Slow-Roasted Beef with Horseradish Sauce

By lovemygolden

This recipe comes from "American's Test Kitchen, The Make-Ahead Cook" which is chock full of useful tips and delicious recipes.

To flavor the meat and to improve its ability to hold on to its juices we salted the roast overnight. The next day, we browned the roast on the stovetop to create a flavorful crust before roasting. We tried roasting the beef in a 225 degree oven until it reached the correct doneness, but this resulted in a tough and dry roast. We needed a more gentle method to give the connective tissue enough time to break down and tenderize. The key turned out to be shutting off the oven partway through cooking. When the meat reached 115 degrees, we turned off the oven to allow the roast to finish cooking gently as the oven cooled, resulting in a tender and very juicy roast.

A simple horseradish sauce was the perfect complement to our rich and juicy roast. We don't recommend cooking this roast past medium. Open the oven door as little as possible and remove the roast from the oven while taking its temperature. If the roast has not reached the desired temperature in the time specified in step 3, heat the oven to 225 degrees for 5 minutes, shut it off, and continued to cook the roast to the desired temperature.

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 pound boneless eye-round roast, trimmed
• kosher salt and pepper
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 tbs. mayonnaise
• 1 tbs. prepared horseradish
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tbs plus 2 tsp vegetable oil

Preparation

Step 1

TO PREP:

Season roast evenly with 4 tsp. salt, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 18 hours or up to 24 hours.

Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, horseradish, lemon juice, and garlic powder in small bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add water as needed to thin sauce to desired consistency. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

TO COOK:

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 225 degrees. Pat roast dry with paper towels, then rub with 2 tsp. oil and sprinkle evenly with pepper. Heat remaining 1 tbs. oil in 12 inch skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Brown roast on all sides, about 12 minutes. Transfer roast to wire rack, set in rimmed baking sheet. Roast until meat registers 115 degrees for medium rare, 1 1/4 5o 1 3/4 hours, or 125 degrees for medium, 1 3/4 to 2 21/4 hours.

Turn oven off; leave roast in oven, without opening door until meat registers 130 degrees for medium rare or 140 degrees for medium, 30 to 50 minutes longer. Transfer roast to carving board and let rest 15 minutes. Slice roast as thin as possible and serve with horseradish sauce.