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Top Round (beef)


Eastgate

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Our winter Farm Share often includes a generous amount of top round, a cut of beef with which I seem to have gotten off onto the wrong foot.

It doesn't seem to take exceptionally well to grilling, braising, or to roasting en papillote.

Now, I've found that many cuts have at least one particular preparation to which they are wonderfully suited: pastrami for brisket or navel, pot roast for chuck, confit for duck legs. What should I be trying with all this top round?

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I completely agree.

Round has little fat and not much 'beef' flavor. but there is a lot of it on each "Beauf" so it has to go somewhere.

this is solved by making your own jerky its not hard. google this or find the Alton Brown's Good Eats show that does this.

you wont be disappointed!

in the Old Days my mother used to make "swiss steak" out of it:

brown, braise in a little liquid that had 'added flavor' onions etc

thicken the 'jus' and it will be OK

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in the Old Days my mother used to make "swiss steak" out of it:

brown, braise in a little liquid that had 'added flavor' onions etc

thicken the 'jus' and it will be OK

I completely agree with your mom. When I was raising a big family and had to come up with different delicious and nutritious and affordable meals every single day, I always had at least one top round steak in the fridge/freezer. It was invaluable, especially when dealing with the legendary appetites of teenaged boys. It was one of the most versatile cuts of beef I could buy.

I would get out my big skillet with the tight-fitting lid, season the meat, cut it into cubes, squares, strips, large individual serving-size pieces, whatever, or just leave it as it was, one big piece, brown it, then add some veggies if I wished (onions, garlic, carrots, celery, tomatoes, bell peppers or chiles, etc.), some sort of sauce (either something I'd made or something canned, quick from the pantry - absolutely anything works), a sprinkle of herbs and seasonings, put on the lid, and allow it to simmer until the meat was tender. Depending upon whether I'd gone Italian, Greek, Asian, German, "Swiss," Mexican, American Midwest, American Southwest, American South, Cajun, Creole, with the sauces and seasons and flavors that night, I'd serve it up with rice or noodles or beans or pasta or potatoes.

German was a favorite. As a child, I lived in Germany and still love that distinctive sweet/sour flavor profile. A German friend gave me a quick & easy recipe for a top round steak smothered in brown sauce that my family requested often. I served it with spaetzle, red cabbage, roasted potatoes, green beans, and German brown bread. That meal still remains a favorite with my (now grown) kids and they all requested the recipe and make it for their own families.

I agree that on its own, top round is not the most flavorful cut. I'd never even consider serving it as a stand-alone main. But it lends itself extremely well to almost any sort of seasoning or sauce or method of cooking. It's affordable. And it has many other added advantages. It gets tender fairly quickly and doesn't require hours of braising, stewing, smoking, etc., to make it palatable. It's easy to deal with and work with. You can pound it into submission for chicken-fried steak, Steak Diane, quick Italian-style mains, and countless other uses, far too many to mention. You can take it out of the freezer and, with a sharp knife working quickly while it's still frozen, shave it into the slimmest strips imaginable, perfect for a quick saute for steak sandwiches, cheese-steak sandwiches, hoagies.

And stir-frys. We particularly like Asian-style beef & green peppers, or beef and broccoli, made with the usual Asian flavors, and finished with a tot of gin, as I learnt to do from my British roommate many years back, when I was young and single and living in Hong Kong. More recently, after my children grew and left home and I was living alone, I could take out my frozen top round and shave off only enough suitable for a meal for one, put the rest of it back into the freezer for another time, and do a quick stir-fry for just myself.

Malign it if you will.

But in this house, it's beloved.

Edited by Jaymes (log)
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I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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Jaymes - lots of great ideas in there. Is top round what they use in Philly for cheese steaks, I wonder?

You mention German brown bread. Do you make your own, or buy it somewhere? I've never been able to find great, sour German / central European brown or black bread in NYC (at least since Grand Dairy closed its doors).

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I think ribeye is used for Philly Cheessteaks. I've heard using the chain of a tenderloin for this as well. But I've wondered if Arbys might be using top round for their beef.

I've had decent results roasting it in a slow oven or sous vide to med-rare. But you have to slice it as thin as you can get it (God I wish I had room for a proper deli slicer).

But it's usually not cheap enough for me to want to spend a lot of time to end up with an 'okay' result.

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I make corned beef out of top round and cook it for two days sous vide. It is tender and tasty done this way. And next to no fat. IIRC boars head uses top round for one of their corned beef products.

