Perfect Medium-Rare Roast Beef

I grew up when Sunday dinner was a weekly "must" either at home, grandparents, or other relatives. While many dinners offered roast chicken, chicken and dumplings, or pot roast, a Roast Beef Dinner garnered the most attention and raves, as folks talked about taste, "doneness,"  and women discussed their methods.

Roasts must be crusty on the outside and ends, medium-rare as possible inside, tender, and thinly sliced. Who got the end pieces was open to negotiation!  Nothing was worse than ruining a perfectly good roast and serving it "too well done" in our family.  Women earned bragging rights for cooking the perfect roast beef served with mashed potatoes, and of course perfect gravy.

My mom was Italian, so many Sunday dinners at our house were Italian dishes. She passed on making roast beef, unless grandma visited, then she let gram cook it. Other Sundays at relatives, on gram's German side of the family, roast beef was the holy grail of cooking achievements.

Here's the method passed on to me that works perfect every time.

                           Perfect Medium-Rare Roast Beef

• 4 to 6 pound sirloin tip or beef rump roast at room temperature.
• Lightly rub with oil and seasoning such a rub, or garlic, salt and pepper.
• Preheat oven to 500, then roast uncovered in a pan at 7 minutes per pound.
• Turn off heat and let roast in the oven for 2 hours.  Do NOT open oven door.  Do NOT peek!
• For frozen beef, first brush with oil and seasoning and put directly in 500 oven for 1 1/2 times longer than room temperature time, about 11 minutes per pound.
• Turn off heat and let roast 2 hours with oven closed.  Do NOT open oven door.

Remove roast, slice thin, keep warm, and make gravy from drippings and juices.
Serves 8 - 10 for a 4 pound roast.

Estimated cost at $3.00 to $4.00 a pound for 4 pound roast: $12 - $16; about $2.00 per serving or less.

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