Roast Beast

[egalecki]

I made two standing beef roasts last night. They were kinda small, so we needed two for the 11 of us. I also made two big pans of roasted potatoes, peppers, onions and garlic with olive oil, salt and rosemary.

I was very worried about the roasts- I haven't cooked meat other than chicken in the oven so far- but they turned out so well! I did the fire in the oven, pushed to one side, and kept the meat on the other side. I have a thermometer with a wire to an external unit which I kept in the smaller roast. When it got to 135F, I pulled the meat out. I had the pans of veggies in with it for the last hour or so.

I had to cover the meat up for most of the time, but I pulled it off for the last 15 minutes or so to brown up the outside more. It was lovely, crispy outside, medium rare to rare inside, and juicy.

I had to stand over it a lot, but that was more my own insecurity than anything else!

Sorry no pics, but the crowd was starving and fell upon it like hyenas.

[Modthyrth]

Re: Roast Beast

Excellent! How long did you fire the oven before putting the roasts in? What temp do you think the oven was, on average, during the cook? Did you keep a live small fire going or just go down to coals?

[MAVANO]

Re: Roast Beast

well egalecki my rib roast did not turn out well I had a 12 lb. in for 2-1/2 hr.at 350f covered and it was raw in the center maybe I should of put it in when the oven was at 500f covered but I baked bread prior to placing the roast in ,after took the bread out I put the roast in at 400f but was losing heat fast so I placed a few pieces of wood to increase the heat the recp. for the roast callled for 450f for 2-1/2 to 3hr. hr. med. rare,well even though it was covered it had a very strong smell of smoke,had to finish it inside the kitchen oven, it was not good, Iam planning to do some more insulating of dome I only have a 1 inch ceramic blanket on dome it was good in warmer weather but not in 20f weather heat disipates fast.

[asudavew]

Re: Roast Beast

Iam planning to do some more insulating of dome I only have a 1 inch ceramic blanket on dome it was good in warmer weather but not in 20f weather heat disipates fast.

Sound like a good plan.

I have about an inch of blanket and that is covered with about 6-9 inches of dry vermiculite.

I can fire it up on a Saturday night, and cook a brisket on Sunday evening or Monday morning.

Question: How hot did you get the oven before baking your bread? Did you take it up to pizza temps and let it cool down?

Dave

[MAVANO]

Re: Roast Beast

I took it up to 900f and took most of coals out , will that plan I have work for me you say about 6 inches of loose verm. work out?

[krosskraft]

Re: Roast Beast

I cooked my standing rib roast by taking to high temp (pizza party), then raked all of the coals out. I waited till the temp dropped to 550 or so, then put the roast in, UNCOVERED for about 20 minutes. I transferred to my indoor oven at 350 until my wfo dropped to 350-400, then returned the roast until it was finished. I cooked it until the meat probe read 115 degrees, brought it inside and let it rest, covered for about 45 minutes. The temp went up to 127. I think resting the meat is the hardest and the most rewarding thing to do.

Like you, I was a bit nervous and I think I could have left it in the outdoor oven to cook the whole time.....but I may have had to cover it a bit to prevent scorching.

[egalecki]

Re: Roast Beast

The roasts were in at about 500 to start, but it spent about half an hour in the landing once the initial sear was done, covered with foil. I think it was about 2 hours all told, but it wasn't all at 500- I left the door off the whole time, took out half the fire I'd made, and added wood a piece at a time as I needed more heat. I could sort of tell by the sizzle sound the pan made if it was hot enough.

I had fired the oven for about an hour with a slightly smaller fire than I usually start with. The whole oven hadn't gone completely white- just the top 2/3s. I was running out of time, so I went with it.

[Dutchoven]

Re: Roast Beast

a simple suggestion...fire the oven completely(remove the coals unless you want to add smoke, if you want to add smoke leave some in a corner and soak some smoking chunks)then let the temperatures settle into the 450F range you can then put the roast in for the intitial sear...30 minutes or so...and then tent the foil....and in reality then just let it go...since there is not thermostat the temperatures will drop fairly quickly as that roast cooks...if you are adding a bit of smoke remove the foil for about the last 45 minutes and put the wet chunks on your little pile of coals...we did a pork loin after baking and it went in at these temps and a couple hours later it was perfect...
Best
Dutch

[krosskraft]

Re: Roast Beast

Thanks Dutch,
This really is more of an art instead of a science.....thats what I like about it!