beef eye of round roast. **need input**

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dalton

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Oct 26, 2010
129
10
I decied to try an eye of round roast tonight.  they were cheap at costco so I thought why not.

here is my how I preped it.

unwaped it from the shrink wrap and gave it a quick rinse.

sprayed it down with a little olive oil and apple juice mix

gave it a coating of my home made rub (garlic,onion,salt, pepper, celery salt, allspice)

wraped in plastic wrap and let sit for about an hour

placed in treager at 225 until internal temp of 148. (about 2.5 hours)

wraped in foil and let rest for 45 min.

sliced and served with gravy

here is my question...

the flavor was fabulas!

it was juicy

nice light smoke ring

but...  it was a bit tough...   any suggestions??

here is my thought...  I like my meat a bit on the rare side (juciy and flavorful) but for a very lean piece of meat like this do I need to take it up to a higher temp to get it more tender?  should I just plan on it being a little dry and use the gravy for moisture?  or is the eye of round cut just not well suited for this?  I have made excellent beef jerky using it but never tried a roast like this

i tried to take pics but they didn't survive the transfer  lol

thanks in advance for your input

dalton
 
IMO I think that for an eye of round roast you're going to have to take it up a bit higher to get it more tender. It's lean and a cut that's going to require taking it to a higher temperature low and slow to achieve more tenderness. I would probably foil it while it is still cooking at 150-155 deg. then take it to 160-165 before resting it something similar you did maybe even in a cooler some time. Foiled around an hour prior pulling it out from cooking. You can also try setting it in a foil pan later that you had been using for drippings a shelf or two below if you wanted to go that route once it got to the 140-145 deg. area.

I probably take roasts like these to higher temps than most.

Something I do is when I first put something like a roast in a cooker, I'll have my initial temp as much as 75-100 degrees higher right when I set it in for a short while before backing off to the 225-235 range to singe and seal the outside a bit sealing in the juices a little more. For a small to medium-sized roast no more than maybe 10-20 minutes, initially hotter. A little longer if it's pretty good sized.

Another thing if you hadn't, make sure to bring your roast up to about room temp. set to cook. If it's still chilly that can affect tenderness of meat and warming is going to aid in more uniform cooking.
 
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I'm sorry Mark this Mark thinks that you had a bad piece of meat or like you said you took it from the frig straight into the smoker.?? Now I have done a couple but not that many I like a sirloin tip for sammies. It to is a very lean hunk of meat and I only take it to maybe 140° and then let it rest and then slice it. I usually eat some of it the first night and then put it into the refrig overnight and then slice it and if you need throw it into the freezer for a little bit to stiffen it up before putting it on the slicer.
 
Like Mark said maybe you did just get a bad piece of meat. I only take mine to 135, & rest it. Refrigerate it then slice thin across the grain. I prefer sirloin tip too.
 
I'm not seeing the pictures..is my computer broke??

  Craig
 
I use eye round for cured dried beef because it is so lean.

The only thing I can tell you is basically what Al said.

If you're gonna smoke eye round, which is very lean and not a tender cut, smoke it to however rare you like, but then partially freeze it & slice it very thin.

Bear
 
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I'm sorry Mark this Mark thinks that you had a bad piece of meat or like you said you took it from the frig straight into the smoker.?? Now I have done a couple but not that many I like a sirloin tip for sammies. It to is a very lean hunk of meat and I only take it to maybe 140° and then let it rest and then slice it. I usually eat some of it the first night and then put it into the refrig overnight and then slice it and if you need throw it into the freezer for a little bit to stiffen it up before putting it on the slicer.
Ditto 145° tops
 
 
Thanks for the input. That is pretty much what I thought. Next time unwell take it to a Higher temp

Thanks again
 
You may also want to remove from the refrigerator about an hour before smoking.

I grill my roast's but slice em down, have never smoked a whole roast yet but will try, I know this is a bit off topic but I have had great success with the following method for grilling, in case you are interested.

What I usually do is slice the roast cold about 1" to 1-1/4" thick

Salt heavily with kosher salt about an hour

Rinse salt blot dry

tenderize with a Jaccard

Sear on grill

1-1/2 minutes

turn 45-90 degrees 1 minute

flip 1 minute

turn 90 degrees 1 minute.
 
