I bought a couple bottom round roasts (it was a “buy one, get one free” sale). I’m going to make one tonight.
The times I’ve roasted it plain it’s usually come out kind of tough, even when thinly sliced. I’m planning on trying a recipe that marinates it for a few hours, but thought I’d see if anyone has a better idea.
We like our beef medium rare, and I don’t want to make pot roast out of it.
I’ve used this The Perfect Herb and Garlic Bottom Round Roast Recipe - The Kitchen Magpie
Yummy. But also with smaller roasts I cook at 450 for 20 minutes then 375 for 20 min/ lb.
Round roasts, especially bottom round, aren’t known for being tender. If you want a roast tender enough to serve rare, you need to buy from the big bucks area.
Crockpot is my favorite way to go. A friend of mine who collects cookbooks like baseball cards told me to add wine vinegar to bottom round in the crockpot, for flavor and to help make it more tender. If I can add stuff to the crockpot without an audience, sometimes I add a beer or a full cup of coffee.
To guarantee tenderness, you need to use pressure. Either a standard pressure cooker or an InstaPot.
~VOW
If you want to do it as a dry roast, give it time. Season aggressively, brown the exterior, then cook at 200F (or less - my oven can do 170) until done.
Marinate in : 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/3 cup soy, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2-4 tbs Dijon mustard, knob fresh grated ginger, couple cloves finely chopped fresh garlic, salt + pepper to taste. Pierce meat with a skewer all over, place in a big ziploc with the roast. 6 hours at least, overnight is better, 2 days is best.
Then cook over low *indirect *heat in a charcoal kettle, like a Weber, over a drip tray. Baste with leftover marinade a couple times. Should take around 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Stand for 20 minutes, slice thinly, and enjoy.
I usually make pot roast in a crock pot. Sear the meat on all sides, put it in the crock pot with some wine and water to about 2-3 inches up the side of the roast, add a package of Lipton onion soup or beefy onion mix, turn on low for several hours, turn it over about once an hour, and it’s done when a fork slides in easily. I often add a tablespoon or so of chopped garlic (from a jar).
I would say pot roast, too. I don’t own a slow cooker so I would just do it low and slow in a Dutch oven, stovetop.
This. When the interior is the temp you want, remove, set oven to blast furnace, stick back in and crisp for a few minutes.
Aka “reverse sear”
I cook mine medium rare (about 135), chill it overnight, and then slice it very very thinly on my deli slicer and make Italian beefs with it or just use it as roast beef for sandwiches. It turns out great this way. But you really do need something like a deli slicer (and slice against the grain) to get it sliced evenly and thinly enough.
I like it rare and tough as a roast. It’s not as good as the fattier cuts, but my husband likes lower-fat meats. And yes, it makes a fine pot roast, but of course, that’s very well done, and you miss that lovely rare-meat taste.
I don’t know any way to make it both rare and tender, other than “slice thinly against the grain”, I guess.
While I love the reverse sear for steaks, I don’t think it adds anything for roasts. The band of grey due to browning will be too small relative to the size of the roast, unlike a steak. Of course, when one is cooking sous-vide, where everything is cooked reverse sear, but that’s an even longer cook. And it’s wonderful for a bottom round.
Cubed then braised in spinach, yogurt and spices. You can cook it a long time and it will come out very tender and usually still pink because of the sodium nitrate in the spinach.
I disagree – there’s a fairly large band of doneness from well done to medium rare in a roast when cooked the traditional way, in my experience. Reverse sear, cooked low and slowly, gets more of the meat to an even level of doneness. I actually think reverse sear is even more important with roasts than steaks.
At 170-200 degrees, I haven’t found enough of a difference to recommend one over the other. That said, when I’m out at the grill, trying to get some smoke on the meat (even if it is just from the charcoal), I’ll always go reverse. Before sous-vide, I’d also always go reverse on an expensive cut, like a tenderloin or standing rib roast, but a top, bottom or eye round just gets a whichever way I feel like at the time.
I’ll be honest. The snobs at *Cook’s Illustrated * always decree bottom round to be inferior to other cuts for any recipe I can recall, so I just stay away from it entirely.
Is there anything that bottom round is particularly GOOD for? Like, it’s known for such-and-such dish, and traditionally it shouldn’t be made with anything else?
For me, it’s eye of round that is useless. Bottom round is fine for roast beef sandwiches and Italian beef (which is a type of roast beef sandwich. The three cuts used for it here in Chicago are, in order of preference, top sirloin, top round, and bottom round. I happen to find bottom round very nice when cooked medium rare and sliced thinly against the grain. Bottom round still has some beefy flavor to it, which eye completely lacks. Eye of round is the only beef cut I avoid.)
The only selling point of eye round is that it’s usually significantly cheaper (at my store, at least). Still not work it. Bottom round needs TLC, but had some potential.
Yeah I bought some recently because it was just about free.
I did the reverse sear thing, sliced it paper thin, and ate on sandwiches with sauted peppers/onions and gooey cheese.
I don’t think I’d want it either as a steak or thick-sliced from a roast with gravy.
But smothered in veg and cheese? It was good.
I did this for a couple of friends once. They went back for seconds. (Keep in mind that this recipe is gluten-free…if you don’t have those restrictions, you can go with cornstarch instead of arrowroot starch for the gravy.)
Is cornstarch not gluten-free normally? ETA: Yeah, I have a container of Argo brand cornstarch, and it says “Gluten-free” on it. The other brand I typically use, Clabber Girl, also says “gluten-free” on the label.