We may not eat a lot of beef any more but other than the occasional steak, this is our way favorite way to have it. It’s always tender and juicy and it makes the best sandwiches in the world. Why do I call this recipe roast beast instead of roast beef? Because it works well with all kinds of meats. Like venison, it works perfectly with venison and we love venison.
However, I don’t actually roast it. I believe it would be more correct to call it braised beast but that turn of phrase just does not make my mouth water. What does make my mouth water is the end result.
There are so many wonderful things you can do with some tender cooked beast. You can make sandwiches like I already mentioned, you can have it plain on a plate like the pic shows, you can put it in burritos, soups and stews, it’s an excellent choice for pizza, it perks up a ramen really well, heck I’ve even tossed some on a salad.
There are so many different ways to use a nicely cooked bit of beast that I can’t list them all. So let’s get to cooking instead. This is a crockpot recipe.
Roast Beast – 1
roast
salt
vegetable oil
water or broth or stock
Depending on the size of your crockpot and of the available roasts you might need 2 roasts. My seven quart crockpot can hold 2 four pound roasts, depending on what shape they are, which is about the largest I can get here without asking the butcher to special cut one for me. Most of the ones I find on sale are usually 3 – 3.5 lbs. I only buy the cheapest cut of meat and this recipe guarantees it won’t taste cheap when it’s done.
The first thing I do is lightly salt the meat if I’m doing beef. Make sure you salt all the sides of the roast, not just the top and bottom as you would if it was a steak.
Next we are going to pan sear it to lock in as much flavor as possible. Seriously, if you don’t sear it first you will notice the end result is much blander. As for how much oil you need in your pan, that varies. If your roast has a nice fatty bit on it then you just need enough oil to start the searing process as some of that fat will render out to help you. If your roast is really lean you’ll need a bit more. Judge for yourself, if the meat sticks to the pan then add more oil. Be sure you sear the meat on all sides. Get a nice brown to it but don’t char it. After the roast is fully seared add it to the crockpot. Repeat if you are doing more than 1 roast. Turn down the heat under your skillet and add about a half cup of water, stirring to scrape up all those yummy bits stuck to the pan. Once you get all the bits loosened just dump that right into the crockpot too.
Now you need to fill up your crockpot with water/broth/stock to about an inch below where the lid sets. Turn it on high, put the lid on and leave it for about an hour. This should bring the liquid up to temperature quickly. After that hour has passed set your crockpot to low and cook it overnight. I usually start searing mine around 9 or 10 pm in order to have it for dinner the next day. My crockpot has a timer limit of 10 hours so when it runs out the next morning I usually set it for another 6 hours. Why cook it for so long? Because I like my beast super tender and it makes it much easier to shred later on.
**** As you can see I start with stock. This is one of my lazy cook things. I actually freeze the stock after the roast is done so I can use it in the next roast. I like a super rich stock for my soups and stews. This pic shows, from top to bottom, a single use stock, a double and a triple. I labeled them 1, 2 or 3 when I froze them. When I make a stew I prefer to use a number 4, while a 3 is good for soup. The 2 can be used for ramen if you don’t water it down any, while the 1 is so weak it’s only good for a warm beverage by itself. These are 2 C containers and I usually get 4 – 5 when I do a roast. If I don’t have enough stock in the freezer to meet the needs of the roast then I add the bare amount of water necessary. The bigger the roasts are the less liquid you need.
I know I could just add bullion to water when I make a soup or stew but that just doesn’t taste right to me.
Have a happy!
TT
Tiger Talks 