How To Cook Your Roast Beef To Perfection

Roast beef seems like a pretty straightforward dish, but time and time again, even seasoned culinary academy students find themselves with bland, overcooked roasts. To the surprise of many, though, roasts are actually quite easy to make when you work out the little kinks. Whether you prefer the slow cooker or the oven, here’s what you should know about the classic Sunday night dinner:

Don’t let your roast get too tough.

Pick the right cut
If you’re looking to cook a tender medium or medium rare roast, make sure you’re choosing a tender cut of beef. Bon Appetit suggests using a rib roast with the bones and fat cap intact or beef tenderloin. If you choose tougher cut, like a chuck or brisket, you’ll have to roast it a bit longer to ensure it’s tender enough to serve. If you choose a cut that’s too lean, though, you’ll end up with a chewy roast, no matter how well you cook it. When you’re considering cuts of meat at the grocery store, look for ones that have marbling, so the juiciness from the fat seeps into the whole cut of meat. It also helps to allow the meat to come to room temperature before you begin roasting it.

Season early
Don’t start cooking your roast without seasoning. While you might think if you cook the roast perfectly, the meat will be flavorful enough to nix the seasoning all together, that simply isn’t true. You can keep your seasoning simple, with just a little bit of kosher salt and cracked pepper, or you can spice it up a little more with some rosemary and thyme. But for everyone who will be eating the roast’s sake, season it with something!

Don’t rush it
Do you know why roast is such a traditional Sunday meal? Because Sundays are known as a relaxing, leisurely day. They’re the perfect day to allow your roast to sit in the slow cooker for at least six hours​, filling the house with the savory scent. A lot of people think that covering the roast in the oven will speed up the cooking process, but that just steams the meat. Take the time to prepare it around noon and you’ll be able to enjoy your roast by dinnertime! If you choose the oven method, try searing it first, and make sure you allow the roast to stand for about 20 minutes before serving it.