Saturday, February 12, 2011

just in time for sunday dinner

A few years ago, my mother passed on a recipe to us that had been passed on to her by my Aunt Bunny. Who happens to be married to my Uncle Ed. Who happens to be my mother's older brother who is in his 90's and still does yoga every day and two years ago was hit by a car while riding his bicycle. He broke a couple ribs and was pretty bruised up, but that didn't slow him down for long. Uncle Ed being the strong man that he is, was back riding his bicycle within a few months.

I wouldn't be surprised if this incredibly easy recipe for the perfect roast beef is what gives him the protein he needs to be so strong and agile. This recipe is surely one of our favorites and I thought this Saturday eve would be a good time to share it, whilst giving a preview of our cozy little kitchen and adorable 45-year old oven.

First, you need to buy a roast beef, as pictured below.

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Once you're ready to prepare the roast beef (and not a minute before), you need to turn your oven on to 500 degrees.

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After you remove the roast beef from the packaging, you can rinse it off and blot it dry with a paper towel. Then, peel a few cloves of garlic and slice them in half, long ways.

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Cut small slits in to the roast for your sliced cloves of garlic.

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Plug in the sliced cloves of garlic.

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Find a nice cookie sheet and line it with tinfoil. Please do not forget this step because you definitely do not want to clean a cookie sheet that has been baked in a 500 degree oven WITHOUT tinfoil. Especially a cookie sheet that has a roast beef on top that is about to be smothered with Gravy Master. (I think they call this counter top "speckled gold laminate" or "white gold textolite.")

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Coat the roast in approximately 1/3 bottle of Gravy Master (or approximately three tablespoons. Maybe four. Highly doubt anything more than five.)

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Make sure it's nice and coated.

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Sprinkle salt on the top.

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And a little pepper.

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Then, place the uncovered roast in the 500 degree oven and bake it for SIX MINUTES per pound. (See our oven? Isn't it cute? It's not much larger than our toaster oven. Although this oven is almost five decades old, it works GREAT. For that matter, so does our 20+ year old dishwasher, and 30+ year old refrigerator. Does anyone remember all the hassles we had with our fancy top of the line computerized dishwasher in California? That thing broke 10 times in three years and five times in one year, before we complained so much the manufacturer finally replaced it under the Lemon Law. All this to say, it's a fact things aren't made as solidly now as they used to be. )

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In our case, our roast was 2.5 pounds so 2.5 x 6 = 15 minutes.

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After your timer goes off, turn the oven off and leave the door closed for TWO HOURS. When you open the oven and remove the roast after exactly two hours, it will be the most perfectly cooked, juicy and moist roast beef you've ever tasted.

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This is an incredibly great and exceptionally easy recipe for anyone. Unless, of course, you are a vegetarian. In which case, I'll post an equally great recipe for eggplant parmigiana next time.

23 comments:

  1. HOLY COW. YUM. I think I may be trying this one for sure!

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  2. I LOVE this post! You're so right when you say that your old appliances don't break down ~ that's what my appliance repair person says every time he comes to fix something! He comes MONTHLY!! His name is Keith ~ we're on a first name basis. :) He recommends older appliances & new ones with very few "extras" as they're easier & cheaper to repair.

    Our old washer & dryer in garage
    (1981) are better appliances than the new front loadining W & D! If you're still thinking of remodeling you might want to think about keeping the "OLD" appliances because in another 20 years they'll still be working great!!

    Sigh...thanks for the post & recipe! Tam :)

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  3. That sounds like a recipe that is worth trying. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. What cut of meat did you use? I can't read the label.

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  5. How funny - that is my oven! It's the same model, though mine has a black door. My house was built in 1988 so mine is still quite youthful at 23. :)

    You can imagine how lovely it looks next to my 2-year-old stainless steel refrigerator. Sigh. One appliance at a time!

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  6. I just bought a roast in France and it cost 37 Euros for about the same weight as yours. Thanks for the recipe although I will have to figure out what to do without the Gravy Master. I definetly don't want to mess-up a recipe on a 37 Euros piece of meat!

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  7. What is "Gravy Master"? We don't have that in the country where I live. Is it something that can be made from scratch or is there something that can be substituted for it?

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  8. I had to Google Gravymaster. Whoa. Do not look at the ingredients. Just do not. I wonder if the recipe would work without the gravymaster?

    My girls made you moss pancakes yesterday.

    So glad you are feeling better!

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  9. We didn't have Gravy Master in California, either, and Charlie tells me we used ......... he can't recall the name of it.

    Gravy Master is essentially a browning sauce made up of carmelized sugar, apple cider, vinegar, salts and spices (onion, celery, parsley and garlic.) I don't know if you could make something similar, or perhaps just use salt, pepper and garlic? We've never tried it w/o a browning sauce. I suggested Teriyaki and Charlie gagged, so PLEASE don't listen to me...

    I'm 99.9% sure that this particular cut of beef was a round eye. But we've used other "roast beef(s)" and they've worked well, too.

    Charlie tells me that you can get any cut of meat, the whole idea is high temp for a short period of time, followed by oven OFF and slow cook for 2 hours so it's nice and moist. I just love this cooking technique because it's so easy even *I* can do it!

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  10. We don't have Gravy Master in Seattle either but we have Kitchen Bouquet and I think it's just about the same.

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  20. One of many cuzzins!2/14/11, 6:17 PM

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