Perfectly Cooked Roast Beef Recipe

Here’s the simple, easy-to-remember formula to cook a beef roast, the result is a perfectly cooked roast beef, whether you want it cooked rare or medium rare or medium or well done. The choice is yours, the formula takes all the guesswork out of how long to cook roast beef. Better still? The hands-on time is five minutes. Still better? There’s no added fat, really letting good meat take center stage.

On a personal note, does this happen to others? All week long, I've been "cooking" with my mother. She's been gone for more than ten years now and I've never before felt her "sense" in the room. But perhaps it's because this recipe for Perfectly Cooked Roast Beef kicks off an entire menu, the one Mom so often chose for our Christmas dinner when my sister and I were growing up. It was her idea of a traditional English Christmas dinner, a tribute to her own English-born father. It would make for an easy festive New Years Eve menu, too! More recipes to come, all easy-easy!

A terse recipe caught my eye about five years ago. The technique was dead simple. “Cook the roast for 5 minutes per pound at 500F,” it read, “then turn off the oven and let the meat finish cooking for 2 hours.”

Trust me now, two hours is way too long unless you like meat beyond well-done. Still, the process works, you just have to trust it – and your meat thermometer!

ALANNA’s TIPS Don’t skip the rub, both for the sake of appearance (a thin crust, almost like having seared the meat in fat) and of flavor (seasoning). But if you want to make gravy with the meat juices, choose a rub that has minimal salt. After the oven’s been turned off for 30 minutes, either set the temperature alarm on the thermometer or check it every five minutes. The cooking process moves faster than you think and you really don’t want to overcook good meat. Your oven will be tied up so plan the rest of the meal accordingly.

PICTURED ROAST With my last roast, I kept track of the specifics, just to provide a guideline.

CUT – Boneless top sirloin
WEIGHT – 4-1/2 pounds
INTERNAL TEMP GOING INTO THE OVEN – 30F
TIME AT 500F – 22 minutes, that's 4.5 pounds x 5 minutes per pound
ADDITIONAL TIME TO REACH 144F – 60 minutes (I was aiming for 135F but didn't watch carefully enough, gauge from the photos how "pink" the meat is at 144F)
TEMP AFTER 30-MINUTE REST – 140F, covered with foil in 70F kitchen

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Do you have a favorite English Christmas recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. Follow Kitchen Parade on Facebook!

PERFECTLY COOKED ROAST BEEF RECIPE

Hands-on time: 5 minutes up front plus carving
Time to table: About 90 minutes for a 4-pound roast
Allow four servings per pound for light eaters, two or three for bigger appetites

• 1 boneless beef roast, any size or a standing rib roast
• Meat rub of choice (don’t skip)

Heat oven to 500F.

Weigh the roast, then place in a large roasting pan lined with foil for easy clean-up. Pat the meat dry, then pat with the meat rub, covering the entire roast. Insert a digital thermometer into the thickest part of the roast.

Roast at 500F for 5 minutes per pound.

Now turn the oven off, yes, you read that right – turn the oven OFF – no opening the oven door either. It’s hard but you can do it.

Let the roast sit in the oven until the meat reaches the desired temperature, 115F-120F for extra rare, 125F-130F for rare, 130F-140F for medium rare, 140F-150F for medium, 150F-155F for medium well, 160F-212F for well done.

Remove from oven and cover with foil for 5 – 30 minutes before slicing. It will drop a degree or two in temperature but won’t get cold.

Slice, serve and enjoy!

RECIPE in METRIC Roast at 260C for 5 minutes per 545 grams. Let the roast sit in the oven until the meat reaches the desired temperature, 46C-49C for extra rare, 52C-55C for rare, 55C-60C for medium rare, 60C-65C for medium, 65C-69C for medium well, 71C-100C for well done.

Per 4 ounces uncooked/3 ounces cooked: 148 Calories; 4g Tot Fat; 2g Sat Fat; 47mg Cholesterol; 63mg Sodium; 0g Carb; 0g Fiber; 0g Sugar; 25g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS WW Old Points 3, WW PointsPlus 3.

Adapted from a church-style cookbook from Oklahoma, one returned to my friend Linda. Sorry, no more detail than that!

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Perfectly Cooked Roast Beef

This roast weighed 4-1/2 pounds. So I cooked it at 500F for 22 minutes (five minutes per pound), then turned off the oven until the internal temperature temperature reached the desired doneness. I was shooting for 135F, medium rare, but lost track of the cooking progress and the temperature got up to 144F.

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This Week, Years Past 2002 - 2012

Three Quick Appetizers Graham Cracker Toffee Date-Night Chicken Perfect M&M Cookies Eggnog French Toast with Apple Cranberry Compote Sesame Candy Colored Roll-Out Sugar Cookies Breakfast Casserole with Sausage, Apples & Caramelized Onions Christmas Trifle Overnight Coffeecake Bourbon Pralines

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My Mom's Traditional English Christmas Dinner Menu

Oyster Stew
~ Roast Beef (recipe above) ~
with Horseradish Whipped Cream for Beef

Yorkshire Pudding (Popovers)
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
or
Roasted Potatoes
Whole Cauliflower with Homemade Cheese Sauce
Bodacious Brussels Sprouts

Christmas Trifle

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More Tradition Recipes for the Holidays

(hover for a description, click a photo for a recipe)

~ more Christmas recipes ~
~ more New Year's recipes ~

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~ Traditional English Christmas Dinner Menu ~

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~ beef recipes ~
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