I think this is the first time I have ever had a (beef) roast actually turn out the way I wanted it to! Thanks to my good ol’ meat thermometer.
If you don’t have a meat thermometer, go buy one.
You can get them very inexpensively, a plain old basic one will run you about $5-7, or a cheap digital one about $10 or you can go fancy and spend a bunch if you want to. I have gone through several, I have a knack for leaving them in the meat when I check it and putting them in the oven.
They don’t do well in the oven.
But I have found them to be a necessity when cooking just about any meat. All you have to do is google what you’re cooking and find the temperature you want and, bingo, you’re good to go!
So, given my past disasters with cooking roasts, I tried to really pay attention to this one. My husband likes his meat just a hair past rare, so I was shooting for 130˚ which is the lowest temperature rating for medium rare.
It was perfect, he said it tasted more like eating steak. That can’t possibly be a bad thing.
This recipe is super simple and easy but you do need time. I was a little, teeny bit behind yesterday, I had planned to get this going quite early in the day but I ended up taking a nap and forgetting about my plan. Aah, the joys of pregnancy…anyway so this is actually supposed to marinade overnight, but I had figured 3-4 hours would be better then nothing. Well it ended up with only an hour and a half and there was still plenty of flavor. But I am sure it would be better with a longer marinade time.
But there were no complaints from my peanut gallery last night, my kids all had seconds. Well, except Juliette who spent a rather long time chewing on a piece of delectable fat that my husband tossed to her – gross!!!! So by the time she was done enjoying that she only had time to finish what she was originally given before she just about fell asleep in her plate. But both boys had very generous second helpings and my husband ate about half the roast by himself.
So from what I understand about this particular cut is that it is one of the most flavorful cuts on the cow, located right above the hock on the rear leg of the cow. I am guessing that has to do with the fat running through it. Most of the recipes I came across warned to make sure to cook it slowly at a low temperature or it will get tough very easily. However if you can’t find a Pike’s Peak roast this recipe should be pretty good for any roast.
Here is a break down of internal temperatures in case you don’t like your meat quite as rare as my people:
120˚-125˚ for rare
130˚-140˚ for medium rare
145˚-150˚ for medium
155˚-165˚ for well done
The other thing you want to make sure you do is let the meat rest before you cut it. When meat is cooking the proteins break down and release their juices, if you immediately cut into the meat after cooking all the juices run out and your meat will be tough and not as flavorful. However if you let it rest for about 10 minutes, the juices will get reabsorbed into the meat and it will be soft and tender.
Ok that’s all I have to say, lets get down to business.
- 1 large Pike's Peak or other Roast
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 beers of your choice, I used a dark Killians
- 4 peppercorns
- dill
- basil
- 4-5 carrots, diced into bite sized pieces
- 1 large onion, cut into large chunks
- 3-4 yukon gold potatoes, diced into bite sized pieces
- Rinse and dry the roast and place it in a bowl just large enough to fit it.
- Smear the olive oil all over it and then pour the beer over it. Marinade overnight or for a minimum of 1 hour - the longer the marinade the more flavor!
- Preheat oven to 320˚.
- Make 4 slits in the meat and insert a peppercorn into each slit. Then rub the dill and basil all over the meat.
- Place the carrots, onion and potato in the bottom of a roasting pan or dutch oven. Place the meat on top of the veggies and then pour the marinade juices over the top.
- Cover and roast until a thermometer inserted in the center of the meat reaches your desired temperature.
- Remove from oven and let the meat rest about 10 minutes. It's a great time to use all those yummy sauces at the bottom of the pan to make a delightful gravy...
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