Eye of Round Beef Roast - suggestions for a newbe?

GJ

As I sit by my pc I have this 2 lb roast and I promised my wife I would do better than last nights hockey pucks. Any suggestions for this green green egger? It is frozen now but I was going to thaw it out in the...dare I say it...microwave.[p]Thank you

Gfw

GJ, I think I would order a pizza for tonight and let the roast thaw for tomorrow. BBQ is low and slo -- Microwave is hot and fast - not exactly a good match - unless you are doing pulled pork leftovers!

GJ

Gfw,
As soon as I pressed the send button I realized that I neglected to mention this is for tomorrow.

Char-Woody

GJ, While you have time try to marinate it overnight. Either in a vinegar base marinate, or a old fashioned beer soak. :-) I would coat it with mustard and let the mustard vinegars work on it..You can also season it and cover with plastic wrap for the night till your ready to roast it. Someone will come up with the right proceedure on that part.
Is it a flat cut or a round tied roast?
C~W ( and you can tell, I have never tried one either!)

Char-Woody

GJ, For lack of input..here is what I would do if I were in your backyard..I hope you marinated the beast overnight. It will help. Beef likes hot and quick applications so I would sear that slab of raw with the rubs on or just plains salt and pepper..at around 400 to 500 degrees for about 4 to 6 minutes per side till nicely browned. Then put on the top metal daisy or ? you have and shut down the lower vent and run at around 325 to 350 degrees for the next half hour to 40 minutes. Check internal temps about every 15 minutes to get a feel of the meats cook. I would guess a 2 lb eye of round may take 40 minutes to a hour to reach 135 to 14O internal..If you like medium to medium well go to 150 internal. This may not be the tenderest cut of meat, and if you find that its in need of help at this point..wrap it in foil..and return it to the egg right on the grill and continue to cook for another 40 minutes. It will come out fork tender. I betcha..I did this with my first tri tip roast, and it was great. Did it on the fly with no guidelines.
Best I can do for ya....other than refer you to one of the best beef sites I know of for some good grilling guidelines.
http://www.beef.org/

[ul][li]Beef [/ul]

GJ

Char-Woody,
It is rather small and it sort of looks like a sirloin tip

GJ

Char-Woody,
Thanks CW. Given I don't have a polder yet I appreciate the approximate times. I do have an instant read thought so I will make do.

Mike Oelrich

GJ,[p] Wow, for a guy who's just starting out, you're picking something that ain't very easy. About a month ago, some folks tried chuck roasts and were decidedly unimpressed by the results. So, I did a bit of research: Round roasts aren't very fatty protions of meat, but they do contain a lot of collagen. What this means is that in order to get a tender roast, you need to break down the collagen. This happens, if memory serves (gonna have to leave that copy of Cookwise on my desk at work from now on . . .), fairly slowly and at about 160F. Unfortunately, meat gives up a lot of its moisture above 140F, and since there isn't much fat in this cut, you're not getting much self-basting acting going on to help you out. So, you see the quandary: to get tender meat, I need to heat it up until it is dried out? Most people solve this problem by braising roasts like this. Basically that involves cooking the meat at a temperature below boiling in at least a small amount of liquid (hence the evolution of the Crock Pot). The meat gets up to 160 slowly, allowing the collagen to break down, and the presence of extra liquid keeps it moist. Cooking a roast like this at high temperature to only 140F will give a fairly tough end result. I can vouch for this, as I went to a friend's house for dinner about two weeks ago. He served roast (chuck roast -- a better cut of meat than the round) he had done on a small electric rotisserie oven. Internal temp was about 150, but it was pretty tough. Good thing there was gravy involved. I've got a top tound roast in my freezer awaiting its fate in the Egg, but to be honest, I've more or less resigned myself to the fact that it's going to be shredded beef of some kind (probably tequila-soused beef for burritoes).[p]Here's what I would do if I were you. Char-Woody's right about the searing part -- sear each side of it for a couple minutes (you can do this part in a hot cast iron skillet on the stove if you don't want to wait for the BGE to cool back down to finish cooking). You do this because you want the flavor from the browned crust -- searing doesn't actually hold any juices inside as many people think. Then cook really low and slow (200F or less) over a drip pan, or better yet, with the roast in a pan in contact with the beer/water/wine/whatever until the internal temp gets to 160. An alternative to this is what Char Woody recommended -- do the roast at a higher temp and put it in tin foil with some sauce to steam it for the last 45+ minutes of cooking. Note, however, that this will almost certainly give you something unsliceable as the steamed meat will pretty much fall apart (for shredded beef, I smoke the thing for about 1-2 hours (depending on the size of the roast) or so at 225, then wrap in foil with sauce and finish it at 300F)).[p] If you find a way to get it to work other than the way I've described above, report back so I can add to my research. More data points are needed on this one![p]-MikeO

Char-Woody

MikeO, Thats pretty good! Pressure cooker was my first thought! But they do make dang good crock pot candidates for the failures..great BBQ sandwiches. :-)
C~W

RhumAndJerk

Char-Woody,
I agree with the marinade suggestion. My suggestion would be to use a red wine and garlic marinade. Simply put, place the meat in a zip-loc bag and add enough red wine to just cover the meat. I would then cut up some fresh garlic and put it in the bag. You could also add some whole Rosemary. I the grind some Black pepper into the bag. I do not remember if added some olive oil, but it could not hurt. Let it sit overnight.[p]One other thing to try is to take a sharp knife and make little incisions in the meat. Then place a half or whole clove of garlic in each incision. When I do this, I use at least one head of garlic. Then put in the bag with the marinade.[p]It has been well over a year since I have cooked an Eye of Round, so I do not remember the cooking times or the results other than I liked it. I do remember that the beef will come out a pink color when fully cooked. [p]Good Luck,
RhumAndJerk