The Trick to Turning Lean ‘On-Sale’ Cuts of Beef like Sirloin Tip into a Luscious Meal
Beef is expensive no matter where you buy it these days. This is a good thing from a health and environmental perspective, but the price is a prohibitive disappointment from a tastebud, beef-craving perspective. Friday night steak dinners and Sunday roasts are a luxury in many homes. How do you present home-cooked, comforting, upscale meals for friends and family without breaking the bank?
The answer is in the cooking technique. Learn how to prepare inexpensive cuts of beef well, and you will satisfy everyone's beefy cravings at your table without blowing your budget.
Grocery stores are featuring cheap cuts right now. It is foolish for them to stock expensive premium cuts like prime rib, loins and rib-eye roasts when their primary consumers aren’t willing to shell out the money for it.
However, they still want to sell beef, so they feature round roast, sirloin tip, blade, and cross rib roasts. These are all good cuts, but if you try to cook them like a premium cut, you will be disheartened by the tough, dry, and leathery results. Essentially, you will find yourself chewing on your disappointment for days. This doesn’t mean you should overlook these less expensive roasts, not when you can cook them exceptionally well with the right technique.
Bring on the braise!
Braising is low, slow, moist cooking. It is the most uncomplicated technique and nearly impossible to do wrong if you follow four essential keys.
Flavour is everything when it comes to Sirloin Tip Beef Roast
Every step of preparing a beef roast for braising should impart flavour.
Season the beef generously with salt and pepper about 30 minutes before cooking.
Sear your roast on all sides. Heat your pot - I mean really heat it, add a few tablespoons of oil and brown the heck out of the roast on all sides. I like to use an enamel-coated cast iron pot, they hold high heat well. Don’t be shy; let the roast sit until it's smoky and angry before turning it to the next side. All those browned-up crusty bits equal flavour - we want that, as much of it as we can get. Turn on your exhaust hood and let it sear.
Deglaze the pot with something flavourful—red wine, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, or use beef stock if you have nothing else. Whatever you use, let it reduce by half after you’ve scraped up all the browned and charred bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add some root-imetary(that’s a cooking joke) flavours; carrots, onions, garlic, and celery (not a root) are all staples for a good braise.
Use a flavourful liquid for braising. Beef stock is ideal for beef roast. I like to add a portion of red wine. Some people like to braise entirely with wine, beer or cider. Some people braise with water. Water works, but it doesn’t impart much flavour. For our recipe, beef stock and red wine are ideal.
Top things off with fresh herbs: a few springs of thyme or rosemary, oregano, or parsley. Use your favourite combination if you like. Herbs tossed into the pot before the long cook add an earthiness and umptuousness to the finished roast and the gravy you’ll make before serving.
Beef + Flavour = Delicious results
Temperature and Time
Braising is a long and slow cooking technique that transforms the connective tissue of through cuts into melty morsels. We’ll be cooking for hours 4-6 typically. The oven temperature will be very low to support this slow cooking. 270F to 300F.
A crock pot uses this same principle.
Low heat + time = perfectly tender results.
Liquid
Cooking anything for 6 hours will dry it up like a sponge—that's just common sense. To keep everything moist while the time and temperature work together, we must add moisture—aka braising liquid. Whatever you choose for braising liquid, use enough to cover your beef halfway in the pan. Seal things up with a good-fitting lid or a double layer of tinfoil crimped tightly over the pot. This lidding creates a convection effect inside your cooking pan and forces moist, hot air to circulate around and over the top surface of the meat as it cooks.
Liquid + Lidding = moist results.
Trust the process
Once you have sealed the pot and set it in the oven, walk away. Trust the process. Don’t peek, poke, or pry the lid to ensure the roast hasn’t vanished. Leave it alone. Find something else to do, and return when the timer goes off.
Flavour + Temperature + Time + Moisture + Trust = 5-star results.
What's happening in the pot while you are ignoring it?
Over 4-6 hours, the tough connective tissue of the beef is breaking down. The steam created by the trapped braising liquid circles around the pan, continuously basting the roast with moisture and flavour. The flavour building in the pan is trapped, so it just keeps adding to itself, multiplying and concentrating into a richness you never achieve with fast-roasted joints of meat.
What’s happening outside of the pot while you are ignoring it?
You can do anything you like! Play a game, watch a movie, walk the dog, do the laundry, nap, read a book, or write a book if you like. Plan your roast beef Instagram post or create a TikTok video to embarrass your family. The sky is the limit. You do you.
Complete the meal
An hour before the braising time is up, peel and boil some potatoes until fork tender. Drain and set aside. When the braising timer goes off, remove the beef from the pan and set it aside to rest. Pop the cooked potatoes into the braising liquid, toss them to coat, and return the uncovered pan to the oven for 15 minutes -this turns the potatoes a beautiful amber colour and adds excellent flavour. Cook up some accompanying veggies - corn, peas, beans, beets - something bright and colourful.
When the potatoes are cooked, remove them and turn the braising liquid into gold by straining it, tasting for seasoning, and thickening it with a slurry of cornstarch and water or flour and water.
If the braising liquid is too concentrated or salty, dilute it with water first. If, on the other hand, it lacks flavour, add some beef stock to punch it up.
Set the table, enjoy the meal, and collect the praise.
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