Your best roast beef?

R.O.S.S.I

R.O.S.S.I

R.O.S.S.I

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Cooking Sunday dinner for 8 of us next Sunday and I was going to do a roast chicken and a roast beef along with the usual roastie accompaniments of yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, roast veggies and stuffing etc.

Just wondering what people find are the best joints of beef for doing a roast and any nice little recipes for cooking them?

Won't be able to afford a fillet or anything similar but just curious if I should just get a supermarket topside joint or if there is something which is going to be way better i.e. juicier and more flavourful (but not cost the Earth!)

Aiming to cook it so it is medium/rare in the middle.
 
Aldi dry aged topside of beef is your best bet. Not too expensive and pretty tasty.

If you've got a way to measure your oven temperature accurately set it to 60C and cook the beef for a good 5+ hours.
 
That sounds like a good shout. Do Aldi only do them in one size of joint? Or do they have various sizes? Think i'll need about 1.2kg-1.5kg to cater for 6 wont I (plus a medium chicken)?
 
The size varies a bit but they're all pretty similar. I think if you're serving alongside a chicken the size will be just about right for 6 people (unless everyone is a super-carnivore) :)
 
Never tried the Aldi topside that FrenchTart suggests, but I'd start it off at 220 °C for 10-15 mins, then cool the oven down to 57 °C and leave it there for a number of hours (depending on size).

Does this Aldi roast come with a layer of fat attached to it?
 
the biggest mistake, IMHO, that most people make is getting too small a piece and having it cook too quickly.

It is better to have a larger cheaper cut than an expensive one that is too small and just dries out in the oven.

Look for a size that will take a good four hours to cook.

You will certainly have some left over, but cold cuts is nice too!:D

I have had some success with Rib joints.
 
Illgresi said:
Never tried the Aldi topside that FrenchTart suggests, but I'd start it off at 220 °C for 10-15 mins, then cool the oven down to 57 °C and leave it there for a number of hours (depending on size).

Does this Aldi roast come with a layer of fat attached to it?
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It doesn't come with the dodgy "basting fat" layer that you get with some joints. There's a little fat attached iirc.

If you sort through the pile of the joints you can find some with really amazing marbling. Others aren't so great but a bit of time and you can get something that's really nice.

Starting off at a high temp and dropping down makes sense, especially from a not having lots of time with the surface in the danger zone.
 
Illgresi said:
Never tried the Aldi topside that FrenchTart suggests, but I'd start it off at 220 °C for 10-15 mins, then cool the oven down to 57 °C and leave it there for a number of hours (depending on size).

Does this Aldi roast come with a layer of fat attached to it?
Click to expand...

You'd be better off starting at 57C, taking it out, then giving it a blast at the end
 
Well there is 8 of us in total so was thinking if I get one that will feed 6ish, coupled with a medium/large chicken there should be plenty for 8 in total if people want bits of both!
 
I need to check my oven and what the lowest temp is it will do. It's a fairly new AEG one so hopefully it will be pretty accurate.
 
The best roast beef (IMO) is short ribs.
Not sure what equipment you have but...
Salt, pepper, bit of duck/goose fat sous vide @62c for 72 hours then wack them in a very hot oven for 5-10mins max or blowtorch the outsides. Use the juices for the gravy.
 
FrenchTart said:
It doesn't come with the dodgy "basting fat" layer that you get with some joints. There's a little fat attached iirc.

If you sort through the pile of the joints you can find some with really amazing marbling. Others aren't so great but a bit of time and you can get something that's really nice.

Starting off at a high temp and dropping down makes sense, especially from a not having lots of time with the surface in the danger zone.
Click to expand...

Yeh, lots of supermarket meat is like that. I'm quite a fan of ASDA's Extra Special Ribeyes. You can always get one with beautiful marbling.

Will definitely try out Aldi next time we have a Sunday roast; cheers!

oli collett said:
You'd be better off starting at 57C, taking it out, then giving it a blast at the end
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I don't find it makes much difference either way, the only real difference is if you blast it at the end it needs to rest for longer as the meat is tenser. Plus, due to lack of having anywhere better, I tend to rest any meat I cook in the open oven, and it cools down much quicker from 57 °C than it does from 220 °C!


On a different note, has anyone tried brining a beef joint? It's a technique I use frequently for Poultry and have tried it with Pork with success but never attempted with Beef.
 
Those saying to cook it at 60c for a few hours, how will I know when its done? Is there a specific internal temperature to look for? I've got a meat thermometer.
 
The reason for cooking at a low temperature like that is because that is the internal temperature you are aiming for. In other words you leave it in until the entire piece of meat has reached that temperature. Depending on the size of the cut that could take 2 - 6 hours approximately. So essentially you pick the level of doneness you want (57 °C is medium rare, 60 °C is pushing more towards medium), set the oven to that and leave it for a few hours until the heat has penetrated throughout the meat. It will never cook past the level you want; however as it's in a dry oven it will eventually dry out.

The reason I suggest starting at a high temperature is to help the forming of a crust on the outside.
 
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Right yeh that makes sense. I assume cooking it this way however you don't get the more well done bits towards the edge like if you cooked it normally?

Need to find out if anyone likes their meat cooked any more than medium/medium rare!
 
Blasting it at a high temp for 10 to 15 minutes should help to take care of the well done crusty part. Rubbing the outside with (neutral) oil will help as well.

If anyone does like it more done you can always portion it up and cook at different temperatures. That said, more often than not I find people order well done meat out of either habit or some irrational preconception about pink meat. Usually when they try something cooked medium rare, or medium they love it. So you could find a happy 'medium' (pun intended) and encourage them to try it.
 
Illgresi said:
Yeh, lots of supermarket meat is like that. I'm quite a fan of ASDA's Extra Special Ribeyes. You can always get one with beautiful marbling.

Will definitely try out Aldi next time we have a Sunday roast; cheers!

On a different note, has anyone tried brining a beef joint? It's a technique I use frequently for Poultry and have tried it with Pork with success but never attempted with Beef.
Click to expand...

Ah...Asda is a bit of a trek for me but I'll have to check that out, thanks :)

I've EQ dry-brined beef joints in the past and to be honest I'm not convinced. The texture change you get with poultry isn't an issue but with beef it can make it a bit odd. If I were to try it again I'd definitely got with a low salinity and then add additional salt to the surface immediately prior to cooking.

Moses said:
Buy an oven thermometer and a leave in probe for the meat.
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Absolutely do this. One probe in the oven (on the same shelf as the beef) and one in the beef itself is the way I'd normally go.

Using this low temperature oven method you can get away without one in the beef however - as per Illgresi's post :)

R.O.S.S.I said:
Right yeh that makes sense. I assume cooking it this way however you don't get the more well done bits towards the edge like if you cooked it normally?

Need to find out if anyone likes their meat cooked any more than medium/medium rare!
Click to expand...

Yeah, exactly right. You'll get a very even cook throughout. If it turns out that some do like their meat well done (blearugh) I'd just stick one side of it on a pan and dry-fry it for a bit. Give them that ruined part ;)
 
Think I might try it that way then. I don't have any form of in-oven thermometer though so will have to hope my controls are decent!

Last question, do i cook it covered or uncovered and anything in the tray with the joint?
 
An oven thermometer wont set you back more than £10. Definitely worth having, as oven controls are rarely exact, and sometimes not even close!
 
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