12-21-2016, 03:30 PM
How to make a roast beef dinner:
1) Acquire a boneless beef roast, any cut will do really... it's best to shop from a good butcher you can trust and get to know, but you go to war with the army you have, not the army you want. (PRO TIP: if you can get your hands on and INSIDE ROUND roast, they typically have the least fatty bits and make really good sammiches). The roast should be about room temperature before going into the oven, so it's okay to take out of the refrigerator for 1/2 hour or so before cooking.
2) Get yer mitts on a basic roasting pan with a lid - I got mine from a big-box hardware store chain without a spending too much, but the key piece of kit needed here is a ROASTING RACK that goes into the pan and keeps the meat about 1/2" off the bottom, preventing burning and allowing air to circulate under the roast.
3) Preheat oven to 350 F. While it's warming, coat the roast in a thin film of cooking oil (again, get fancy or just go with what you have), then apply salt and pepper generously to the surface of the meat (top, bottom, sides). It's okay to get hands-on for this step, just have a bowl of warm soapy water to wash up so you don't cross-contaminate everything in your kitchen. PRO TIP: Place roast in your pan FATTY SIDE UP (if it has a fat-rind, like most roasts' do). This lets the fat melt down into the meat... very tasty!
4) MATH TIME! For every pound of beef, cook for 30 minutes. If you like a little more pink in the middle (usually okay if you've got a quality butcher you trust), cook for 25 min / per pound. THIS IS THE BOTTOM TIME RANGE YOU SHOULD GO. Anything less and you could have essentially raw meat in the middle of your roast. Not really my thing. Remember: if it's too rare, you can put it back in the oven to finish, but you can't do much if it's too well done.
5) Once your roast beast is out of the oven, LET REST for 10 minutes before carving. Reasons: some science stuff about proteins re-combining, or juiciness being retained. I don't really know, it just works. Ask a chef if you've got a half hour to kill.
THAT'S IT, YOU'RE DONE.
BONUS ROUND: for true one-pot cooking, take a large bowl and chop up two or three potatoes (washed, but skin on) and an equal quantity of carrots - the pieces should be small enough to eat in two bites, and for even cooking, the potato and carrot pieces should be roughly the same size. NEXT, add some cooking oil (same stuff you used on the roast) and plenty of salt and pepper, mix it all up to get everything coated, and then just pour the vegetables in the pan around the roast. You don't need to change anything else... the roast will still be cooked, and now you have sides without another dish to clean.
FINAL THOUGHTS: the pros will go on about proper "according to Hoyle" steps, like choosing a cut of meat with marbled fat, or being specific about which end of the cow to roast comes from (and to be fair, the closer you are to the south end of the animal, the more tender the meat should be), but really, balance your tastes with your budget... I don't have a food critics' pallet and don't feed the need to spring for Prime Rib when I get just as nourished with a less expensive cut.
POST SCRIPT: I've used this exact method with boneless turkey breast as well, but usually keep cooking times to a solid 30 min per pound.
1) Acquire a boneless beef roast, any cut will do really... it's best to shop from a good butcher you can trust and get to know, but you go to war with the army you have, not the army you want. (PRO TIP: if you can get your hands on and INSIDE ROUND roast, they typically have the least fatty bits and make really good sammiches). The roast should be about room temperature before going into the oven, so it's okay to take out of the refrigerator for 1/2 hour or so before cooking.
2) Get yer mitts on a basic roasting pan with a lid - I got mine from a big-box hardware store chain without a spending too much, but the key piece of kit needed here is a ROASTING RACK that goes into the pan and keeps the meat about 1/2" off the bottom, preventing burning and allowing air to circulate under the roast.
3) Preheat oven to 350 F. While it's warming, coat the roast in a thin film of cooking oil (again, get fancy or just go with what you have), then apply salt and pepper generously to the surface of the meat (top, bottom, sides). It's okay to get hands-on for this step, just have a bowl of warm soapy water to wash up so you don't cross-contaminate everything in your kitchen. PRO TIP: Place roast in your pan FATTY SIDE UP (if it has a fat-rind, like most roasts' do). This lets the fat melt down into the meat... very tasty!
4) MATH TIME! For every pound of beef, cook for 30 minutes. If you like a little more pink in the middle (usually okay if you've got a quality butcher you trust), cook for 25 min / per pound. THIS IS THE BOTTOM TIME RANGE YOU SHOULD GO. Anything less and you could have essentially raw meat in the middle of your roast. Not really my thing. Remember: if it's too rare, you can put it back in the oven to finish, but you can't do much if it's too well done.
5) Once your roast beast is out of the oven, LET REST for 10 minutes before carving. Reasons: some science stuff about proteins re-combining, or juiciness being retained. I don't really know, it just works. Ask a chef if you've got a half hour to kill.
THAT'S IT, YOU'RE DONE.
BONUS ROUND: for true one-pot cooking, take a large bowl and chop up two or three potatoes (washed, but skin on) and an equal quantity of carrots - the pieces should be small enough to eat in two bites, and for even cooking, the potato and carrot pieces should be roughly the same size. NEXT, add some cooking oil (same stuff you used on the roast) and plenty of salt and pepper, mix it all up to get everything coated, and then just pour the vegetables in the pan around the roast. You don't need to change anything else... the roast will still be cooked, and now you have sides without another dish to clean.
FINAL THOUGHTS: the pros will go on about proper "according to Hoyle" steps, like choosing a cut of meat with marbled fat, or being specific about which end of the cow to roast comes from (and to be fair, the closer you are to the south end of the animal, the more tender the meat should be), but really, balance your tastes with your budget... I don't have a food critics' pallet and don't feed the need to spring for Prime Rib when I get just as nourished with a less expensive cut.
POST SCRIPT: I've used this exact method with boneless turkey breast as well, but usually keep cooking times to a solid 30 min per pound.
They say Hitler loved dogs; that doesn't mean I want to travel back in time and discuss the merits of the Border Collie with the guy. He's still an a-hole.