Round roast/ old welly?

heldel00

Bought a round roast in Dunnes last week. We had it yesterday and to say it was dreadful would be an understatement.
I sealed it in the pan, placed it on a few carrots, cooked it at 180 for 45 mins (was only 900ish..g) and it looked the bizz when i took it but it was like chewing rubber.
So disappointed because i had all the trimmings to go with it. What did i do wrong? Probably buying a round roast was mistake number 1? And not from butcher was number 2?
There's only myself, husband and two little ones so nothing too big but I'd like it for sandwiches too. What cut should i be looking for?

Thanks

TomOnBoard

heldel00 wrote: »

Bought a round roast in Dunnes last week. We had it yesterday and to say it was dreadful would be an understatement.
I sealed it in the pan, placed it on a few carrots, cooked it at 180 for 45 mins (was only 900ish..g) and it looked the bizz when i took it but it was like chewing rubber.
So disappointed because i had all the trimmings to go with it. What did i do wrong? Probably buying a round roast was mistake number 1? And not from butcher was number 2?
There's only myself, husband and two little ones so nothing too big but I'd like it for sandwiches too. What cut should i be looking for?

Thanks

Possibly the meat was too fresh, I.e not aged enough. The cut is fine, but it doesn't lend itself to fast cooking.

I often find supermarket meat is like that. But it's cheaper than the butcher, I know. I find that slow cooking for longer at a lower temperature, preferably in a small cooking bag or dutch oven makes for a more tender result. However, for the special offer roasts, the use of the pressure cooker gives the best results of all.

odyssey06

Sounds more like rib roast you should be looking for if you want to cook it like that?

But rather than sear it, 20 mins in oven at 220.

heldel00

I have done the round roast before in slow cooker but too stringy for my liking.
I'd be shot if i bought another kitchen gadget and i think I'd always be suspicious of a pressure cooker! Too quick!

Rib roast Odyssey - would a butcher give you a nice little bit for two people or is it only larger pieces they'd have?

B0jangles

Round roast has very little fat so it tends to get very dry when it's stewed, slow-cooked, or roasted to anything beyond rare.

I use it in stir-fries and that's about it - thinly sliced, marinaded and then cooked hot and fast it's fine. The lack of fat or connective tissue means trimming it is very easy too.

Rib roast is the bee knees for roasting!

odyssey06

heldel00 wrote: »

Rib roast Odyssey - would a butcher give you a nice little bit for two people or is it only larger pieces they'd have?

These are the cuts:
http://www.fxbuckleybutchers.ie/meat/beef/boneless-rib-roast.html
http://www.fxbuckleybutchers.ie/meat/beef/rib-roast-on-the-bone.html

If butcher still has it on the bone you might be lucky, he could slice you off two ribs worth.

Most places will have prepared it as boneless rib roast so you're stuck with whatever sizes are available - 1.2 kg is about the smallest I've seen in my Supervalu butchers counter.

LIDL has a 1.2 kg rib roast on the bone for €13, there's a bit of waste on that though as it is still on the bone but we find that it's nicer cooked on the bone.

Good guide here for cooking times:
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/food/448259/Mary-Berry-s-Festive-Feasts-Roast-Prime-Rib-Of-Beef-and-Classic-Mince-Pies

heldel00

Brilliant. Thank you. I have to prove to my husband that i can do a roast as good as his mammy!

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

the beer revolu

OP, your only mistake was in buying round roast.

As others have said, you want rib roast on or off the bone or if you want to spend a bit more, sirloin roast can be very nice.

Your average butcher sells pretty much the same meat as the supermarkets.
A really good butcher, on the other hand, is a very different thing. These butchers are in the minority.

Dizzyblonde

heldel00, you'll do roast beef way better than his mammy if you buy Aldi's Black Angus beef rib roast on the bone. I rub salt, ground black pepper and garlic granules (not garlic salt) into it and roast it for 2 hours at 170C.

There's no point at all in buying a small piece of beef to roast because it shrivels up. The Aldi one will cost around €20-€22 but will easily feed 5. I just slice the leftovers and freeze them, then defrost and heat in the oven sprinkled with a little water and covered in tinfoil. It tastes every bit as good as it does on the day you first cooked it.

humberklog

Like everyone else here- rib eye roast (I prefer it with bone). Lidl and Aldi do lovely ones.

