Kettle roast beef questions

[austin87]

I've had an eye of round brining/curing for a week (curing because I am using some pink curing salt). The ultimate goal is deli style roast beef for a week's worth of sandwiches. It's been a while since I've done an eye of round, and I've only done them in the oven, not in a kettle. The two main oven recipes seem to be:

• Sear all sides of roast in a pan, then cook until desired internal temp in the oven at low temp (250 degrees or so)
• Roast at 500 degrees for about 7 minutes per pound, then turn the oven off and leave there for a couple hours until desired internal temp is reached

Both techniques provide a good high heat to form a nice crust, while ideally leaving the inside rare to medium rare.

I want to smoke my eye of round to about 125 internal at 225 degrees, but I'm afraid it won't be in there long enough to get any crust on it. Does anyone have any experience with the following options:

• Pan sear then smoke
• Sear over coals then smoke
• Smoke first and reverse sear
• Forget the high heat part and just smoke it

Anything else I'm missing or should be thinking about? Thanks everyone!

[1buckie]

"Pan sear then smoke"

You could do a CI sear on a separate kettle then go low heat for a time.....just don't leave it on at high heat for a long time so the center stays rare / raw for the slow smoke after........

"Smoke first and reverse sear"

This would be a more likely candidate for what you want, I think.....at 225, you can probably go quite awhile smoking to get to 125 & then set aside for a short rest to stoke the coals for the crusting......

It's cured, so then you can go for even longer in the smoke.....remember this from Mossy Mo:

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/bbq-food-pics/mmmmm-tri-tip!/msg160385/#msg160385

[austin87]

@1buckie I appreciate that you always have resources and ideas without telling anyone what to do

I ended up smoking it and skipping the sear, but it looks like it has a pretty good crust from the heavy salt and pepper on the outside, posting pics in a few over in cooks and recipes.

[fedex]

Smoke it to temp.  Let it rest for an hour then sear it off in the oven.  It's not cheating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That's how I do Prime Rib.  Do you have a Rottiserie?  That will also do the trick.

[austin87]

I like that idea too. I cooked it fine but it was too salty so I had to audible to turning it into a pot of chili http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/bbq-food-pics/last-night-i-learned-what-didn't-work/

@fedex How long is the final sear? 15 minutes at 500 degrees or so?

[fedex]

I like that idea too. I cooked it fine but it was too salty so I had to audible to turning it into a pot of chili http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/bbq-food-pics/last-night-i-learned-what-didn't-work/

@fedex How long is the final sear? 15 minutes at 500 degrees or so?

500 for 10 min.  Just be sure to let it rest long enough cuz you don't want the inside to start cooking again.

[demosthenes9]

Can you explain again the reason for the brine and cure ? 

[austin87]

@demosthenes9 eye of round is a very lean cut. The cure keeps the meat red (see pics over in Cooks and Recipes, post is called "last night I learned what didn't work") and the brine was to ass a little flavor.

I've made it in the past without brining/curing and it was really good but I cooked that one a little too much (true medium/medium well rather than rare) and it was a little grey and a little dry by itself. Once it got on a sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mayo it was wonderful though.

Basically I'm trying to recreate some awesome deli roast beef at home, complete with the pink/red interior you see at the deli counter.

[demosthenes9]

@demosthenes9 eye of round is a very lean cut. The cure keeps the meat red (see pics over in Cooks and Recipes, post is called "last night I learned what didn't work") and the brine was to ass a little flavor.

I've made it in the past without brining/curing and it was really good but I cooked that one a little too much (true medium/medium well rather than rare) and it was a little grey and a little dry by itself. Once it got on a sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mayo it was wonderful though.

Basically I'm trying to recreate some awesome deli roast beef at home, complete with the pink/red interior you see at the deli counter.

Gotcha.     The cure threw me off a bit.   I do eye of round and sirloin tip roasts to make roast beef and they both come out nice and pink/red, medium rare.  Maybe we're talking about a different kind of pink/red ? 

[austin87]

That looks awesome! That's about what I'm going for, or something like this



What do you with your roast beef and what internal temp do you take it to?

[austin87]

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/bbq-food-pics/last-night-i-learned-what-didn't-work/

Here's the one that didn't work... Great color (cure didn't penetrate to the center pale spot, need to keep it in longer) and it was too salty. Maybe cure isn't the way to go on this.

[demosthenes9]

That looks awesome! That's about what I'm going for, or something like this



What do you with your roast beef and what internal temp do you take it to?

I cook at a low temp, around 200ish and take it to 127ish internal then pull them out and let them rest.   Gives a nice consistent color from edge to edge.