Roast Beef
by Cat, Dec 2013 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)
See also: 1. Slow-Roast Beef, Buffalo, Venison or Lamb; 2. Slow-Roast Beef Brisket in Red Wine with Mushrooms
Slow-roasting and braising are the best ways to cook a roast for optimum tenderness and flavor, and are the best methods for the tougher cuts of roast. Plus it doesn’t take much more time to slow-roast (to rare) than for a regular roast.
See also: 1. Slow-Roast Beef, Buffalo, Venison or Lamb; 2. Slow-Roast Beef Brisket in Red Wine with Mushrooms; 3. Beef Brisket with Cranberry Glaze
Spice-Rubbed Slow-Roast Beef/Buffalo with Wine & Mushroom or Cranberry Sauce
This recipe is adapted from Fine Cooking.com (1), but includes a cranberry version adapted from my Beef Brisket Braised with Cranberries recipe (not yet tested). Options: You can…
- Refrigerate the spice-rubbed roast up to 36 hours in advance; two different spice/herb options are presented, or use your own.
- Make up the sauce ahead of time, or make up the sauce while the meat is roasting. However, I find the original method for the sauce to be too fussy for the final result, so I use a simpler method, taught to me by my parents. However, I do provide the original sauce instructions, should you wish to try that.
- Use either of two sauce options: Mushroom or Cranberry
- Instead of serving potatoes steamed separately, roast potatoes in bottom of roasting pan as a rack to keep roast off bottom of pan. Follow method for Slow-Roast Beef, Buffalo, Venison or Lamb.
I like to serve this with steamed or roasted potatoes with braised asparagus and green beans on the side.
Ingredients & Equipment:
- Roast
- 2 lb beef roast
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme, or 1 tsp ground thyme (skip if using cranberry sauce)
- 5 – 6 tsp herb/seed mix of your choice (see below for suggestions)
- Unrefined sea salt
- small bowl
- roasting pan
- Herb/Seed Mix:
- Option 1
- 1 ½ tsp ground fennel seed
- ½ tsp coarsely ground cardamom or allspice seeds
- 1 Tbsp cracked peppercorns
- Option 2, ground in spice grinder (use this if making cranberry sauce):
- 2 tsp Juniper Berries
- 2 tsp Black peppercorns
- 2 tsp Dried Rosemary
- Sauce options:
- Option 1: Mushroom Sauce (see also Original Sauce recipe, below)
- ½ – 1 cup dry red wine
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 oz. cremini or button mushrooms, thinly sliced (½ – ⅔ cup)
- 2 Tbsp thinly sliced shallot
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 1 cup homemade Beef Stock
- 1 Tbsp flour or tapioca starch
- 1 Tbsp warm water
- Unrefined sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Option 2: Cranberry Sauce (not yet tested), same as option 1 with following adjustments
- 8 – 10 oz cranberries instead of mushrooms
- 1 bay leaf, crushed, instead of thyme
- 1 Tbsp molasses
- Equipment
- small skillet
Method:
- Combine olive oil, herb/seed mix, 1 – 2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper in small bowl. Pat meat dry with paper towels, then rub spice mixture all over; it will sparsely cover the meat. If you want more of a spicy crust, double the amount. Chill, lightly covered, in refrigerator up to 36 hours before roasting, if desired.
- If you’ve seasoned the beef ahead of time, remove it from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for about an hour before roasting.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 250°F for slow-roast (or 375°F for regular roast).
- Arrange room-temperature roast in roasting pan, and roast 45 – 60 minutes (slow-roast) or 40 – 45 minutes (regular roast), until instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part reads 120°F for rare, 125°F to 130°F for medium rare, or 135°F for medium.
- Remove to cutting board or platter; let rest for 15 minutes before carving crosswise into thick slices.
- Prepare sauce (while meat is roasting)
- Sauce Option 1:
- Slice mushrooms and shallots. Remove & reserve leaves from thyme sprig (if using).
