Eye 'O Round – Hopeless?

[Dave the Cook]

The Cooks Illustrated recipe (I assume we're talking about the January 2008 recipe) just says "Sprinkle all sides of roast evenly with salt. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate 18 to 24 hours." The only mention of cutting it before cooking is a direction to deal with a larger eye round (the recipe calls for a 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 pound roast): "For a 4 1/2- to 6-pound roast, cut in half crosswise before cooking to create 2 smaller roasts." Which not to say that what Anna does wouldn't work just fine -- and she says it does.

The whole CI thing is amusing to me. In their November 2002 "Illustrated Guide to Beef Roasts," they say of the eye round "This boneless roast had mediocre flavor and was considerably less juicy than any other roast." I note that in the 2008 recipe, they emphasize the improved juiciness of the roast, presumably due to the low-temp method. There's not a word about flavor, except to say that salting early seasons the meat throughout.

Perhaps the highest and best use for eye of round is breasola.

[Badiane]

Around here we make trailer trash pot roast. Put a can of mushroom soup in the slow cooker, stir in a packet of onion soup mix and a glug of worcestershire sauce and drop the roast on top. Turn it on low and go to work. When you come home, cook some potatoes, maybe some green beans, or, if yer feelin' fancy, make a salad. If you don't have any potatoes, serve it over bread. There's nothing wrong with that. It's cheap, filling and stretches enough for leftovers. And after all, isn't that kind of the point if you are buying that cut of meat?

And don't get all food snobbie on me about the soup I see those Entemann's donuts in your breadbox and that jar of Cheez Whiz in your fridge

[Human Bean]

I'm with chrisamirault on this - slice very thin pieces across the grain, add raw slices to hot pho.

[ChefCrash]

This is how we did it last summer. I asked the meat cutter at Sam's Club for an untrimmed eye of round which had a fat cap across one whole side. It was almost half the price of the trimmed ones in the meat case.

[Dr. Teeth]

Bresaola. Cook from Rhulman's Charcuterie.

Edited May 20, 2008 by Dr. Teeth (log)

[Lilija]

I made the roast, today, using the CI method listed here... it came out very well, considering I screwed it up beyond recognition.

Cut the roast lengthwise, last night, rubbed, and wrappeed it up. Seared it in a black pan, today, put the meat thermometer in, set it for 105, and popped it in the oven at 250. (I didn't have all night, I figured it would be low enough and still work out). First off, it smelled delicious, very rich and beefy. No other seasonings besides the salt, and really that's all it needed.

Here's the fail part...apparently, my thermometer doesn't do well below a certain temperature, so every time I looked in on it it only registered "Lo" which means it's about 20 degrees colder than the coolest setting. Ok...fine...but boy it was taking a while to come to temperature. After an hour, I took it out and stared good and hard at the thing, and I'm thinking "this looks...done. More than done." Sure enough, I jiggled and poked the thermometer, and 155F popped up >.<

So, yeah, I way overcooked it. It was evenly brown and lovely outside, but just a hint of pink at the ends, and maybe med-well in the center. Sigh... It looked like it was gonna be leathery, so I made a fast bernaise.

Let me just say, if you folks ever doubted that CI recipe, don't. Even my WAY the hell overcooked doorstop came out tender and lovely, rich, beefy, flavorful. Not dry, either. Not drippingly bloody and juicy like I like...but not dry, amazingly enough. It was a little chewy, but not tough or stringy. Amazing. It tasted a lot like well done prime rib, believe it or not!

Definitely a keeper. Now I have to find another eye round, to try and do this the right way, I can only imagine!

[Kerry Beal]

Finally got around to the test of combining CI's method with sous vide. Trimmed some of the big fat cap, left enough for later. Salted for 24 hours, bagged and cooked at 58 C for about 36 hours. Cooled and browned off on the Big Green Egg.

It'a a winner! I might actually use 55 C next time - I was allowing for my husband complaining about the pink.