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Top round is tasty and versitile. It is the baking soda of meats in that it has so many applications and it is inexpensive, readily available and takes easily to numerous preparations:

Swiss steak

Chicken fried steak

Stir-fry

Fajitas

Rouladen

I keep several pounds of it in one pound portions in the freezer next to more expensive cuts.

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When I had my catering business, I'd get in 4-5 top rounds in at a time along with some prime rib fat. I would trim the whole round removing all silver skin and fat, take off the top muscle (deckel or lid) which runs cross-grain to the rest of the larger muscle, then tie on the prie rib fat cap, and truss up the whole thing and roast for roast beef sandwiches. The top muscle or deckel I would roll up and tie, and make pot roast or stews with.

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If you get a piece which is wide enough, it's not bad cut very thin indeed, beaten out and either seasoned and rolled up and braised (German Rouladen) or wrapped round sausagemeat, and made into a parcel and also braised, to make the French Paupiettes. Not bad used in either of these ways. But like all meats that come from modern cattle raised in such a way that they don't have interstitial fat, there's a tendency for the meat to be dry.

All the best

Ian (yes in France)

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My mom uses round steak for her Swiss Steak made in her pressure cooker. It comes out quite tender.

She also use round steak for her Chicken Fried Steak. She uses corn flake crumbs for the breading which I think adds just the slightest sweetness.

You can also ask your butcher to run the round steak through their tenderizer machine. Every little bit helps.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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  • 3 years later...

Bringing up this old thread.  Our supermarket had a big sale on top round, so I laid in a nice supply.  Especially since cooler weather is on the way, heartier meals are in order.

 

Wondering if anyone has any new ideas.

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I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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Without reading all the old comments...I've braised it and cooked sv like a short rib, and made corned beef the usual way but cooked for 2 days sv

 

Actually, you did mention that above.  And I've wondered about it ever since.  I'd never even think of using top round for corned beef.  I dunno.  It just seems so....flat.  And, compared to brisket...lean.  More suited for jerky than corned beef. 

 

How do you think the finished top round corned beef compares to corned beef brisket?

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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Never been a fan of corned beef or pastrami made with Round. Brisket is king!

But do see the appeal as a way to use this large lean cut and give it flavor. It is perfect for jerky though since it is so lean

Been a while since I made some jerky, maybe time to do again

Edited by scubadoo97 (log)
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I get a good bit of round steak in my beef share and enjoy it. Jaymes' aforementioned Swiss Steak is a favorite, and I've pounded it, or sliced it thin and SV'd it and breaded it for a primo Country Fried Steak. One of my very favorites, though is rouladen, made after one of my favorite German restaurants, where the round is pounded thin, wrapped around a bratwurst and a good kosher dill pickle spear, then wrapped with bacon, and browned and braised in red wine with caraway. That, with some German potato salad and red cabbage, is a sure signal fall has well and truly arrived.

 

I also like to SV a London broil cut, then chill, slice thinly, and marinate in a viniagrette. Keeps ages in the fridge, and it's marvelous on a salad, or on any kind of appetizer plate, or for a light main in the summer. 

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Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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 One of my very favorites, though is rouladen, made after one of my favorite German restaurants, where the round is pounded thin, wrapped around a bratwurst and a good kosher dill pickle spear, then wrapped with bacon, and browned and braised in red wine with caraway. That, with some German potato salad and red cabbage, is a sure signal fall has well and truly arrived.

 

Wow, kayb.  I've got to try that.  I do make a quick German sour meat with top round, but yours sounds so wonderful.  Wrapped around a bratwurst.  I lived in Germany as a kid, and that really reminds me of the aroma and anticipation of sitting in our warm kitchen waiting for dinner while the snow falls outside.

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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Actually, you did mention that above.  And I've wondered about it ever since.  I'd never even think of using top round for corned beef.  I dunno.  It just seems so....flat.  And, compared to brisket...lean.  More suited for jerky than corned beef. 

 

How do you think the finished top round corned beef compares to corned beef brisket?

 

Top round CB is more like roast beef in texture. Boars Head, a big regional deli meat outfit up here (and maybe down there), offers both top round and brisket corned beef. The round will slice more evenly and thinly in a meat slicer and this seems to be what most sandwich shops use.

 

In general, I like brisket more, except in a sandwich other than a reuben.

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I also like to SV a London broil cut, then chill, slice thinly, and marinate in a viniagrette. Keeps ages in the fridge, and it's marvelous on a salad, or on any kind of appetizer plate, or for a light main in the summer.

Around here, when one refers to "London broil cut," it's flank steak. Is that what you mean? Or top round?

Edited by Jaymes (log)

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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