Rare Roast Beef sandwiches
Having the ideal tools now in hand I decided to tackle one of the tastier but more difficult cuts of meat to do well. This is the Eye of round.
This bullet shaped piece of meat is extremely lean and has sinewy bands through it. If you are not careful it can end up tough and chewy.
However prepared this way it is tender and delicious. The secret is in not overcooking the meat and then slicing it extremely thinly . This cuts through the connective tissue and makes for a very tender sandwich without pieces sliding out of the sandwich when you take a bit but cannot easily bite through.
Spice blend
1TB freeze dried shallots (Penzey’s) – ground in mortar and pestle
1TB Italian Seasoning – add to the shallots and grind finely
1tsp Penzey’s seasoned salt -4S
2tsp granulated garlic
Cook and serve
Coat the roast with the spice blend and seal in a vacuum bag
Cook sous vide at 136F for 8 hours. Some recipes call for 24-36 hours
Remove from the bag reserving the juice and pat dry
Sear directly over charcoal with cherry wood chunks. This will give a nice crust in 60-90 seconds per side. Brown all of the sides and the flat end . The browning adds a nice flavor component especially with the seasoning blend used.
Set aside to cool . I placed ours in the freezer for 30 min
Slice thinly. I set the meat slicer to 1.25. The rare meat stays together in nice thin slices and does not crumble as it might with a longer cooking time.
Serve on hard rolls with fried onions and cheese. Teal likes Muenster. I prefer blue or Montamore with a good mustard. this is time to break out one of the exotic ones
Store the rest of the meat in a closed container. Add the reserved juice and pack down. This will minimize the oxygen exposure preserving the flavor for 10 days or until gone.
Teal says this is her favorite sous vide recipe so far.
Penzeys spices https://www.penzeys.com/ is a local company with stores across the US. Truly superior spices and a wonderful view f public policy.
Mark Bronkalla