A Perfect Eye of Round Roast Beef

JackieOhNo!'s Note:

Without fail, my mother-in-law made an eye of round roast beef for Sunday dinner every week. While I tried to do so myself, I always had varying results. Sometimes, I overcooked it, and other times, it was too rare. I finally discovered this method that produced a perfect roast beef every time, that was medium, and even rarer in the center, and pleased all of our tastes. The key is to use an eye of round roast (or any well-rounded and even-shaped roast). The seasonings are up to you. I listed very basic seasonings, but I use different meat rubs at times, or whatever I'm in the mood for. While there are not enough pan drippings to make gravy, the juices make a lovely au jus to accompany the beef. This works for any size roast and couldn't be easier.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 35 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 beef ro ...

• 1 beef eye round
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• paprika, to taste (optional)
• vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. If desired, trim off excess fat from roast beef. Season with salt and pepper (and paprika, if desired). Rub meat with vegetable oil.
2. Place meat in roasting pan in preheated oven.
3. Roast beef for 5 minutes per pound. Then turn off oven. DO NOT OPEN OVEN FOR 2 HOURS! (For example, a 4-lb. roast would take 20 minutes to cook and then sit in the turned-off oven for 2 hours.).

Reviews

[inflightphotographer]

VERY good. My eye round was just 2.5 pounds and I cooked it at the 500F for 13 minutes. I would go maybe 10 or 11 minutes next time for such a small roast. Served it with the mustard Horse radish sauce. Good combo, I'll do it again. Also i served garlic mashed potatoes by Mark Bittman.

[taniamorse85]

We had 3 small eye of round steaks, totaling less than a pound. I thought I followed the recipe completely. But after we ate, I realized I forgot to rub the meat with the vegetable oil. The meat was incredibly tough and dry. Instead of splitting the three steaks between the two of us, we each ate one and cut the third one up into small pieces to give to the cat. I don't know if forgetting the oil was the reason for the toughness, but I will hold on to this recipe and try it again sometime just in case.

[RichmondJim]

Well, the 5lb. 2oz. eye of round roast went in the oven for 30 minutes at 500 degrees. After the two hour wait, the oven temp and the internal temp of the meat were both about 153. A little more done than I would have liked, but still very tasty and juicy. I put three baking potatoes on each side of the roasting pan, directly on the oven rack. The potatoes were just a little overdone, but after making gravy out of the roasting pan drippings, I heard no complaints!

Next time, I'll use the remote probe thermometer and remove the roast when it hits my level of doneness. I liked the outer "crust" that the 500 degree start developed, so I'll use this method again. The flavor developed by the Maillard reaction was amazing! (And the paprika was a nice touch. I'll try Smoked Paprika next time.)