- Deglaze roasting pan with wine and allow wine to cook down to half-volume; keep warm.
- Warm butter in small skillet; add sliced mushrooms, shallots and thyme leaves, and sauté until soft.
- Sauce Option 2:
- Wash cranberries; slice shallots.
- Saute shallots in butter.
- Add cranberries and molasses, and stir to combine
- Both Options:
- Deglaze roasting pan with wine and allow wine to cook down to half-volume; keep warm.
- Add deglazing liquid to skillet. Add broth and cook, stirring, for 2 -3 minutes; adjust seasoning.
- If you want to thicken the sauce slightly, dissolve 1 tsp cornstarch/arrowroot in 1 Tbsp water; add to sauce and cook until it thickens.
- Sauce Option 1:
Original Sauce Recipe
Ingredients & Equipment:
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- ½ Tbsp olive oil
- 2 oz. cremini or button mushrooms, thinly sliced (½ – ⅔ cup)
- 2 Tbsp thinly sliced shallot
- ⅛ tsp Rapadura sugar
- Unrefined sea salt
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- ½ tsp cracked black peppercorns
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 1 cup homemade Beef Stock
- 1 ½ Tbsp flour or tapioca starch
- Freshly ground black pepper
- cast iron skillet
- small saucepan
Method:
This can be prepared up to two days ahead. Cool to room temperature before storing in capped jar in refrigerator. Reheat over simmer before serving.
- Slice mushrooms and shallot.
- Melt ½ Tbsp each of butter and oil in skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms, shallot, sugar, and ⅛ tsp salt. Cook, stirring often, until soft and beginning to brown, about 6 minutes.
- Add thyme, peppercorns, and ½ cup wine. Simmer briskly until the wine reduces and just covers the solids, 10 to 15 minutes. Add remaining ½ cup wine and reduce again until the wine just covers the solids, 10 to 12 minutes more.
- Add stock and simmer until reduced by half, about 15 minutes.
- Strain through a fine sieve set over a 1-quart measuring cup, pressing lightly on the solids. If you have more than ¾ cup liquid, return the sauce to the pan and simmer until reduced to ¾ cup.
- Melt the remaining 1 Tbs. butter in saucepan over low heat. Whisk in flour/starch and cook, whisking often, until smooth and light beige in color, about 1 minute. Slowly add the wine reduction, whisking constantly. Bring to a simmer and cook, whisking often, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serving Instructions
- Serve with steamed yellow Finn potatoes and green vegetable of your choice.
- Spoon sauce over slices of roast.
Testing
12/12/13: Used 2 lb rump roast; rubbed with oil, thyme, fennel, cardamon, salt & cracked pepper mixture. Slow-roast at 250°F for 55 min to about 122°F internal temp. Used button mushrooms, shallots, merlot wine and homemade beef stock, and made sauce as instructed; took longer for each wine addition to evaporate than indicated. A lot of bother. Result: Beef roasted to perfect rare; herb/spice combination is very good, but a bit too much salt. Sauce is good but not special. Next time I’ll make a regular sauce with sautéed mushrooms left in the sauce. I replaced the original wine-reduction sauce recipe with this alternate version, the copied the original sauce at the end in case someone else wishes to give it a try.
1/1/14: Used 1 ¾ lb cross-rib boneless roast; rubbed with salt and herb/spice-mix #2. Into oven at 6:30, out at 7:12, slow-roasting at 250°F for 42 min to about 120°F internal temp. For sauce: Did not use mushrooms because none on-hand, but did use ½ shallot, ⅓ cup merlot and ½ cup beef stock, then added another ½ cup beef stock with tapioca starch to thicken, and make more sauce. Used fresh rosemary leaves instead of thyme. Very good. Meat is nicely rare and the spice/herb rub adds flavor.
References:
- Fine Cooking.com recipe: finecooking.com/recipes/spice-rubbed-roast-beef-tenderloin-red-wine-sauce.aspx
