| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/9/2008 5:08:58 AM | Hi everyone,
I was wondering if any one could help me out with an idea of how to prepare a Eye of Round Roast. I thought I would try something different for Mother's Day. Seeing that it is my big day, but now that I have purchased it; I have no idea how to make the most of it. I was hoping that someone could give me some practical ideas.
I say practical, because I live on a remote island and we don't get very much exotic food here. So no fancy shmancy please. Just your grandma's recipe would suffice.
Thanks so much for you help,
D | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/9/2008 6:23:30 AM | We have different cuts in Australia Jade. We have a cut called Round which comes from the hind leg next to the topside and silverside. Eye Fillet here is the premium cut. There are similar things like Rib Eye and they do roll up the Skirt which is like the meat that wraps around the cow's ribs so when it comes off it is like a big flat bit of skirt.
Anyway a dead easy way to roast is to just get a big heavy pan and seal the meat to get some colour on it. Put it on the side somewhere. Chuck in a whole lot of Onion and fry them off in the fat and oil that is there when they start to smell good and look transparant toss in a stack of Carrots and Celery that you have chopped up then dump the veg in your roasting pan, sit the meat on top and cook it at something like 70 or 75ยบ Celcius. The beauty with this is you get pink meat no matter how long you have it in there for. 70 for Medium Rare and 75 for Medium.
If you have a friendly butcher ask him to run a bit of pork fat through his slicer into a 1/4 inch thick slice. Wrap this around the meat and tie it with a bit of string. It will melt as the meat cooks and drip into the bottom of the pan. The French call this Barding the meat and is a great technique to get a nice tender and juicy roast.
Veg just chuck some spuds and sweet potato or pumpkin on the veg next to the meat and blanch (drop veg into salted boiling water just briefly until they are tender but not soggy) vegetables like spinach, bok choy carrots, snow peas whatever you find in your green grocer that looks good
Hope that made some sense.
Tool
OH and by the way that is a ripper profile and I would just love to get a drum kit so all the chicks think I am hot is there any chance? | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/9/2008 6:52:43 AM | An eye of round roast isn't hard to prepare, but you have to do one of two things: You cook it rare, because if you cook it much past medium rare it will be tough. The other thing is to cook it extremely well done till it is literally falling apart. I like it either way. Another thing is that if you cook it rare, you need to slice it very thin with a really sharp knife. Here is how I cook mine:
If you actually have a roasting pan with a lid that it will fit in, use that. Otherwise, use a casserole dish and cover it with tin foil. Rub salt and pepper on the outside of the roast. Seasoning salt works well. Place the roast in your pan, and pour a can of beef broth in the dish. Peel two carrots and place in the broth along with two cleaned celery stalks and a small peeled onion, all cut into chunks. This adds flavor to the broth. Cook at 350 until the meat is easy to pull apart with a fork. It will take 2-3 hours. When it is done, remove the meat and place on a serving platter. Discard the veggies and strain the broth. Use the broth to make gravy for mashed potatoes. Yum! Now I am going to get a chunk of beef out of the freezer and cook it! Email me or post any questions here. I'm sure others will offer some incredible recipes as well. Also, use your search engine to look up recipes. Good luck! I just realized that I pretty much repeated "machinetools's" recipe, but I think you will get the idea. He apparently knows how to cook. | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/9/2008 7:34:30 AM | Hey...good luck with this.... it is is not going to be difficult at all to do.
Firstly I would talk to the butcher, even if you buy the roast from a grocery store ask to speak to the butcher...ask them how they would prepare it and ask them how long to cook it at and at what temperature.
nothing worse than trying to do the math in your head after you throw out the packaging. If you can get one of the disposable temperature timers to insert into the meat..bonus!.. ask the butcher if they have any free ones too.
Ask the butcher if you need a piece of 'additional' fat to lay on top of the roast so it does not get scorched and dried out while cooking in the oven.
as for seasonings...keep it simple.
make sure you keep the drippings...as you will be cooking this on a roasting pan that will allow the juices to flow down to the underpan.
the drippings will be for your gravy.
make sure you have foil in case you want to tent the roast after it is done, to keep it warm and to allow it to cool down and let the juices stay inside and keep the roast moist.
what a lovely girl you are to make Mum a roast..
oh oh...if in doubt..go to one of the amazing video recipe sites for a walk thru on cooking a roast. | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/9/2008 7:45:39 AM | Like Scot said if you have a heavy pot, like the French Cast Iron ones you can just get your roast in there on top of the sauteed veg. When you do this get the pot hot and chuck in some chopped up tomatoes, really over ripe red soft ones that are no good for anything are great for this. Tip in enough beef stock and red wine to half cover the meat and drop the lid on chuck it in the oven and let it cook in there for 4 or 5 hours. The meat will be so tender! An hour or so before you serve chuck in some bacon and mushrooms. If you can "sweat" them off a bit by frying them first it is good and don't worry about thickening the sauce there will be tons of flavour there and you don't want to work yourself ragged trying to thicken the sauce.
Good bread nice crusty stuff is great with this. Find a Frenchman or Italian or German baker. Get some good bread that was baked that morining.
