I made my first one of these a couple of days ago with the following method:
5 minutes per pound (4lbs) at 500 degrees.
Turn off oven and wait two hours.
It was PERFECTLY done but damn near room temperature. Still delicious. Should I use a thermometer to check it after 90 mins or so? The recipe was adamant about not opening the oven for two full hours. Gas convection oven but I didn’t do it with the convection, if that matters.
I don’t know about eye of round, but we used to do this with pork tenderloin. It worked pretty well, usually. But then I found out about reverse searing. Where you cook something low and slow until the internal temperature is where you want it, then you crank up the heat and sear it. It works better than searing raw meat because the surface is dry by then, so you get a nice, even sear all over. And it’s still hot when you get it out of the oven.
I am a big proponent of the reverse sear for pork and beef. If you are looking for medium rare on a roast, cook in a low oven (mine goes as low as 170, but I often cook at 225) until the center is 115, then sear. Depending on size and whatever else might be going on in the kitchen, I’ll either take the meat out of the oven, crank the oven to its highest temperature, then put the meat back just until seared (try to get as much of the meat’s surface area above the rim of the pan as possible) or sear it in a cast iron pan on the stovetop. I never roast or grill meats by time; I cook by temperature. Your roast may have been finished 30 minutes earlier and the oven too low to continue the cooking process. How would you know if you are not taking its temperature (even easier if you have a probe thermometer)?
I used to eat a lot of eye round roasts because they were often the cheapest, but it really isn’t a flavorful cut. It’s far too lean, but not tender like the tenderloin (see, it’s so tender it’s even in the name, aka filet mignon).
I use that same cooking technique for eye of round and am just amazed at how well it works. Mine comes out warmer than room temp, though. Possibly a difference in oven types.
I serve it with a warmed horseradish sauce (on the side, not smothered) which balances out the lack of flavor depth in the meat.
Do the same thing but lay the roast on a sheet of foil during the preheat then wrap it up, shut the door, give the oven a couple of more minutes to come up to temperature, then turn it off. You can check with a thermometer after about 90 minutes. The oven may be pretty cold by then, you can turn it up to 250F to finish the roast if needed. The key is to give the rather lean meat a slow cook.
Yeah, I’ve completely given up on eye of round. I have used the method the OP states, and it is the best eye of round I’ve had, but there’s cheaper cuts I prefer (although those are stewing/braising cuts.) And, for leaner roasts, even top or bottom round (which are usually cheaper than eye, at least around here) taste better to me. That said, I don’t remember it ever being room temp when I took it out. More like slightly warm to the touch, so probably just above body temp.