Celebrity Roast - Recap

In 5000BC a spring celebration included a wildebeest roast. 1198AD saw elk, swan and bear roasts. And in 2001AD weddings often feature roast beef. The modern era of single serve portions threatens the proud tradition of the roast and its mounds of leftovers. That’s a shame, because a roast is always… Good Eats.

Alton starts by defining a roast two ways. It is a dry cooking method (as the famous chestnuts over an open fire). And it is a piece of meat that regardless of source has a low surface to mass ratio. It’s more like a lump than like the flat cuts of a typical steak. Because it’s cooked with dry heat, it must come from a tender area of the beast – from muscles that do little or no work. These include rib and loin primals, tenderloin and sirloin cuts, and maybe parts of the rump and inside round.

Alton visits a butcher for tips on selecting the right kind of roast. The butcher’s choice is a standing rib roast (called a prime rib if it’s from a prime beef). These are well marbled cuts – not a lot of fat outside, but more inside, for melt in the mouth flavor. There are three grades, defined by the quality of the marbling (fat interspersed in the meat) and by the quantity of connective tissue and bone. Prime is the best cut, but it’s very hard to find outside of a quality restaurant or specialty butcher shop. Next is choice, a little less marbled, a little fattier outside. Select is the lowest grade – avoid it for roasts. It’s good for very slow cooking techniques like stews, because it has a lot of connective tissue. Alton selects a choice cut, and follows the butcher’s advice to choose from the loin end of the ribs. That end has less connective tissue and less bone, so it’s a better value.

Beef improves with age. That’s because it’s over 80% water. Aging removes water and concentrates the flavor. It also allows time for enzymes to break down connective tissue, making the meat tenderer. There’s a fine line between aging and rot, so Alton explains the right way to age beef. After 72 hours, Alton’s cut has lost over 12% of its water. A few leathery spots are okay – just trim them off. And don’t worry if there’s a slight aroma.

Prepare for cooking by warming the meat on the counter (covered) for an hour. Starting from room temperature means there’s less difference between the oven temperature and the core temperature of the meat. That promotes even cooking.

To demonstrate how easy roasting actually is Alton uses his brother’s grungy oven! If he can roast in there, anyone should be able to roast anywhere. But the oven is dirty which is bad for roasting. Using a squash court and balls, Alton shows how infrared rays from the heat source bounce from the walls into the food from many angles. That even heating is crucial. Dirty oven walls absorb or redirect that energy so that it strikes food less predictably. That means a longer, poorer roast. The food will be underdone in spots, and you’ll waste energy. To get around his brother’s dirty oven, Alton uses ceramics. Ceramics absorb and re-radiate heat evenly, so they’re excellent for cooking. But you don’t need a fancy glass dish; Alton shows how to use a giant flower pot (with a glass pan inside to catch drippings). Thermal shock can break ceramics so always start a cold ceramic dish in a cold oven.

Cooking temperatures are also vitally important. Many recipes call for an early, high heat sear followed by a lower temperature roast, but Alton reverses this. He starts at a lower temperature, then switches to a higher temperature for the finish.

Quality, well-aged beef requires little flavor help. Alton recommends only a little oil, pepper, and some salt (kosher, of course). In addition to flavoring the meat, the salt coaxes protein rich liquid to the surface where it will form a crust at the end of the roast.

The low temperature cook should not be timed, but instead controlled by temperature. A probe thermometer inserted into the middle of the cut (don’t touching bone) is a far better measure of doneness than time, which does not take the shape of the cut or amount of moisture into account. Carryover cooking finishes the roast, so the first cooking phase ends about ten degrees below the target temperature.

After the first phase of cooking, the meat rests covered with foil until the temperature stops climbing. At that point, carryover heat has completed the cooking, and it’s time for the final sear. To prepare, crank the oven up to 500º. The sear puts a tasty crust on the surface of the meat. Because it doesn’t depend on the shape of the cut or the core temperature it must be timed – disconnect the probe but leave it in the meat to plug the hole. Fifteen minutes is enough to make a nice crust. Cover again with foil and turn your attention to the crusty stuff in the glass baking pan.

Pour off a little of the grease and put the baking pan over the oven. Deglaze it with a cup or so of water to remove the bits. Then add some red wine and scrape until the pan is smooth. Add a sprig of bruised (not cut) sage. Continue to cook until the sauce is reduced by half. Remove the sage.

Alton first carves the ribs away, then trims the fatty apron. That leaves a more or less rectangular roast (the ribs are for later, and the fat – well, you can make really good friends with your dog using the fat). Cut from the end into half inch slabs and use the sauce you built for flavor.

As we leave Alton to his roast, he’s fielding a call from his brother. It seems his brother has returned to find his stove missing…

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