Stephen | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/9/2008 10:35:39 AM | Sorry Jade I can't help you there but if you see Betty Crocker around tell her I'd like my cake & eat it too! | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/9/2008 10:55:55 AM | I thought mothers were supposed to be able to put their feet up and NOT cook?
Hey , to eacheth their owneth.
You think YOU'RE "Hopeless"?
My personal credo is "Fill the hole" , meaning do WHATEVER necessary to quell the pangs. And if that's satisfied with peanut butter and a spoon , so be it.
It's embarrassing , so I'm always a willing runner for ingredients and I'm always willing to do the dishes. Keeps my hands baby soft as well...(preens) | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/9/2008 7:13:43 PM | ...I'm sure Jade isn't going to have any trouble getting help cooking that roast...
...but just offering advice isn't going the extra mile...Gettin' your butt to Nova Scotia and helping her in person would really make her week... | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/10/2008 7:49:39 AM | Thank you everyone,
I feel much more confident about cooking this roast tomorrow. I thank you for keeping it simple, but in lieu of the roast wrapped in fat how can I keep it moist?
You might be wondering why I am cooking a meal for myself. Well I live in a very small town, and there are only a few options for dinning experiences. I am sick of all of them; so, I decided to treat myself to a dinner I normally wouldn't prepare.
Besides, now that I have no significant other to orchestrate the day, my boys are lost for what to do. The most they can manage is a dreadful Mother's Day breakfast that I gag down with a forced smile. lol
That's my fault, I should really be taking them under my wing and showing them around the kitchen. But somehow, I think a roast would be beyond them.
Thanks everyone for making my big day special.
D | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/10/2008 8:06:06 AM | bacon sweetie, just wrap the roast in bacon and as for the boys.. keep it simple, eggos with syrup,they can throw in some fresh fruits and a glass of OJ ..no gagging for you lol
these are all things im sure you can get at your local store
a pre-happy mother's day | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/10/2008 8:34:19 AM | | All good advice. One thing left out is to slice the roast against the grain for serving. Makes it alot more tender. I've been searing the roast, throwing in onions & enchilada sauce, then slo roasting in a covered Dutch Oven, or covered cast iron pot. Everyone raves. | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/10/2008 9:49:56 AM | Thanks girls for your advice,
I am heading to the grocer's now to grab some eggo waffles and maybe some microwave sausages.
No gagging for me this year. lol
By the way, spumoni spinoza, I have no idea what the natural grain is to slice against it. lol And as for enchilada sauce, I will take a look, however, I am not convinced that my grocer has it, but I will check.
D | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/10/2008 11:18:19 AM | I am by no means a cook but will give it a go.
To keep it moist use something with a lid if you have it.If not cover with two lengths of foil and make a tent with the foil joining on top.Put some water on bottome of pan maybe half an inch and throw in a couple beef boillion (spelling?) cubes.Can add peeled potatos and veggies (carrot and onions)if you want. At least onions for flavor even if you don't eat.Cook on low may 300 for 4-6 hours.Depends how big.Or I love 250 for all day.Makes the house smell great after eight hours.
Some people recommend putting a little oil in a pan heating it up and fry the roast on each side very briefly to seal in flavor and moisture. Then put in roasting pan with tent top if no cover.Alway have a little water in bottom.
My meat therometer says 160 degrees for medium and 170 degrees for well done.If no therometer after four hours cut off end and eat that if it looks done, if the rest is not put back in oven longer no biggy.The veggies should be done by then.
I love spices so I use Lipton onion soup mix and rub on outside of roast and put some in the water to cheat.I don't know alot of spices to use.
Also do a thread search on roast probably more advice in those.Good Luck | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/13/2008 3:31:41 PM | Hope your roast turned out ok... If not - no fail eye of round -
Sprinkle one package of dry Onion soup mix on and around it
Add a cup of water then
Bake in a roaster on low heat 200 -2 50 C
baste it every now and then - and it should be tasty as ever
an easier way to make it seem more tender is to use an electric knife to cut it into thin strips, then make au jus (slightly thicken the drippings with a small amount of corn starch dissolved in cold water) or make a gravy with flour and oil or milk. | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 5/13/2008 5:19:22 PM | I have no idea what the natural grain is to slice against it.
look at the stringy muscle tissue, cut it where the string like tissue ends.
straight down the strings (follow the I's) or it will be way too chewy
-------------I
-------------I
-------------I
-------------I
-------------I
As others have said, Eye of the round is tough unless rare or really well done. I like any roast falling apart from slow and long cooking. | |
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| Help! Hopeless in the kitchen!
Posted: 8/13/2008 12:04:46 AM | hi hopeless in the kitchen, you could try a very simple thing, and you'll really notice the difference too.
with a knife....stick the blade deep into the meat.....in a few various places,
Garlic......when it's cooking, the garlic cuts will move upwards ....so make sure you put them in deep.
hope it helps/ happy jappy cooking./ cook it slow, and make sure you add some water to the bottom of the roast pan b4 you put it in the oven.
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