Few meats are as tender, juicy and flavorful as good roast beef, yet none is easier to prepare. It needs nothing beyond salt and pepper and proper cooking. And although it is most commonly sliced thin, it also can be carved thick and served like steak, especially if you start with sirloin.
Filet, or tenderloin, is supremely tender but is expensive and nearly tasteless. If you cook it, you will need a sauce. Standing rib, the other common cut, is great but is usually sold in unwieldy large cuts.
Most supermarkets are aware of these challenges and offer cuts of round as “roast beef.” Round is the top part of the rear leg of the steer, and round by any name–eye round, top round, bottom round–is simply not tender enough to roast.
Sirloin strip, though, is ideal for roasting. Also called New York strip, it has great texture and flavor, a reasonable price and can be cooked quickly and easily. This is the same cut that makes for some of the best steaks.
The only drawback is that larger pieces are not routinely offered for sale. You have to tell the butcher you want a 2- or 3-pound piece of sirloin strip, essentially a steak cut as a roast.
Roasting is simple: Brown it in the oven, first on top, then on the bottom, and finally on each side. This method should leave it as crisp on the outside as if it had been grilled; the inside will be rare and juicy. A meat thermometer can help you judge doneness. It pays to undercook the meat slightly and let it sit for a few minutes before carving; this step not only makes carving easier but also prevents overcooking.
This technique will work for larger roasts of sirloin strip as well; the cooking time will not be appreciably longer for a roast of 4 or 5 pounds because the meat is of relatively uniform thickness.
The meat is excellent plain, but you can also make a quick red wine sauce for it after you remove the meat from the skillet. Just combine two cups of red wine with a quarter cup of minced shallots in the pan and reduce over high heat until about half a cup of syrupy liquid remains. Stir in a tablespoon of butter and some salt and pepper and spoon the sauce over the sliced meat.
ROAST SIRLOIN
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
1 piece sirloin strip roast, 2 1/2 to 3 pounds
Salt, freshly ground pepper
1. Place heavy skillet, large enough to hold the roast, in oven. Heat oven to 500 degrees. Sprinkle meat liberally on all sides with salt and pepper.
2. Place meat in hot pan, with top (fatty) side down. Roast 10 minutes. Turn; roast fatty side up 10 minutes. Turn to one side; roast 5 minutes. Turn to other side; roast until browned on all sides, 5 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted into center of meat about 1 inch from one end registers 120 degrees for rare to medium rare. (Cook longer if you like; from this point on meat will increase a stage of doneness every 3-5 minutes.)
3. Remove roast from oven; let rest 5-10 minutes. Carve; serve with its juices or with simple pan sauce.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 475 Fat …………. 36 g Saturated fat .. 15 g
% calories from fat .. 70 Cholesterol … 110 mg Sodium …….. 85 mg
Carbohydrates ……. 0 g Protein ……… 35 g Fiber ……….. 0 g