I have done sevral sirlions the same way I did the eye of round and they all turned out great!  but then again the sirlion is a much better cut of meat than the eye of round.  I usually take them to about 143-145 let rest over night and slice.  they never last long in the fridge.

thanks for all the input
 
The biggest variance in eye of round that I have found is directly proportional to the amount of Fixodent I use...
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Just did one in the USD for Easter.
Turned out real good. Poor mans brisket.

1. Rub w/ garlic infused olive oil(soak the chopped garlic in the oil for @ least a day)

2. Dry rub, wrap in cellophane & fridge over night.

3. Pull it of fridge hour before smoke time.

4. Ugly Drum Smoker: mesquite, oak & plum wood. Meat on top rack. Water pan with boiling water (1/2 gal), Worcestershire sauce (1/2 cup), soy sauce (1/4 cup), sesame oil (1/4 tsp) directly under meat on lower rack between meat & coal basket. 230-250 degrees for 3 1/2 hours.

5. Double wrap in foil with BBQ sauce, honey garlic. 3 1/2 more hours @ 230 degrees in smoker or oven.

6. Double wrap (again) in foil, double wrap in towels and put in a dry empty ice chest for at least 1 hour, but not more than 5 hours.

7. Cut against the grain & serve like brisket with BBQ sauce. As good@ 1/2 the price.

8. Enjoy Ya'll.
 
I did a chuck roast yesterday. I chose one high in fat and injected it with melted butter. I cured it first and then injected it. Put a rub on it and cold smoked it. Then wrapped it on plastic for 2 days. Then I grilled it. It was still a little tough, but very tasty!
 
I did a chuck roast yesterday. I chose one high in fat and injected it with melted butter. I cured it first and then injected it. Put a rub on it and cold smoked it. Then wrapped it on plastic for 2 days. Then I grilled it. It was still a little tough, but very tasty!
Cured it with what?

Any Pics??

Not saying it can't be done, but I never saw a cured Chucky.
 

Bear
 
 
Cured it with what?

Any Pics??

Not saying it can't be done, but I never saw a cured Chucky.
 

Bear
I don't have any pics Bear but I cured a chuck last year. I lost track of one in my freezer & it was in there longer than I like.  
hit.gif
 I discovered it & was gonna just use it for chili but curiosity got the best of me so I cured it with #1 in a brine & smoked it (& then made chili with it 
tongue.gif
)  As crazy as it probably sounds it actually wasn't bad 
th_dunno-1%5B1%5D.gif
 
 
I halved the recipe of Pop's wet curing brine. It got vacuum sealed and left in the fridge for 3 days. I used a hickory rub. Smoked it for 3 hours with sugar maple pellets. Then it was reverse seared on a grill the next day.

It was a little tough, but very tasty and juicy.

No pics. I was pressed for time and making it up as I went along.
 
 
I don't have any pics Bear but I cured a chuck last year. I lost track of one in my freezer & it was in there longer than I like.  
hit.gif
 I discovered it & was gonna just use it for chili but curiosity got the best of me so I cured it with #1 in a brine & smoked it (& then made chili with it 
tongue.gif
)  As crazy as it probably sounds it actually wasn't bad 
th_dunno-1%5B1%5D.gif
 
I figured maybe you did, because you've been curing meats for a year & a half now, but I was asking for pics from wy will. I find Chuckies to be a bit fatty for curing.  Making Chili with it sounds like an excellent idea.
I halved the recipe of Pop's wet curing brine. It got vacuum sealed and left in the fridge for 3 days. I used a hickory rub. Smoked it for 3 hours with sugar maple pellets. Then it was reverse seared on a grill the next day.

It was a little tough, but very tasty and juicy.

No pics. I was pressed for time and making it up as I went along.
OK---Thanks Will !! Like I said, I wasn't saying it can't be done, I just never saw one. I wouldn't think it would be as good as a Chucky that wasn't cured, just because of the fatty nature of the beast. However I would have never thought it would be tough. Hmmmm.

Well Thanks again, Will !!  I appreciate your reply.

Bear
 
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