Eye 'O Round – Hopeless?

[maggiethecat]

The local supermercado has whole eye of round on sale for a price so low it could provide semi-tasteless tough protein for a family of six for a month. An eight pound solid red log.

The only decent purpose I've found for this jaw- breaking cut is homemade Chicago Italian Beef, and that's only if you own an electric meat slicer. Braises and stews are out, unless you like beefy shoestrings hanging from your molars. Pounding helps, but how many braccioles can two people eat?

Please tell me your culinary alchemy to do with eye of round. I'm out of inspiration, but Himself is saying "It's such a great deal!"

And no, I don't own a dog.

[Dana]

There's a CI method that instructs you cut cut it down the middle the long way, salt it and let it sit overnight. You then sear it and slow roast at like 250 degrees for 30 min, let sit in the oven another 30. Slice very thin - it's really good that way.

Maybe someone else has done this - I'm at work and can't check my recipe.

[Marlene]

I agree with Dana. I've had this, and it's outstanding. There was a time when I thought eye of the round was a write off. Not with this method.

[maggiethecat]

Thanks, Dana -- that's so counterintuitive it just might work!

Keep 'em coming.

[Kerry Beal]

I third the CI method. Makes a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Got some in the fridge right now. I used 1 tsp kosher salt per pound of untrimmed eye of round. I threw it on the BBQ to brown rather than dirtying a pot to sear it. You bring it to 115º F in a 225º F oven, then turn of the oven and let sit for 20 minutes in the oven, take out and cover for 15 minutes.

I've tried a variety of other methods to make eye of round palatable and so far it's the only one that succeeds.

Edited May 17, 2008 by Kerry Beal (log)

[maggiethecat]

So is it the the salty nap that transforms it?

[Kerry Beal]

So is it the the salty nap that transforms it?

←

Yup, I think that's what makes all the difference.

[Pierogi]

Paul Prudhomme in his cookbook "Louisianna Kitchen" uses eye of round for his grillards and grits recipe, so when I make grillards that's what I use too. It's like a Cajun/Creole Swiss steak.....the meat is sliced pretty thin, and maybe pounded with a tenderizer(????? or maybe not, that memory thing....), and then cooked in a tomato gravy with garlic and the trinity.

I love it, and I haven't noticed the stringiness issue with it. Even though traditional grillards are made with veal or pork cutlets, I actually like the beefy-ness of the eye of round.

If you need/want the recipe, let me know.

[pounce]

I cook it Sous Vide at 130f for 24 hours. Slice it thick and eat it cold with horseradish.

[Anna N]

Maggie,

I have also done the CI recipe and it works!

I have also done this method and it is also good. Of the two I preferred the CI method.

I am just waiting for it to go on special again as I would like to try combining these two methods, i.e., salt the roast for a day or two and then do it on high heat.

[Kerry Beal]

I cook it Sous Vide at 130f for 24 hours. Slice it thick and eat it cold with horseradish.

←

Did you brown it before (or after) cooking? I tried eye of round sous vide and still found it lacking in flavour - it was sort of one dimensional if that makes sense. Texture was great though. My next trial is going to be a combination of the CI method with sous vide. Figure that way I'll get the best of both worlds. Flavour and texture. First thing I need is a bigger water bath.

[helenjp]

Make biltong (South African spiced dried beef)

Make Indonesian beef floss

Make Chinese stirfry (tenderize beef overnight with baking soda and marinade ingredients)

Make Chinese salad (simmer beef, slice thinly, dress with soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil dressing)

"Round" is "silverside" and "topside" (eye of round is part of the silverside) in the UK, Australia and NZ. Silverside is usually pickled or corned, and then simmered - makes wonderful sandwiches!

Simmer gently in beer.

P.S. This is a good cut for pressure-cookers!

[Doodad]

Sliced or cubed for stir fry. Ground for taco meat.

[onrushpam]

I have a recipe I've used a lot for holiday buffets. I'm away from home now, so can't post it. But, it is marinated in red wine and herbs and cooked in a roasting bag, then sliced thinly and served on small rolls. The recipe includes a delicious molded lemon/horseradish cream condiment. I'll try to remember to post it when I get home.

Pam

[hummingbirdkiss]

I have done it the way Dana mentioned as well but really packed it with a crust of cracked red white and black pepper ..Kosher salt and whatever else I could think of leaving it over night to dry the crust ...and then cooked exactly as mentioned ..cold leftovers are better than warm I think ...it makes a good sandwich ...

eye of round does make good jerky...very neat ..uniform pieces ...you dont have to trim anything just slice the partially frozen meat about 1/3 inch thick ...marinate the slices with whatever you like ...(I have a recipe I can share if you want?)... if you do not have a dehydrator ... you can put tooth picks through it and hang it in the oven from the rack (with foil under for the drippings) and dry in the oven at the lowest setting until done ...

I hope this makes sense? it is very easy and the jerky is uniform size and tender! you can also control your own seasonings so it does not have to be too salty

Edited May 17, 2008 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[pounce]

I cook it Sous Vide at 130f for 24 hours. Slice it thick and eat it cold with horseradish.

←

Did you brown it before (or after) cooking? I tried eye of round sous vide and still found it lacking in flavour - it was sort of one dimensional if that makes sense. Texture was great though. My next trial is going to be a combination of the CI method with sous vide. Figure that way I'll get the best of both worlds. Flavour and texture. First thing I need is a bigger water bath.

