Kick A$$ Roast Beef!

[Luv2LafMcc]

Thought I'd change up the normal tutorials that we have on here. This is my GUARANTEED FOOL PROOF Roast Beef.

Background: We do Turkey, Ham and Beef at our house for Thanksgiving...quite the spread! My family insists that i do the roast beef, as its become sort of the show stopper...It's overtaken Turkey as "the first plate option".

I don't share with the family, so i keep my process a "mystery"...but I'll share with you guys!




Im a HUGE believer in Costco food products. For the cost and the quality, cant touch it. For good roast beef, you have to start with (wait for it...) GOOD QUALITY BEEF!

Trust the USDA stamp ONLY... disregard what ever BS marketing some places put on their meat (cow boy prime, manager's select, chef's choice...) find the stamp and only go for PRIME or CHOICE. THAT'S IT! Costco is good about usually only stocking these two top USDA grades, and list it clearly. If you don't follow this, don't expect tender, flavorful "beefy" roast.

Next - I use RIB EYE Roast cut. This is where rib-eye steaks are cut. Its a big money meat for a reason...it's tender, and tastes fantastic. If you want to go a bit cheaper, Eye-round roast is about half the cost, and will suffice if your on a budget.

Have the Butcher cut the size you need (we go with as big as i can fit in my pan, 18") and ask him to remove some of the fat cap, so its very thin; Maybe only 1/4 - 1/3 of an inch. The way we'll cook it, you don't need a thick fat cap to protect the meat from the cooking environment.







Dry spice rub on the outside

Prepare your spice rub in a bowl. Its not terribly important as to the specific spices, as long as you get your basics:Half should be Kosher Salt (not table salt), then mix coarse grind black pepper, onion and garlic powder, celery salt, brown sugar. You need this to be a STRONG BOLD flavor, primarily Kosher-salt based. I add brown sugar for color and to help get a crust.




You'llneed a roasting pan with an elevated rack to keep the meat up in the cooking air, and out of the drippings. You'll also have to use Butchers Twine (100% cotton twine which the you can ask the butcher for a few yards) to tie up the roast into as ROUND a shape you can. A circle shaped roast will cook evenly, as opposed to just flopping an oval slab and having the thin ends dried and over cooked. Tie it as tight as you can.

You'll note that i trimmed the ends off my knots in the middle, and left 2 of the ends long so i could easily lift the roast by them later on...handles!







Grab a paper towel and pat the exterior of the roast dry. Moisture on the exterior of the meat will "steam" at 212 degrees, and prevent the natural oils from properly heating past 212, and browning the exterior of the roast.

Next - drop your spice rub!! DO NOT BE A WIMP!!! sprinkle and rub it in..make it stick, make sure your cover all ends, sides bottom and top HEAVY AND THICK!! If your scared to get your hands in it...than don't bother even attempting this...just walk away and go eat a burger...





** I like to do all the steps above the day before, wrap the meat and fridge it overnight to let the spices (salt) interact with the meat. Not necessary, but if you can plan ahead, it adds to the end product.

*** Before you put your roast in the oven, you should let it sit out of the fridge for 3-5 hours (depending on your climate) covered, to let the meat acclimate. We don't want a 38/40 fridge temp meat to go directly into a hot oven. I put my meat thermometer into the CENTER MASS of the roast and wait for it to read 50+ deg.



I like a big sprig of Thyme, celery, carrots, bay leaves, and a whole head of peeled garlic, placed and tied into a cheese cloth packet. Put this in the bottom of the roasting pan, under the roast, along with some onions, and a can of beef broth and a 1/2 cup of water. Make sure the cheese cloth packet is semi submerged.

Roast FAT CAP UP into the rack, rack on top of the onion/broth pan. Make sure your meat thermometer is in the middle of the center of mass as best you can.








Heat your oven on ROAST if you have it, if you dont, BAKE.

Adjust your rack so the roast is in the top 1/3 of the oven (usually that means the bottom of the pan is in the middle of the oven).

225 degrees (wait till it's at temp)

Pop it in, and DO NOT OPEN IT AGAIN!! trust the meat thermometer... set it for 125 degrees. It should take about 3-4 hours...but time is not the measure...TEMPERATURE is what we're focused on. The time estimate is to help you plan when to start so you'll have it ready "around" whatever time you plan on eating. Better to have it done a bit early than have a table full of people ready to lynch you.

* This is the point I took my warrior out for a beautiful, 57 degree New England tour of the north shore!! Great ride!



*the pic above is not of the monster roast pictured in the other pics - its all i had of another smaller roast, that shows my oven set up.

When your thermometer beeps (internal temp is 125, maybe 3-4 hours into your cook) TURN OFF THE OVEN!! DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR!! the roast will continue to cook, without drying out and overcooking the outer layers of the roast.

Re-set the alarm on the thermometer for 135. When it sounds (internal temp is at 135, maybe another 30-50 min) take the roast OUT of the oven, and cover it with foil. Do not remove the meat thermometer, let the meat "rest". This is as important a step as cooking.

While out of the oven, the temp will probably rise another 5 degrees. this should take about 15-20 min. If you let it sit longer EVEN BETTER!! My roast sits, covered for 35 min. If people in the house make a move to mess with it in any way, they suffer my wrath.




here's where my twine ends come in handy to lift the roast off teh rack, and onto a cutting board.




Slice it thick for those that like it thick...slice it thin for those that like it thin!! Properly cooked and rested roast will be tender and juicy regardless of the thickness/thin'ness of the serving!

The pan should be full of delicious au'juis, seasoned with the roast drippings, onions, and all the goodies in the cheese cloth (which you can now lift, squeeze and chuck into the trash bin)





You can play with the "off oven" temp point for removing the roast. 10 degrees either way makes a big difference. I find medium to be the most popular. I like to shy on the med rare side cause i like it that way! 130 will give you med rare, and 140 will give you med well. remember there will be another 5 degrees of carry over temp while the meat rests.

If you stuck with it, and read this all the way through, thank you! I hope you'll try this and post some pics of your results.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[SiRaDuDe]

Great!

This might be a Xmas Dinner

I love med rare, but most around me dont.

I will have to try this with a smaller portion for testing.
If I use lets sy 1/2 size roast, will all the info stay the same?

[Luv2LafMcc]

Originally Posted by SiRaDuDe

If I use lets say 1/2 size roast, will all the info stay the same?

Size is irrelevant as we are not cooking with a time measurement, but a temperature measurement. Smaller meat [mass] will just get to target temperatures faster.

Just kill the oven at 125, DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR till you pull it out at 135.

Obviously an IN ROAST meat probe with an external thermometer readout is the key.

buena suerte

[alanh]

Does this qualify?

4-Bone Prime Rib - Xmas '09' at my buddies house that i cooked



Dinner for my two sons when back in Socal on separate occasions .. we like it rare

[randy_ny]

I don't share with the family, so i keep my process a "mystery"...but I'll share with you guys!

That looks great!!!!
Oh, by the way, I just sent every one of your family members this link LOL

[Luv2LafMcc]

Originally Posted by alanh

Does this qualify?

Alan, I'd GLADLY sit at that table with my fork and knife!!

[Ama]

man that looks good, jesus!

[daboy_57110]

Originally Posted by Ama

man that looks good, jesus!

No shat!! And here I sit at work and friggin hungry looking at this thread. LOL

[1256day]

Great, and I'm hungry. Looks good.
G

[twicechosen]

I hate this thread! I just drooled on my screen. Looks great guys. Keep those photos and how to coming!