Perfect Oven Roasted Beef Every Time!

I have a knack (or skill set) when it comes to making a perfect beef roast with roasted potatoes and carrots and love to serve it with brown gravy and a garden salad on the side. And I’m going to share with you everything that I possibly can so you can too.

Perfect Oven Roasted Beef Every Time!

To start, you want to pick a really nice three to three and a half pound chuck or shoulder roast with pretty bright red strips of really fresh lean meat. Avoid those that have too many or large fibrous tendons. You can really feel them as they are quite hard when pressed. However, unlike solid bone, they do usually have some give. Also, avoid those that look dull and drained of color, or even greyish or that are too fatty. You do want and need some fat to avoid ending up with a tough, unchewable roast — but arranged in a particular way. More about that later!

Being devoid of bright color isn’t a bad thing, nor is it spoiled, but it has sat around long enough to have the blood drain out and may or may not be as fresh. Impossible to tell. However, if it is bright red then you know it is absolutely fresh. Well, maybe…

That is of course provided they haven’t injected it with anything just to keep it looking that way longer — in which case it should be listed on the label. It is common practice to inject meats with salt water, for example, to keep them looking fresh longer, extend shelf life, and add to the weight (you do pay by the pound after all). So even when purchasing fresh meats be sure to read those labels carefully! (In particular, those with sodium (salt), potassium, and sugar restricted diets or with MSG sensitivity need to take note of labels on fresh meats).

Choose a chuck roast with a really nice portion of very thin marbling (very thin almost hair like sized strips of white fat) throughout running along side the thicker strips of lean meat. It will have some that are much thicker too but pick the one with the most thinner marbling and as little of the thicker strips of fat as possible.

Choose a shoulder roast well trimmed of excess fat but with a very (almost construction paper) thin outer fat layer still left on one side (to be used as the top side).

If that seems too difficult or impossible to find, try another store or butcher, or while it may cost more you could always just go for a beef tenderloin instead. Called a tenderloin because it is the most tender cut of beef possible.

It pays to always be on the look out for a decent looking roast since you can freeze it until later. However, don’t just toss it in the freezer only in the packaging that it came home in. It really helps if you also wrap it up inside a plastic grocery bag or heavy plastic wrap then with a layer of heavy duty foil — or just a double layer of the heavy duty foil without the plastic bag or plastic wrap — to prevent freezer burn and to preserve more of that freshness you strived so hard to find.

Be sure to label it with name, weight, and date so its easier to tell what’s under that foil wrapping. I use a permanent marking pen and freezer tape but also write directly (but carefully so as not to poke a hole) on the foil in case the tape gets ripped off as things are being shuffled and moved about the freezer, especially if it is going into one of the chest freezers. (Yes, I have more than one chest freezer; each on a different breaker. If one goes out or looses power there is backup. I do live in the mountains after all).

The final key to a perfect roast is a low cooking temperature — after the initial few minutes of higher heat to raise its overall temperature.

And the secret weapon to follow is a cup of strong brewed coffee combined with beef broth and keeping the level of liquid fairly constant, along with hourly basting.

If you don’t have a basting bulb, I highly recommend getting one! They aren’t very expensive. Tip: Never fill more than half way up at a time or it can become too hot to handle as the heat rises up the tube toward the bulb!

Preheat oven to 425 F degrees.

Combine Worcestershire sauce, sage, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and oregano using a whisk in a large roasting pan.

Transfer meat to roasting pan and turn several rounds to coat well on all sides, including the ends, in seasonings and sauce.

Place wire rack in bottom of pan to rest coated roast on fat side up.

You want to place a roast on the rack with the trimmed, but still thinly fat covered side up — so the fat is on top — and this will help baste the meat in natural juices as they drip down.

Lightly but evenly sprinkle only the top of the roast with the indicated seasoning blend. This not only flavors the roast further but also traps and holds in more juices to prevent the top of the roast from over drying.

Pour coffee in bottom of pan with the remaining Worcestershire sauce and seasonings being careful not to pour over roast at this time.

Your roast will not taste like coffee but there is something about strong brewed coffee steaming up inside the roasting pan that actually intensifies the beef’s own natural flavor. I was first told this by an Amish friend, Hannah, in college but did not really believe it at the time.

