I know many people these days are working hard to stretch their food budget to cover the ever increasing costs of just about everything. I also know that many of my trips to the market have left me shaking my head and wondering how families with children can even make ends meet these days.
I get it, I really do..it’s one of the reasons I encourage people to cook at home. Not only is it healthier all the way around, but much cheaper too.
I recently visited the grocery store and found top round on sale at $2.99 per lb. I usually use top round or chuck as my stew meat or in my beef soups, and have occasionally heard of people using this lean cut of meat as a roast, but could it really work?
I know what you’re thinking because I thought the same thing myself…
Could this lean and generally tough piece of meat yield a good, tender result to serve as a roast with a few side dishes or even in a great sandwich?
I was willing to give it a try, and was determined to find another great way to cook this and help everyone save a few extra bucks in the process.
So I went to work on doing some research to uncover some conventional wisdom on how to prepare this not so conventional piece of meat. Surprisingly enough, I found a few tricks here and there that yielded some very surprising results…so whether you want to try this as an entrée or as the centerpiece for a great sandwich instead of that precooked stuff, I think you will be very happy.
There was lots of great advice to be found on many sites. A lot of conversation revolved around whether the meat should be marinated ahead of time, or whether liquid should be added prior to cooking to help tenderize the meat. I did neither, and wanted to treat this as I would other cuts of lean meat because I did not want it to turn out mushy or stringy-but rather moist and tender as I would expect a roast to be.
I did pick up a tip from a Cook’s Illustrated episode where they allowed the meat to come to room temperature for about 1 ½ hours. In this same episode, they over salted the meat while it was resting at room temperature, so this also made sense to me as did a few other tips I included in the procedure below.
I must say, it was better than I expected. I never imagined that an economically priced piece of meat could actually turn into a princely meal.
Top Round Sunday Roast
3 pound top round roast (London broil is the same thing)
1 cup salt
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup Dijon mustard
Assorted spices of your choice (I used dried parsley, oregano, pepper, garlic salt, ground pepper, onion powder, ground cumin)
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
3-4 large mushrooms
1 small onion
1 full sheet of parchment paper (or foil)
1 tablespoon of flour (per ½ cup of pan juices)
1 cup of wine
Take the meat out of the refrigerator and coat it well on all sides with a thick layer of salt. Allow this to sit covered on the kitchen counter for 1 ½ hours.
After waiting the requisite time, rinse the meat well under cold water and pat it dry.
Then, cut up all the veggies and put them all in the center of a large sheet of parchment paper (you can use foil if you prefer).
Next, I used ¼ cup of olive oil and seared off the meat on all sides and then placed the meat on top of the vegetables. Save the pan with all of that flavor at the bottom to make your sauce later on.
Once the meat was sitting atop the veggies in the parchment sheet, I added a thick layer of dijon mustard, and a mixture of all of the spices listed above, but you can add just about anything you like. Then I closed up the parchment bag and set it aside until the oven was preheated.
This procedure uses a SUPER hot oven, so make sure to preheat your oven to 500°F. Place the roast onto the center rack of the oven and then turn it down to 475°F. Bake the roast for 20 minutes at this temperature, then turn off the oven and leave the roast in there for an additional 1 ½ – 2 hours with the oven turned off, depending on how rare you want it. I found that 2 hours was the perfect time for a medium rare in the center in a 3 pound roast.
At the end of the cooking time, you will have lots of great juices to add to your searing pan to make your gravy. You can either add just the juices, a little wine and maybe a knob of butter for a rich au jus or you can make a gravy with the juices, flour and a little wine. You can even add the same veggies that were at the bottom of the roast into the gravy or some freshly cut veggies for a little something extra.
The roast will still be a little warm when you remove it from the oven, and will be at a good temperature to slice. It should be a medium rare on the inside, so slice thin and enjoy with your favorite side dishes or save for a great sandwich…
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