A 3lb top round roast and dreams of pit beef

[Mike Forman]

So months ago the wife and I were traveling south down I95 and right after we passed Delaware we made a turn onto Rt 40 heading into Maryland.  My wife found a BBQ place she wanted to check out called Fast Eddie's.  The ribs were decent enough, and so were the hot sides, especially the baked beans. The cold sides were meh.

 

Just a few weeks ago we were making the same trip and made another stop.  I didn't really pay attention to the menu the first time because our eyes were on the ribs.  But this second trip just before our order was rung up, I saw it happen.  A beautiful kaiser roll had thin slices of onion placed on the bottom shelf and a high mountain of slices of rare roast beef on top of that.  The owner of that sandwich pulled the top bun off, which was dappled with blood, and pumped a nice dollop of mayonise on top and reassembled the sandwich. 

 

I'm having what he's having!  (Though they didn't onion me, I should have asked)  Tender raised to the 10th power.  

 

I know Pit Beef is grilled, but I'm indoors so that's off the table.  How can I make this 3lb top round approximate Pit Beef?  The round is in the fridge, seasoned with kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and vacuumed sealed.  I'm going to make this for Sunday dinner.

 

How would you suggest I cook it to get a nice tender rare roast beef ready for the slicer?  Sous-Vide and then finish it off with a sear? Sear before?  Two sears?

 

Or use the oven?  500 for 15 minutes, oven off and leave in for an hour?

 

Thanks.  My stomach is already rumbling 

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by Mike Forman (log)

[IndyRob]

Curious....How did you connect top round to the roast beef you sampled?  If anyone can make round steak palatable, I'm in for $50 to the kickstarter.

[Mike Forman]

I read they use any cheap cut of beef.

 

Quote

It is essentially a juicy roast beef sammich cooked on a grill. All manner of grills are used, charcoal, wood, and gas. The meat is a large hunk of beef, often from the rump, often top round, sometimes bottom round, and sometimes sirloin.

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by Mike Forman (log)

[IndyRob]

13 minutes ago, Mike Forman said:

I read they use any cheap cut of beef.

 

 

Never a good sign.  However, it's also the ultimate measure of chefliness - which is why I'm so interested in it.

 

You could try this...I believe it's from America's Test Kitchen.  For me, it was merely OK.  It sounds like you have a slicer, which will be invaluable.

 

http://www.food.com/recipe/tender-eye-of-round-beef-roast-atk-465509

[ElsieD]

I have cooked eye of round for 24 hours at 134F.  It was tender, and very tasty.  I used it for sandwiches.

Edited October 22, 2016 by ElsieD
transposed the figures. it was 24, not 42 hours. (log)

[Mike Forman]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

I have cooked eye of round for 24 hours at 134F.  It was tender, and very tasty.  I used it for sandwiches.

 

 

How rare was it?

 

Is 132 too low?  

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by Mike Forman (log)

[ElsieD]

@Mike FormanI don't quite know how to answer this.  For our tastes, 134F was perfect, and I would call it medium rare.  Others may disagree.  Depends on your definition of medium rare, I guess.  I can say it was juicy, tender, and red all the way through, but not wobbly bloody.  

[MArkF]

I cook at 200F until meat reaches 135 ish. Cover and let rest 30 minutes to 1 hour. While resting, I crank over to max. When rested, I put meat back in for 10 to 15 minutes to crust the outside. I do this cause wife likes it that way.

 

refidgerate over night, slice as thin as possible.

 

this method yields a nice bark but the meat stays medium rare from edge to edge. No gray ring!

 

Mark

[Kerry Beal]

I combine the Cook's Illustrated salting method with sous vide for eye of round.

 

Salt the trimmed eye of round - 1 tsp per lb of kosher salt.  
Let sit salted and in bag for 24 hours.

Bagged and cooked at 58 C for about 36 hours. Cooled and browned off on the Big Green Egg.

 

 

[DocDougherty]

ElsieD got it right, and I do what she does. 133-134°F for 24hr works for most beef (short ribs take longer) if you want medium rare.  I do tri-tip that way after running a Jaccard over it a few times.  Comes out fork tender and medium all the way through.  

I pre-season with a chef salt containing a 3:5:2:1 combination of (salt: black pepper: powdered garlic: smoked paprika).

Torch it once at the end after it has cooled somewhat so that you don't overheat and destroy that nice pink flesh.

Thin sliced it should melt in your mouth.

Edited October 22, 2016 by DocDougherty
add a space (log)

[Porthos]

On 10/21/2016 at 6:18 PM, IndyRob said:

 

Never a good sign.  However, it's also the ultimate measure of chefliness - which is why I'm so interested in it.

 

You could try this...I believe it's from America's Test Kitchen.  For me, it was merely OK.  It sounds like you have a slicer, which will be invaluable.

 

http://www.food.com/recipe/tender-eye-of-round-beef-roast-atk-465509

 

Worked well for us a few years ago.

[curls]

I'm curious about your experiment. My suspicion is that you will make some wonderful beef sandwiches but they won't be Baltimore pit beef. Let us know how this works out for you.

[rustwood]

16 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I combine the Cook's Illustrated salting method with sous vide for eye of round.

 

Salt the trimmed eye of round - 1 tsp per lb of kosher salt.  
Let sit salted and in bag for 24 hours.

Bagged and cooked at 58 C for about 36 hours. Cooled and browned off on the Big Green Egg.

 

 

 

+1 for this what @Kerry Beal said.  I did the same a couple of months ago and it was very well received by my fellow pitmasters at a BBQ competition.  You definitely get the tender, tasty, pink beef inside, but the bark on the outside of true pit beef is tough to replicate with an eye roast cooked this way.