How to Roast a Beast: Roast Beef Made Simple

If you ever spent Christmas at my house during the 80’s you’d swear my parents, especially my mother, were Whovillians. From the end of Thanksgiving until the 2nd week of January our house was non-stop Christmas. From the decorations and music to the food and parties. Don’t get me wrong; they were great times but they were intense and some things stuck. Like Roast Beast.

I don’t know what my step-father was thinking, but for the first 15 years of my life he never once said Roast Beef. It was always Roast Beast. And for 15 years that’s what I called it. “What did you have for dinner last night?” “Roast Beast, and it was the best!” I got a few odd stares each time I answered like that but I chalked it up to having some left over in my teeth.

If there’s one good thing that came out of that experience it was the ability to roast the best beast you’ve ever tasted! That’s right; my mom could take the cheapest piece of beef in the store and make it taste like nothing of this world. In fact the cheapest piece of beef makes the best roast beef. It’s usually fatty and offers tons of flavor and juice.

So, how do you go about making the perfect Roast Beef? No, it doesn’t take all day. No, there’s no hard work involved. Yes, it does take around 3 hours. Did I answer your questions? Okay then, moving forward.

To start you need a 2 – 3½ pound piece of beef. This will feed around 5 people – go for a bigger piece if you’re feeding more people. I use an eye round roast.
Next up you need to preheat your oven to 375°. Rub your roast with salt, pepper and a little garlic powder (or you can use garlic cloves – cut 5 – 6 slits into the roast and stuff the cloves in.) I rubbed this one with salt, ground chipotle pepper, ground black pepper and garlic flakes.

Now, I use a roasting pan, but my mom put her roast right on the rack with a pan on the rack underneath to catch the drippings. Whichever you decide to do is fine – placing it right on the rack leads to a more tender roast. Make sure the fat side is up and drizzle some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) on the top – this builds a delicious crust on the roast.

Brown the roast at 375° for 30 minutes and then turn the heat down to 200°, or as low as your oven will go. Roast at this low setting for 1 ½ – 2 hours then remove from the oven and cover with a tin foil tent until ready to serve.

That’s it! It’s that easy to make tender, juicy Roast Beef, or Roast Beast if that’s what you prefer.