- [Producer] 10 out 10 leftover land?
- Oh, this might be an 11 out of 10.
I told you I was just here for the roast beef sandwich,
and I was not kidding.
This is the only reason I came to work today.
(tone beeping)
Happy holidays, everybody.
I'm Brooke, and I'm in the Delish test kitchen.
It's the season of giving,
so how about you give yourself a gift this year
and overcome all those fears
of cooking big old pieces of beef?
An excellent roast beef is very, very easy,
and it's also versatile.
It's all about the technique,
which means you can get creative with the seasoning.
(upbeat music)
And not to mention an herb covered medium rare roast beef
makes a stunning holiday party centerpiece.
Also, if you're just in this
for the roast beef sandwiches later,
we're the same, and I'm not here to judge.
Let's talk about meats.
The best kind of beef to use for roast beef
is gonna be something that's big and uniform.
So we're talking top round, eye of round,
top sirloin, or bottom round.
I'm using top round today,
but you could also use any of those other cuts I mentioned,
and it would come out beautifully.
If you are confused and you have no idea
top, bottom, round, whoever's round,
whatever I'm talking about,
talk to your butcher, befriend them,
make them your bestie, and they will help you.
So this cut of beef is called top round,
and it comes from the back of the cow,
and the only way I know that is 'cause my butcher told me.
My butcher also trussed this up for me
with this string that you see here,
and what that does is it keeps everything nice in uniform.
So you see like this flappy piece here
would probably want to come off while we're roasting,
but since it's all tied up,
that won't happen, and everything's gonna cook very evenly.
The key to really good roast beef is the crust.
You want a roast beef that has a nice, flavorful,
deeply brown crust to it.
The secret to getting that flavorful crust
on the outside of your roast beef
is to let it sit in the refrigerator
for at least one hour up to overnight completely uncovered.
That'll give the air a chance to dry out
the surface of the meat
so that by the time it hits the oven
that heat will be able to really, really brown
and crisp up that crust.
Good roast beef is all about the technique,
so that means you can get creative
when it comes to the flavors.
We kept it really simple
with some fresh, festive holiday like herbs.
We got some rosemary, thyme, and a little bit of garlic,
but you can do what you want.
You can use your favorite herbs,
whether that's sage or oregano, what have you.
You can also use your favorite go-to spice blend.
Whatever feels good to you, go for it.
Whatever you do though, don't be skimpy about it.
Get the seasoning on there.
You want to make sure you add some salt to that too.
A good rule of thumb is to make it
one teaspoon of kosher salt per one pound of meat,
and you should be good.
I want to have a quick conversation about garlic
and the size that you choose to chop it.
You can go either way.
You can do a really small mince
to make sure it sticks to the outside of the roast,
or you can go a little bit chunkier.
If you go a little bit chunkier,
when it comes out of the oven,
those chunks will be nice and crispy
and roasted perfect pieces of garlic
that make you really excited.
So the first thing we're going to do
is get our herbs chopped up.
Now, to flavor this baby up,
all we're gonna do is mix together
that chopped rosemary, thyme, and garlic
with a little bit of olive oil and salt and pepper.
Mixing it with olive oil makes a nice paste
to make sure you get even covering over the whole roast.
So I took this out of the refrigerator.
It's been a little over an hour,
but like I said, you can go all the way up to overnight,
and what I can see already
is that the outside is already starting to get dry
and a little bit tacky,
so that's gonna make a lovely crust
once we throw it in the oven.
And make sure you don't forget the bottom.
- [Producer] Question time.
- Let's get it.
- [Producer] Okay.
We have a comment.
No, we have a question, not a comment.
We have a question from our YouTube audience.
Brooke.
- Yes.
- [Producer] Do I have to sear my roast beef
before throwing it in the oven?
- You don't.
You really don't.
I know that's like a real traditional thing to do
'cause you're like, how am I gonna get the crust
on the outside if I don't sear it first,
but let me tell you how.
This is how you're gonna put it
into a really, really hot oven.
And like I said, drying the outside out
in the refrigerator for about an hour
will help you get that crust.
You don't need to sear it.
You know I'm not a fan of using more dishes than necessary,
so just put it in the hot oven first,
and then we'll drop the temperature down low
so we don't overcook the whole thing.
So one of the common fears
with cooking pieces of meat this big
is that you're gonna overcook it
or that you're gonna undercook it
or a number of other things,
and that's because big pieces of meat are expensive usually.
You don't really wanna waste all your money.
So the best way to protect
your investment in a large piece of meat
is to use a thermometer.
I know, I know, I know.
You want to be able to poke it
and be like, oh, it's perfect.
Okay, maybe one day, but we're just starting out here,
so use the thermometer.
It's okay.
Nobody's gonna judge you,
especially when they're eating perfectly cooked beef.
So here's the secret to making sure you get that probe
right in the middle of your meat.
You're gonna mime it on the outside of the beef first.
Take the probe, hold it up to the meat,
and see where the halfway point is,
and put your fingers right at the edge.
That way when you are placing your thermometer in
when your fingers stop, you know you're in the center,
and it's that easy, y'all.
So I've got the oven preheated to 450,
and that's going to help cook the outside really fast
to help us get that crust.
And after 15 minutes, we're gonna drop it to 325
to cook low and slow for about an hour and a half.