←

It just goes into the bag out of the package. I think I've settled on just using lots of salt and pepper in the bag, but I have also tried a few different methods of adding smoke flavor. I've used the powdered smoke from The Spice House and Colgin liquid smoke. They were both nice, but I still preferred the plain salt and pepper approach. Like I mentioned I just eat it cold in thick slices with horseradish. Its also great for sandwich meat. I have not served this warm, but I think you could SV then slice think and sear like a steak for some off airplane/cafeteria food looking grub I do understand your 1 dimensional comment. I think if you don't go crazy with spices the only other thing you can try is aging it first to get some flavor. I don't do this because I can't seem to find an eye around here that hasn't been through a jaccard before I get it. I am very hesitant to mess around with meat that has had lots of little piercings. If I found an eye that wasn't pre-tenderized I'd try dry aging it.

I might approach a 2 stage by taking a frozen eye and broiling it being careful to keep turning it to get some color on it then throw it in the bath. Maybe 127F for 24 hours. Or maybe the opposite. SV then freeze and broil/BBQ and then bring up to serving temp in the bath before serving. It's still asking a lot of this cut.

[Tropicalfox]

The only way I've ever had/made this is Puerto Rican style and it's called Carne Mechada.

The meat is cut in half crosswise, then a slit is cut into the center of the eye lengthwise from end to end, about an inch wide. This "tunnel" is then stuffed with a mix of chopped onions, cubanelle peppers, sliced olives stuffed with pimento, diced smoked picnic ham and salted pork fatback, salt & pepper, oregano and a dash of vinegar. It's stuffed until you can't fit any more into it and you can feel how solid the center has become. Season the meat with adobo seasoning (I prefer Bohio but Goya will do just fine).

Then you brown the meat on all sides in olive oil in a large pot or caldero. To this you add enough water to reach halfway up the sides of the meat and you let it simmer for about 45 minutes or until you feel that the meat is cooked through to the stuffing.

Remove the meat to a cutting board and let cool for a few minutes. Slice the meat into about 1 inch slices and place back into the pot adding more water if needed to just about cover the slices of meat. Season the water at this point with some freshly mashed garlic, S&P, a couple of bay leaves. Simmer for about an hour or until almost tender. While this is cooking, prepare some sofrito in some olive oil - onions, cubanelle peppers, sweet chili peppers (aji dulce), garlic, then add a can of tomato sauce ad when the oil starts to make little bubbles on the surface you add cilantro, culantro (recao), oregano, and a Knorr beef bouillion cube.

This mix is then added to the pot with some large potatoes, peeled and cut in half. Drizzle some achiote oil over everything (corn or olive oil heated up then some achiote seeds added to extract the coloring & subtle flavor). Add some alcaparrado (Goya stuffed olives with capers). Cook until the potatoes are done. Mash a couple if needed to thicken the broth. Adjust the seasonings.

Serve with rice (of course!).

Enjoy!

Sandra

[Chris Amirault]

For pho.

[chicagowench]

Rub in garlic and rosemary, little bit of oil, let sit for an hour. Or rub in Penzey's chicago steak seasoning. Throw in oven at 250 until about 105 degrees, amp up heat to 450 to brown. Not bad! Not too chewy, good flavor, not overcooked. Adapted from the slow heat method in The Complete Meat Cookbook, your time will vary based on the size of the roast naturally.

Would that I could get one cheap, the kid's in a growth spurt.

[maggiethecat]

The miracle of the eG Society! What a spectrum of terrific ideas. (I guess I'm gonna have to allow him to buy that big ugly thing!) Keep the ideas coming, and I promise to update y'all, with pix.

I'm feeling more hopeful with every post.

[Lilija]

I've had one of these doorstops sitting in my freezer for a few months, thank goodness for this thread! I went from not knowing what to do with it, to now having a hard time narrowing down my options!

[scubadoo97]

There's a CI method that instructs you cut cut it down the middle the long way, salt it and let it sit overnight. You then sear it and slow roast at like 250 degrees for 30 min, let sit in the oven another 30. Slice very thin - it's really good that way.

Maybe someone else has done this - I'm at work and can't check my recipe.

←

I am not a member of CI but did search the web for the recipe. None instructed to split it down the middle. So when you cut it you are cutting it longways to create two long half cylinders out of the round, correct. My wife's mother likes to do eye of round and roast it in the oven and then have the butcher slice it for sandwiches. I've always hated it as a tough, flavorless piece of meat so would love to find a way to do it to produce good flavor and texture.

[dockhl]

I've had one of these doorstops sitting in my freezer for a few months, thank goodness for this thread!  I went from not knowing what to do with it, to now having a hard time narrowing down my options!

←

Lilija~

I had such wonderful results cooking a tritip from frozen a la this thread:

COOKING A FROZEN ROAST

that I'd give it a shot just like that. I might even freeze it specifically FOR that reason !

[Anna N]

There's a CI method that instructs you cut cut it down the middle the long way, salt it and let it sit overnight. You then sear it and slow roast at like 250 degrees for 30 min, let sit in the oven another 30. Slice very thin - it's really good that way.

Maybe someone else has done this - I'm at work and can't check my recipe.

←

I am not a member of CI but did search the web for the recipe. None instructed to split it down the middle. So when you cut it you are cutting it longways to create two long half cylinders out of the round, correct. My wife's mother likes to do eye of round and roast it in the oven and then have the butcher slice it for sandwiches. I've always hated it as a tough, flavorless piece of meat so would love to find a way to do it to produce good flavor and texture.

←

Yep - don't really know where I got the CI recipe but that is what is said and that is what I did. Split it lengthwise just as you describe.

[Toliver]

The Meatman has a recipe with a Marsala Marinade:

Ask the Meatman

You could always cut steaks off the roast for chicken fried steak. I think Fat Guy once started a thread about uses for round steak.