[Goatjunky]

Salt Roasted Beef

This is for a 3 to 4 lb roast

1 clove garlic minced

1 1/2 tblsp prepared mustard

1 1/2 tblsp chili sauce

1 tblsp ground black pepper

1 tsp ground cloves

1 cup salt

Mix all together into a paste, if too crumbly add more chili sauce. I put my roast on a foil lined rimmed baking

Sheet. Spread the mixture over the exposed surface. Cook at 500 10-12 mins a lb for rare, 12 to 15 mins for well, and if you insist 15 to 20 mins per lb for well. After its rested tap the crust off and remove.

[KaffeeKlatsch]

Just made myself feel old by realizing that I've been doing this for 30 years. It's similar to the high heat method linked earlier. I thoroughly coat the outside with a dry rub. Originally, I was taught to use garlic salt, lemon pepper, & paprika. I moved on from that blend years ago. Preheat oven to 500. Place roast in oven for 5 (med-rare) to 7 (med) minutes per pound. Turn oven off, but leave roast in for exactly 1 hour. It's good the first night but really shines after being chilled & thinly sliced for roast beef sandwiches.

[scubadoo97]

EOR makes some good beef jerky

[Lupinus]

Saurbratten perhaps?

[John McNeilly]

Hi thanks, this sounds like an interesting technique. Question: when you say sit another 30 mins in the oven did you mean with the temperature turned off?

thanks!

[ScoopKW]

I love it when EOR goes on deep discount. Jerky time!

[Inksmith]

Allrecipes.com has an interesting recipe with a slew of 5-star reviews. Purportedly juicy and tender, but no remarks on flavor.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/high-temperature-eye-of-round-roast/Detail.aspx

[Emily_R]

The allrecipes method is intriguing because I wonder if the high heat serves the function of the initial sear in the CI recipe, thus saving a step / a dirty pan...

[Marya D.]

I've had this recipe sitting around for some time. It seems as though it is a more dramatic presentation Of the CI recipe:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

6# kosher salt

1 bunch thyme, roughly chopped

3T cracked black pepper

1c egg whites (from about 7 large eggs)

1 5# beef eye-of-round, trimmed

Make a froth of the eggs then fold in the salt

Slather the salt mixture on the roast, coating well.

Roast for 3/4 of an hour

Let the roast rest undisturbed in it's shell for 20 minutes then crack open

Remove the meat, Loosely tent and rest for another 10 minutes

I don't know if I can tell you where I got this from, because of copyright, but it is on the inter-tubes, I promise. (Yea, it's that one site, the one that you just mentioned!)

At nearly $3.00/doz for eggs and $5.00 for a box of koshering salt, it would add considerably to the cost of the Round. Might as well use a better cut of meat at that point.

edtd for copyright concerns.

Edited June 15, 2011 by Marya D. (log)

[Baron d'Apcher]

Secca. Air-dried Randall-Lineback eye of round in beef middle. Natural bloom without starter.

[mache]

We purchase an uncured pastrami from DaBecca that is wonderful and they use Eye of Round. You could use a wet corned beef cure for first round and then cook/smoke it using the CI method. If you get anything near the DaBecca product, it will be amazing.

-- Mache

[gfweb]

I make corned beef with top round cooked sous vide. Not fatty but still moist and tender.

[SLB]

I have a small eye of round roast (25oz, no fat cap; it came in my beef cuts medley box, sigh.).  Given the consistent raves, I'm aiming at the CI concept (sans split, the piece is small enough as it is). 

 

But I don't have that kind of thermometer; what's your [more expert] guess at how long it will take 25 ounces to hit 115F?  I'll start the project at room temperature (although, as I write this, I guess if I start out cold it'll give me more room for error).

 

For what it's worth, I have NEVER cooked this cut to come out tasty.  The last time I tried it, I made my brother eat it. 

[Kerry Beal]

Salt it, sous vide it, quick brown on the BBQ - then meat slicer thin to make sandwiches. I posted about this above I see - 

 

[SLB]

I saw that!  I don't SV, tho.  

[Kerry Beal]

8 minutes ago, SLB said:

I saw that!  I don't SV, tho.  

Come over to the dark side!

[SLB]

It's looking increasingly necessary . . . .

[Kerry Beal]

Just now, SLB said:

It's looking increasingly necessary . . . .

That's me - assuming that every last eG'er sous vides.

 

I've always said that sous vide can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear when it comes to eye of round!