This past weekend, we had a late family holiday get-away in the Pocono’s and I volunteered to make dinner for one of the nights, so I pulled out my recipe for Roast Beast, the same one I posted here last month. This time, I made four roasts instead of just one, for a crowd of about 20 people, kids and adults. Each roast was about 3 pounds each. And instead of just plain pepper, I coated each with a mixture of Penzeys’ Mignonette and minced, dried garlic. Despite all the problems with the kitchen in the lodge we’d rented (only the 2 smaller of the 4 electric burners worked, and the only pan I could find was a very, very scratched non-stick griddle pan), the dinner was a total success. The meat turned out perfectly done … though I probably should have rotated the pan in the oven during the long, slow roast, because the uneven heating made one roast more cooked than the other three. Still, even the pickiest of kids finished what was on their plate, and many people came back for seconds and thirds. My sister-in-law raved so much, I ended up giving her the print-out of the recipe I was using.
I do think one crucial necessity for the recipe is a good, accurate probe thermometer. I use a Thermapen, but the high price ($89) makes it a total luxury item for most. (I have read that there’s a cheaper alternative that is used in the air-conditioning industry that has a slightly larger probe diameter, but is otherwise identical to this one, and costs about half as much.)
