned out excellent!  The fourth photo shows how juicy the meat became after the salting. 

Lastly, I just upgraded the updated the editor in Blogger which has some great features, but I have to figure out how to make a collage of photos vs. showing them one by one!