Beef Roast Au Jus

adapted from A Smith’s recipe on www.allrecipes.com

1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules
½ teaspoon celery salt
½ teaspoon ground cayenne powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon mustard powder
Beef roast (up to 4 lbs)- London Broil, Eye of Round, or Sirloin Tip
1 packet dry onion soup mixed with 1 ½ cups water

Mix dry spices in a small bowl. Rub onto all surfaces of the roast. Place the roast(s) in a slow cooker and add liquids.

Cover, and cook on low for 8 plus hours. When the meat is tender and well done, transfer roast to a serving platter. Skim fat from juice, serve with meat. Optional: thinly slice or shred meat an hour or two before serving and return to cooker. Then serve on toasted hamburger buns or French type rolls

(The whole family really enjoyed this roast-John and kids thought it was one of the best they remembered. I liked how easy it was to get started, come back and cut up and then serve-all between dealing with newborn lambs and other chores. The spices in the rub are all changeable to make the mixture better match your family’s tastes. I used a 4 plus year old beef rump roast I found when I cleaned out the family’s deep freeze and the meat was quite tasty and tender. The slices that had the rub on them had quite a bit of zip-so you might want to shred the meat or avoid serving those slices to those with more delicate palates. Homemade whole wheat hamburger buns were a great accompaniment. We hope you’ll give it a try and let us know what you think.)

Cooking Roasts on the Grill

Adapted from 1-2-3- Grill It! Beef brochure

The main key to roasting larger pieces of meat on the grill is to use indirect heat. While roasts like London Broil and butterflied Leg of Lamb are relatively flat and under 2 inches in thickness, other roasts like a beef eye of round or rib eye roasts are more compact and thicker. Direct heat methods will overcook the outside of these roasts, but leave the center too rare. If you have a charcoal grill the directions for indirect cooking are as follows (Gas grill owners scroll down):

1. Prepare charcoal grill for indirect cooking by igniting an equal number of charcoal briquets on each side of fire grate, leaving open space in the center. When the coals are medium, ash-covered (25 to 30 minutes), add 3 to 4 new briquets to each side. Place aluminum foil drip pan in center between coals.
2. Position cooking grid with handles over coals so additional briquets may be added when necessary. Season roast with herds or spices, as desired. Place roast on cooking grid directly over drip pan.
3. Cover with grill lid and grill over medium heat for time indicated in recipe, or until the thickest part of the roast reaches internal temperature desired. Turning is usually not necessary. Add 3 to 4 additional briquets to each side every 30 minutes our as necessary to maintain proper heat during grilling.
4. Ribeye roasts weighing 3 to a4 lbs should take 70 to 90* minutes to achieve medium rare, and meat should be removed from heat at 135 degrees. Eye of Round roasts weighing 2 to 3 lbs should take 50 to 70* minutes to achieve medium rare, and meat should be removed from heat at 130 degrees. Tenderloin Roasts weighing 2 to 3 lbs should take 35 to 45* minutes to achieve medium rare, and meat should be removed from heat at 135 degrees
5. When roast reaches internal temperature, transfer it to carving board; tend loosely with aluminum foil. Let roast stand 10 to 15 minutes. Temperature will continue to rise about 10 to 15 degrees to reach desired doneness and roast will be easier to carve.

* These time estimates are based on conventional beef, grass-fed meat may cook as much as 30% faster. We strongly recommend the use of a digital meat thermometer that can be set to alert you when the meat is approaching the desired temperature.

Those of us with gas grills have to improvise a method for indirect grilling. The idea is to always have the meat be above a lower flame, with the heat coming from the other side of the grill. Keep the lid of the grill down as much as possible to retain the heat. What I have found to work well is to:

1. Preheat the grill to high. Season meat as desired.
2. Just before placing roast on the grill, turn one side to low (the other side should be turned down to medium to medium high). Roast should be placed on this side of the grill, along the outside edge.
3. Periodically move (roll) the roast across the side of the grill on low. When you reach the middle, switch the temperatures on the two sides so the meat is once again over a low flame.
4. Carefully watch your digital meat thermometer so your roast can be removed at 130 to 135 degrees.
5. After removing the roast, tend it loosely with aluminum foil and let temperature rise to 140 (rare) to 145 (medium-rare).
6. Less tender cuts should be thinly sliced against the grain of the meat.

This method yielded a very nice eye of round roast. John was very impressed with how nicely the roast turned out, as was I. We have had great success with grilling shoulder roasts, leg of lamb, London broils in the past with variations of this method (depending on the thickness of the meat). We plan to try this method with a bone-in shoulder roast, and a beef sirloin tip roast in the near future. We hope you will try this method, and then help us refine the description based upon your experiences.