About Me
I'm a Melbourne boy, hailing from St Kilda with one ex, one current wife and four kids. Love the outdoors and making new discoveries. I cook a lot at home (cheers from wife) and do some preserving, mostly jams, pickles and fruit liqueurs. This is the diary of a cooking journey.

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Sunday, May 11, 2008
Rolled Roast Beef


Clothing fashion is a funny thing. What is cutting edge one year can suddenly find itself in the charity bin the next. So it is with food, many are searching for the next great taste or texture and in the process some wonderful dishes can so easily be discarded or just forgotten.

There is no doubt that molecular gastronomy is the haute couture of the moment. Its very nature of cutting edge experimental ism sometimes changes the way we perceive food, achieved by rather unconventional and even bizarre cooking methods often involving food chemistry, which can make us forget in all the dazzling excitement of the new, just how good some of the dishes of an earlier time really were.



This particular roast is a pertinent example of that. When I was growing up, roast beef at home always meant one thing, unless one grew up in the posh suburbs of Toorak or Brighton where a standing rib roast was king - everywhere else, rolled roast reigned. Every butcher's cabinet held this cut of meat, for good reason too, it always cooked up a treat and full of glorious flavour, which the nobler and much more expensive eye fillet really lacks.

But these days one rarely or never sees this cut; as society has grown more affluent, we all like to have the prime cuts for roasting, eye fillet, rib roast and so on. The lesser cuts have largely been left behind and in these days of high heat roasting, no one remembers how to cook them, for if they are treated in the same way as the prime cuts, the result will be tough and chewy meat, leaving no desire for a repeat performance.




So this last Mother's day, I decided it was time for a revival of the rolled roast. My sister-in-law was excited to hear what I was cooking as she remembered how good it was too. My local butcher, Zepp, from Ormond Meat & Smallgoods (9578 5049), also seemed happy about producing something from a bygone time.

He explained to me that this particular cut is a flap from the top rib, next to the rib eye (scotch fillet) which explains its good flavour and that in order to get a nice round rolled shape, some of the brisket is added in. In the old days, butchers used to spear the roast with wooden skewers held in place with twine to hold the roast together - but simply tied on the outside with loops of twine works just as well, then there is no need to remove the skewers before carving.

In order to tenderize a tough piece of meat without drying it out, it needs to be cooked long and slow, very slow. Pretty much regardless of weight, a rolled roast needs about 3 hours at 140c and we covered ours with foil, lifting it off for the last half hour to slightly brown the roast. There was also plenty of meat juice with which to make the gravy.

Because of the long cooking, this will never be rare or medium rare, the meat will be fully cooked through, but when done right, retains all its juices and becomes oh so tender with magnificent beef flavour. As it's rolled, when carving, there is a tendency for it to unroll or fall apart. To counter this, slices need to be at least 1cm thick, so a single slice becomes a portion.

Bother your butcher and get him to tie one up, you won't be leading the fashion field, but you will be wearing your comfiest slippers.
 
  posted at 5:05 pm
  9 comments



9 Comments:
At 11:24 am, Blogger MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

I'm always happy with comfiest slippers and rolled roast! Fashion is fine but life is not nearly as rich if we forget the tried and true! Lovely roast man.

 
At 9:12 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Neil-great recipe. This is my fave way to cook meat-long & slow.
Patience is always rewarded!

 
At 5:53 am, Blogger Katie Zeller said...

We bever had our roast 'rolled' but it was the standard Sunday dinner, browned in a skillet, then braised for a few hours... wunderful!
Here in France they tie everything and one never knows for sure what's in the middle...
I suppose, to be fashionable, one could 'mist' gravy on it....

 
At 12:32 pm, Blogger neil said...

Hi tanna, to true, we don't forget our old friends. It was definitely the tasiest beef roast I've had in a long time.

Hi gobbler, the weekends are tailor-made for roasting like this and the bonus is the whole house smells great too.

Hi katiez, here in Oz, lamb is probably the king of roasts, but beef makes a welcome change, especially when it's this good. Mystery roasts huh, good luck with that!

 
At 9:37 pm, Blogger Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Oh my goodness, I haven't had a rolled roast in years. Now I'm reminded of how delicious it was. I wonder if any of the butchers around here remember how to prepare this cut?

 
At 1:13 pm, Blogger neil said...

Hi lydia, I hope they do, everyone who was at that lunch is still talking about the beef.

 
At 11:22 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Never heard of a rolled roast, but I've been looking for inspiration for my first roast of the season...will have to see if my butcher can hook me up with a cut for this!

 
At 9:07 am, Blogger Angie said...

This was the roast of my childhood and I had forgotten about the skewers. I also found when I was first married and had been given a crock pot for a wedding present that a rolled roast cooked as a pot roast in it was absolutely fantastic. It is still my adult kids comfort meal. The main problem today is that the younger butchers (anyone under the age of 55) does not know about the original rolled roast. I am now goibg to bookmark your post and shove it under my butchers nose with a photo from the Womens Weekly recipe card file and tell him this is what I want. Thank you so very much.

 
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