If you're gonna invest in a piece of meat like this,
invest in a good thermometer too.
Get a probe thermometer with a cord
so that you can see the display
of the temperature inside the meat
sitting on your countertop.
Once that thermometer hits about 130-135,
you're ready to pull that roast beef out of the oven,
but wait, don't cut into it yet.
You need to let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
I know that's tempting to just go ahead and slice into it.
You're hungry, it smells really, really good,
but please wait.
You're gonna need time for those juices
to redistribute throughout the beef
and keep it nice and moist.
If you cut into it right away,
all that delicious juice is gonna spill
all over your cutting board,
and that's really sad.
We don't want that.
Once it's out of the oven and it's rested,
go ahead and snip off the twine that's around it,
and then you can start slicing.
Start from the thinner side of the beef.
Don't slice it long way.
Slice it from the short end,
and make sure the slices are thin.
It's roast beef.
Nobody wants a big old chunky slice of roast beef,
so keep the slices on the thinner side.
Once the beef comes out of the oven,
the outside will be a little bit crispy on the crust,
but you'll see plenty of juices coming through.
The garlic is gonna smell really fragrant,
and it's gonna make your whole house smell
absolutely fantastic.
And then of course, you have those herby smells
of rosemary and thyme,
and as you slice it,
you can start to see how perfectly cooked
it is on the inside.
End to end, it's perfectly pink.
I believe in a full meal,
so I roasted some potatoes to go with this roast beef,
and now I wanna give it a try.
It smells super herby, very garlicy, very beefy,
very just warm and rich in here,
and I'm really excited to dig in.
Okay, I'm gonna try without the potato first,
which is like crazy for me, but let's go.
It's perfect.
It's garlicy.
It's herby, but it's just so beefy.
The beefy flavor is really intense and really rich,
and it's tender.
That is the main thing with roast beef.
You want it to be tender.
Nobody likes tough, chewy roast beef, nobody.
A dish like this is perfect
when you serve with a side of potatoes or rolls,
something really starchy
to kind of pair up with that really rich beefiness.
Also make sure you throw a green in there
so you have something to cut through that fat.
But wait, there's more.
Leftover land.
And let me be honest with y'all really quick,
I'm only here for the roast beef sandwich,
specifically a french dip.
That's what we're doing today
for our leftovers of this beautiful roast beef
that we've made.
Anytime you cook a big piece of meat,
whether it's beef, pork, chicken, turkey, whatever,
save those drippings.
Yes, that fat is flavor.
It's full of flavor, and it can be used to make gravy.
It can be used to make au jus.
it can be used to make a sauce
that's even better than gravy.
Today we're gonna be using it to make jus
to go along with our french dip.
A french dip is like a roast beef sandwich
that's been upgraded, and it has a better job
and has like more money than the roast beef sandwich.
It's just 10 times better.
There's cheese on it,
and you even have like a little gravy sauce
that you can dip it in.
It's actually the perfect sandwich,
and I'm really excited to show you guys how to make it.
All you need to do is take those drippings from the beef
that are in the roasting pan.
You can keep them in the roasting pan,
or you can transfer them to a smaller pot.
Then you're gonna cook off a few sliced onions,
add a little bit of garlic and thyme,
little bit of beef broth, some Worcestershire,
and let that thicken up.
Then you're gonna assemble your sandwich.
The sandwich part is super easy.
To assemble it, take a nice fluffy roll,
pile with thinly sliced roast beef,
a little bit of provolone,
bake it for 10 minutes so it gets nice and melty
and delicious.
Then it's ready to eat.
Make sure you do a full dip in that jus.
Don't be shy about it.
These are out of the oven.
They're nice and melty,
and I can see the beef coming through in the bottom.
My favorite part though, the bread got nice and crispy.
What that means that when we dip it in the jus,
the jus gonna suck up into that bread
and make it super flavorful.
So this bread is super toasty,
and I wanna see how loud of a crunch.
(bread crunching)
Oh, oh.
I love a generous dunk,
so we'll see how messy this gets.
So the bread did exactly what I wanted it to do.
It stayed a little crispy on the outside,
but the middle got nice and soggy,
and that beef, oh my god, so tender,
and you have the melty cheese
to kind of bring it all together.
You can see the beef is still nice and medium.
It didn't overcook in the oven.
It just got nice and warm,
and the cheese had a chance to melt.
But you can see how like soggy the bread got,
but not in a bad way.
It's a good soggy,
and it really balances nicely with that beefy meatiness
and the melty cheese.
- [Producer] 10 out of 10 leftover land?
- Oh, this might be an 11 out of 10.
I told you I was just here for the roast beef sandwich,
and I was not kidding.
This is the only reason I came to work today.
So I know everybody loves a Thanksgiving leftover sandwich,
but to be completely honest,
none of those will hold a candle to this french dip.
This is like a meal in and of itself,
and also this is just a good thing to have
in your back pocket if you want a french dip in May or March
or October or August or whatever when it's not Christmas.
Mmm.
Roast beef is super versatile,
and it's also really delicious.
As long as you nail that technique,
you can use whatever seasonings your heart desires
as long as you get that nice crusty exterior
and that really tender medium to medium rare inside.
Absolutely perfect.
For more holiday mains like this one,
head on over to delish.com all season long.
(upbeat music)