The roast beef thread

[Mike Forman]

I'm branching this off of the   A 3lb top round roast and dreams of pit beef thread because I'd like a Mulligan.  I'm not really sure of what my objective is.  Originally I wanted to re-create Maryland's (should be famous) Pit Beef, which is a cheap hunk of meat that is grilled or traditionally over a fire pit and served rare to medium rare on a Kaiser roll.  If you go old-school you top it with a horseradish mayonnaise "horsey" sauce and some thinly sliced onion.  Cooked properly it is a tender and flavorful. 

 

Or do I want deli roast beef, like Boar's Head with a rare and slightly chewy texture?  However Boar's Head is hit or miss at the store.  I always ask for a slice before making an order.  Sometimes it's just flavorless. 

 

I don't know, but I plan on making and documenting several roasts.  I'm going to try different cuts with different techniques. I'll start with some simple parameters and goals: 1) Use a cheap cut of meat.  No tenderloins allowed. 2) Bloody hell, it's gotta be rare 3) Keep the roast within 3-5 lb range.  I don't want to spend a week eating mistakes. 4) Slice it thin using a slicer with non-serrated blade.

 

I'm going to try both oven roasting and sous vide.  

 

So here is a picture of my latest attempt.  3lb top round, marinated for 2 days with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.  Frozen for 3 hours, then seared in a skillet.  Sous vide at 134 for 24 hours.  There was about 1/2 cup of juice in the bag.

 

 

The photo makes it look a lot rarer than it actually is.  There is no grey layer, which is nice.  It was flavorful, but the texture left something to be desired.  A little mushy for my taste.  It also wasn't juicy.  Probably because most of it was in the bag.  The next time I sous vide I'm gong to try 132 for 12 hours.  At this point I should ask you to step in and yell at me if I'm doing something unsafe.  Might do it anyways, but I'd rather know than not.

 

This was not my first attempt, but rather the third.  I just didn't document the first two.  My first attempt was using a Food.com recipe, which was pretty simple and turned out nice, but it was more cooked around the outer portion that I would have liked.  The second time I screwed up because my timer failed.  This method called for roasting at 500 for 5 minutes per pound, and then sit in the oven for an hour, followed by a 15 minute rest.

 

I want to try this method next time, but be more careful about the timer.  Hopefully I can find a deal at the store this week.

Edited October 24, 2016 by Mike Forman (log)

[gfweb]

I suspect that Boars Head injects brine into the beef.

 

If I recall correctly, a rub will penetrate about a cm/day, so more than two days might be needed to fully season/brine this chunk using a rub.