Roast beef recipe

Perfectly done reverse-seared roast beef

Posted 2021-08-20

Time

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 3-4 hours cook + 0.5-1.5 hours resting + 10 minutes sear

Ingredients

• 1.3-5.5kg Beef joint
• Flaky salt + freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. At least the night before, unwrap the beef and dry it off with paper towels.
2. Season the meat thoroughly with salt and pepper.
3. Put the meat on a rack in the fridge overnight for the surface to dry out and absorb the salt.
4. Preheat the oven to a very low setting, 66-93°C.
5. Season with more fresh salt+pepper (go lightly since it’s pre-seasoned).
6. Place the roast, fat up (if it has any), on a rack in a roasting pan.
7. Place it in the oven and cook until the centre registers 49°C for medium-rare or 57°C for medium.
   • In a 66°C oven this will take 5.5-6.5 hours, in a 93°C oven it will take 3.5-4 hours.
   • Note that these times are for much larger lumps of meat - for a typical 1-1.5kg lump it’ll probably be a bit below the low end.
8. Remove the roast from the oven and and tent tightly with aluminium foil.
9. Place in a warm spot in the kitchen and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes, and up to 1.5 hours.
10. For the final sear, heat the oven to the highest possible temperature, ideally 260-275°C.
11. Ten minutes before serving, remove the foil and place the roast in the hot oven.
12. Cook until well browned and crisp on the exterior - 6-10 minutes.
13. Remove the roast from the oven.
14. Cut off the butcher’s twine if it was used, and carve the meat.
15. Serve immediately.

Source

• The Food Lab - J. Kenji Lopez-Alt - Page 635 - Perfect Roast Prime Rib
• Same recipe on Serious Eats - Perfect prime rib

Verdict

Original recipe is for prime rib, but this has worked really well for other cuts like silverside. It wasn’t so good for short rib as the cook time/temperature aren’t long enough for the connective tissue to break down. This meant it was quite tough but still perfectly medium-rare.

Inside is left perfectly pink and tender, even for silverside which I think can be kind of tough. Made really good sandwiches too!