I just tried a new technique for taking a relatively inexpensive cut of beef (the eye-round roast) and turning it into a juicy and flavorful roast beef dinner. As usual, for the meals I post about here it’s not fast since it takes about 30 hours, but it’s easy. Note: If your roast is smaller (2-3 lbs, 1 kilo), use two teaspoons; bigger than that, use three teaspoons of salt.
2-4 lb. (1-2 kilos) eye-round beef roast, tied
2-3 teaspoons kosher salt (half that for table salt)
2 teaspoons fresh black pepper
3 teaspoons vegetable oil
The day before: Remove the roast from the packaging, and coat all sides with salt. Wrap it up in plastic wrap, return it to the fridge on a plate to catch any escaping liquid, and let it marinate for 18 to 24 hours.
Preheat the oven to 225º/110º c Remove the plastic wrap, rinse the excess salt, and dry the meat on paper towels. Coat the roast with one teaspoon of the oil, and apply the pepper to all sides. The oil will help the pepper stick. Put the remaining oil in a cast iron pan, and sear the roast on all sides, about 3 minutes on each side.
Set your probe thermometer to 115º when you put the roast in the oven.
First, put the roast on a rack in a roasting pan and cook it for about an hour and a half or until a thermometer reads 115º/46ºc for medium rare.
Turn off the heat, and let the roast sit in the cooling oven for another 30-45 minutes, where the internal temperature should be 130º/55ºc. Remove the roast from the oven, allow it to rest at room temperature for another 15 minutes, remove the butcher’s twine and slice crosswise, slicing as thin as possible.