Eventually, I actually tested this claim by cutting a small roast in half and baking one with and one without. I placed a slice of each on different plates and had a taste testing. My taste testers did not know which was which. Only one person could not tell any difference. The rest chose the coffee roast as being the most flavorful. I lost the bet to my late husband who firmly believed this to be true while I thought it was just an old wife’s tale!

Also pour in the beef broth to mix with the coffee. Again, pour down the side rather than pouring it over the roast at this time. You don’t want to risk washing away the seasoning blend before it has a chance to bake and become a bit more encrusted.

In a bowl, toss potatoes and carrots with olive oil and 1/2 tsp. salt. Trust me, it is the only seasoning they are going to need! They will pick up additional flavor from their surroundings and the drippings. Actually, you really only have to do the potatoes. The carrots really require no seasoning at all and turn out really sweet tasting and yummy without being included — unless you are the type that has to have salt on everything in which case you’ll probably want to include them.

Top the roast with the cut up onion (which will also help baste the roast and keep the top from drying out) and surround on the sides with potatoes and then put carrots on top of the potatoes.

IMPORTANT!!!

Leave a small area, let’s call it a window, free to access juices with a basting bulb. Push rack to one side a little if needed to ensure there will room for the tip of basting bulb to be able to reach the liquid.

This window will also allow to you monitor the amount of liquid, so you will be able to know if and when more broth needs to be added.

It is also where you will add additional (not yet hot) broth — without pouring it over the roast — which would alter the temperature that needs to be maintained.

Bake uncovered for ten minutes at 425 F degrees. Reduce heat to 275 F degrees and cover with the lid.

Bake covered 2-1/2 to 4 hours, basting (drizzling with pan juices) every 50 minutes to an hour with the hot pan juices.

If the liquid begins to boil away–add another cup of broth; repeat as needed; there should always be at least a cup or two of liquid in the bottom of the pan. Avoid pouring this unheated broth over the roast which needs to maintain a fairly stable temperature. Use the little window created — as previously discussed — where the bulb baster is being inserted.

After two hours, begin to test roast with a meat thermometer or an instant read thermometer on an hourly basis. Do NOT leave the thermometer in the roast! Place the tip of the thermometer down into the roast so it reaches the center of the thickest portion without letting it touch any bone, to check for the appropriate doneness. You should do this just prior to each basting so not opening the oven door any more than necessary thus maintaining the temperature.

Chuck or shoulder:

Rare: 125 -130 F; Medium Rare: 135-140 F; Medium: 145-150 F; Medium Well: 155-160 F; Well: 160-170 F

Whole Tenderloin is approximately 5 to 10 degrees less for Rare and Medium Rare.

Anything beyond Well Done temperature of 165 is going to be dryer. Over 175 it starts becoming too dry and starts dehydrating to the point of being almost inedible, and beyond 180 it usually becomes completely inedible.

Exceptions:

There are those who use a large bore needle to inject their meats to keep them juicier at higher temperatures as well as well add seasonings.

Beef tenderloin takes a bit longer than chuck or shoulder roast to become over cooked to the point of being inedible — as does some fattier cuts of meat.

Personally, I want the inside of my roast to taste like roast rather than getting bites that taste like a big glob of my spice cabinet and figure if I don’t over cook it to start with then there is no need to put juices back into it that were never taken out to begin with. I’m a bit of snob that way I suppose when it comes to roast beef.

Rare: Center is bright red, outside light red to pink, very bloody, extremely juicy.

Medium Rare: Center is very pink, outside light gray or light brown, moderately bloody, very juicy.

Medium: Center is pink to pink-ish, outside brown, lightly bloody, juicy.

Medium Well: Center and outside brown, no blood, less juicy.

Well: Darker to very dark brown outside, inside brown, no blood, even less juicy to dry.

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IMPORTANT!!!

Always remove a roast when the temperature is 5 to 10 degrees lower than the desired end temperature, because the roast will continue to cook during the rest period.

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Allow to rest for ten minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid and let it rest for another ten minutes uncovered.

Move roast and vegetables to serving dish(es).

Carve the meat into thin slices slicing against or across the grain.
If the grain runs this way: “—-” , then you’ll want to slice it this way: “lllll”

Serve with pan juices or use pan juices to make brown gravy.

Hot, juicy roast beef with carrots and potatoes pairs really well with just about any cool salad — such as: mixed greens, garden salad, cucumber salad, three or four bean salad, spinach leaf salad, or slaw.