Cycle 15 – Item 30
4 (Sun) February 2024
Roast Blade, Reverse-Seared (Sorta)
3.0
by me
at home
-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-
with the Family
My third attempt at roast beef (see most recently 15.023 Roast Ribeye).
First, back to the blade.
Second, I purchased it as is, without having the butcher trim the fat cap, which I hoped would render during the roast and make the meat more juicy and flavorful.
Third, I rubbed the meat with salt and pepper and left it in the fridge overnight, allowing the seasoning to penetrate deeper into the meat, and also drying out the surface to facilitate a better crust.
Fourth, I attempted a reverse sear, which cooks the meat on lower temperature for longer time, and flash-broils the crust at the end, to ensure even cooking throughout the entire cut. The sear-first method creates a brown ring on the outer perimeter, leaving only pink in the middle.
Didn’t work as planned. The meat was placed in the oven at 120 degrees. Aiming again for a final internal temperature of 58 degrees, just over into medium; recalling my first experience with blade, when carryover cooking raised the internal temperature an additional 6 degrees while resting, my target was 52 degrees this time. Hitting 52 degrees after 3 hours, I took out the roast and let it rest. But after 30 minutes, the internal temperature only went up to 54 degrees – I’m assuming that the low heat in the oven was insufficient to generate much carryover cooking? So, I put the meat back into the oven at 180 degrees for another 30 minutes until the internal temperature hit 56 degrees, took it out to rest, but the short burst of high heat apparently accelerated carryover cooking, resulting in a final internal temperature of 61 degrees, exactly as before.
In any case, again, it turned out fine. A tad overcooked, but much more tender, due partly to the slow/low cooking, partly to the rendered fat. Much tastier meat, even without gravy. I look forward to the next one.
(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)