Top of the Round Roast

• Produce

  • 1/4 tsp Garlic powder per
  • 1 tsp Herbs per, fresh

• Baking & Spices

  • 1/4 tsp Pepper per, freshly ground
  • 3/4 tsp Salt per

• Oils & Vinegars

  • 2 tbsp Olive oil

• Other

  • 1 Top of the round roast, about 3-4 pounds

Found on afamilyfeast.com

Description

Directions

• Mix herbs and spices and coat beef. Place beef in gallon zipper seal bag 24 hours prior to cooking. (So if you want it for dinner tomorrow at 6:00 PM, it needs to go into the bag tonight at 4:00 PM to allow for 2 hours cooking time.) If you remove it sooner than 24 hours, some of the liquid that the beef gives up in this process will not have worked its way back into the meat and it will roast up dry.
• Refrigerate and after 24 hours, and two hours before serving preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
• Remove the beef from the bag and pat dry with paper towels. The only liquid should be just a little surface moisture.
• Heat a cast iron skillet to smoking hot and add olive oil. When the oil is shimmering and hot, add beef and sear on all sides, top and bottom for about 2 minutes on each side. Have a sheet pan or roasting pan ready with an oven proof rack in it.
• Once the meat is completely seared, place on rack in pan, if using, insert remote meat thermometer into the thickest part of the roast and place in oven. (Our roast was 3.3 pounds and took exactly 95 minutes to get to 135 degrees for medium rare.) After it is removed from oven and sits, it will cook to 145 degrees so removing at 135 is the perfect temperature. If you are not using a remote thermometer, test for doneness with probe thermometer at the 90 minute mark.
• The bits left in the cast iron skillet should be discarded. The searing process sears the meat but burns the herbs so what is left in the skillet after searing is not usable for gravy. However what drips onto the bottom of the sheet pan or roasting pan after it comes out of the oven is usable. See below for a simple gravy.
• After the roast comes out, leave thermometer inserted and tent the roast with foil. Let rest for 15 minutes. Make gravy (if desired) while the meat rests.
• After it rests, slice on an angle against the grain and serve. Some more liquid will drip as you slice. Add that liquid to your homemade gravy (see notes below for gravy guidelines.)