Poking through my freezer, I came across a 2lb beef roast; it is from a food order that is often vague on information, so I don’t know what cut of beef it is.
I’d like to cook it for dinner. I have onions, potatoes and carrots, but no celery. The supermarket’s not open because it’s New Year’s day. I have the standard seasonings, and I have some nice dry red wine I could use if suggested.
I’d like to roast the meat with potatoes, carrots and onion, then make a gravy with the drippings.
The cut is actually kind of important. There are some cuts of beef that can be essentially seared and cooked in an oven to medium rare. You then slice it across the grain and it turns out relatively tender. Think prime rib, beef tenderloin, and stuff.
Then there are the cuts that are meant to be braised low and slow. Eventually, it kinda falls apart. Think pot roast, brisket, stew, that kinda thing.
It would be really helpful to know which kind of cut you have. If you look at the roast, is it relatively lean? Or does it have lots of connective tissue and fat running through it? The first type would be high temperature, fast cooking. The second type low and slow method.
For rare, 450 degrees until the thermometer says 120. Remove and let sit for about 20 minutes before slicing. If you don’t have a thermo, estimate about 12-15 min per pound for rare. There are cooking guides on Google for meat.
Well, after a little more research, I deduced that for a roast this small, of unknown cut, with lots of connective tissue, braising is preferred to oven-roasting. So, at the moment, I’ve coated the roast lightly in seasoned flour, seared it in oil, cut the heat back; added about a half-bottle of dry red wine, the juices from thawing the roast, plus some stock; a few diced potatoes, and onion. When the braising juice comes back up to a boil, I’ll add the carrots (they’re frozen, so they’ll pull down the heat quickly) and cut the heat back, cover and simmer for a couple of hours. Oh, I added a bay leaf, too. Figured it couldn’t hurt!
When we braise chuck roast the carrots, potatoes and onions are only added about an hour before the estimated done time. Otherwise they will all be mush.
Prob too late for your dinner now, but when I have ROUS - aka roast of undetermined source - I throw it in the crock pot all day on low (8 hrs) with carrots, onions, and potatoes. Yummy, tender goodness every time.
Well, my veggies actually didn’t turn to mush, thank goodness! I took the roast out about a half-hour before the end of cook time, and sliced it up, then left the lid off to let the liquid reduce. Returned the sliced roast to the liquid, thickened it up with a little roux. Very nice. Hubby and I both agreed it would have been even better with celery.
Sadly, my Crock Pot bit the dust (the insert cracked) and I haven’t replaced it yet. If I’d still had the Crock Pot, all this would have been a needless thread!
At any rate, dinner was really, really good (though would have been better with celery) and I may fix it again when I have a little more time for proper prep!