I'd season it and sear it on a griddle pan first and pop it into the oven for a while. But when I take it out I'd wrap it well in tinfoil and then into a freezer bag (to stop the juices running out) and then into a thermo lunch bag and leave it for 20minutes up to an hour or even much longer.

TomOnBoard

Melendez wrote: »

Sous vide makes a good job of a round roast. 54-57C for at least 10 hours (16 hours better, I haven't gone past that) followed by a quick sear.

From my research, I love how the sous vide method works. I'd love to try it out but like the OP, I'd get strung up by the OH if I bought any more equipment. I do have the Pressure Cooker which does an awesome job of cuts like the round roast or even the housekeeper's cut, so I'll stick with that and load up on Tesco's Angus round roasts, regularly available for €8.99 a Kg. (Rather than the €17-25 per kg for rib roast). Marinated in a mix of flavours and liquids for a couple of hours, then into the PC for 40 minutes... Mmmmmmm!

ellejay

heldel00 wrote: »

I have done the round roast before in slow cooker but too stringy for my liking.
I'd be shot if i bought another kitchen gadget and i think I'd always be suspicious of a pressure cooker! Too quick!

Rib roast Odyssey - would a butcher give you a nice little bit for two people or is it only larger pieces they'd have?

I think I accidently found the secret to Round Roast.
I put the remainder of the round roast in the fridge overnight and it sliced beautifully the next day. Thought it tasted better too.

Heated it up the old fashioned way with gravy and it was lovely!

(originally cooked in slow cooker)

TomOnBoard

the beer revolu wrote: »

OP, your only mistake was in buying round roast.

As others have said, you want rib roast on or off the bone or if you want to spend a bit more, sirloin roast can be very nice.

Your average butcher sells pretty much the same meat as the supermarkets.
A really good butcher, on the other hand, is a very different thing. These butchers are in the minority.

Established butchers are way more likely to treat their produce better than supermarket staff (exception of SuperValu chaps who were formerly Superquinn). They use a cold room to dry age their meat and hold it for longer. Many of them also source their beef from known sources rather than as generic packs of wet-aged stuff that is full of water.

the beer revolu

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Established butchers are way more likely to treat their produce better than supermarket staff (exception of SuperValu chaps who were formerly Superquinn). They use a cold room to dry age their meat and hold it for longer. Many of them also source their beef from known sources rather than as generic packs of wet-aged stuff that is full of water.

That'd be the good butchers you are talking about.
Most butchers sell the wet aged, pre butchered meat that the supermarkets sell. Big vac packs of meat that they slice and place in trays behind their counter - often covered in bought in sauce.

This common assertion that all butchers have better meat that the supermarkets is nonsense. You need to know your butcher.

TomOnBoard

the beer revolu wrote: »

That'd be the good butchers you are talking about.
Most butchers sell the wet aged, pre butchered meat that the supermarkets sell. Big vac packs of meat that they slice and place in trays behind their counter - often covered in bought in sauce.

This common assertion that all butchers have better meat that the supermarkets is nonsense. You need to know your butcher.

As in most things, I try to speak based on what I know. Where I live, and maybe I'm lucky, any butcher I know can offer exactly what Ive described. Indeed, a number of them only buy their beef and lamb from local farmers that are named in the shop. One shop about 5 miles from me only offers beef and lamb/mutton from their own farm. I don't know any local butchers who do the same with pork and bacon. Most of that does seem to come from factory fed and butchered animals.

The only supermarket butchers that I've ever come across that emulate the local more rural higher- quality/standard independent butchers are the former Superquinn teams in Lucan and Blackrock.

BTW, I'm only talking about roasts, steaks and more expensive cuts. I've no doubt that the sugar coating sauces are hiding lower quality product why is why I don't buy them

BailMeOut

if you like to cook roasts then other than the meat the best investment is a remote meat Meat Thermometer as cooking a roast by weight and time pure guess work. Get yourself one like this and cook the meat based on internal temperature and it will always be done perfectly. For beef I only roast aged rib roast on the bone and the will cook until internal temp is 55C (after resting).