Roast beef for beginners?

[doveinitial]

I’d love to do roast beef and do it well. Can you help? What do I buy? I can do chicken, turkey, gammon and lamb no problem. Beef comes out dry, tough and chewy.

Go to an actual butcher and ask for advice. They should tell you what cuts they have and how to cook.

I tend to cook meat in the slow cooker - just put the meat in and switch on but beef is a different thing. I do brisket in the slow cooker but I wouldn't do another cut.

I think the problem with a lot of roasting joints in the supermarkets is that there's insufficient fat.
Good quality roast beef requires a decent joint, but they are expensive.

I always do rib bevause it tends to be available and while expensive, is less so than a big joint of sirloin or similar. Ifs also quite fatty so.can be forgiving.

Get a probe thermometer- fairly cheap on Amazon. Look up the correct internal temp for how rare you want it. Then it’s foolproof. Give it a good rest after roasting.

Get yourself a meat thermometer. Read up on appropriate temperatures and always remember that meat temperature continues to rise after it comes out of the oven and is resting.so factor that in to oven time.
the bigger the joint the longer the resting period. I rest my meat on a plate with a metal bowl over it so that the outside does not cool too much.
the fattier the beef the more tender it will be. I always opt for rib and adjust your cooking time for the cut. Cheaper lower priced beef is generally tougher and needs slower cooking and I am always wary of supermarket beef, find a good butcher who you can trust.

Overcooked

may need extra fat

look up the cooking times for the specific type of joint

topside and silverside are always shown slightly pink so may be dry if well done is your preference

basting can also help

What sort of roast beef are you wanting, OP?

Slices of tender pink meat?

The majority of approaches here will not give you that

The slow cooker is obviously not roasting but unless you want rare beef it’s delicious. I’d never ever consider roasting now.
If you practice and time it correctly depending on the size, it doesn’t have to be falling apart. I get sliceable moist tender beef every time. Either way it’s gorgeous and failproof. And simple, no basting, gravy (with finely chopped onion) sorted with plenty of space in the oven for all the delicious extras. You do need 7/8 OXO cubes to get the rich gravy flavour though and thicken with gravy granules at the end.

@OffTheMap That's because they aren’t roasting the beef! Of course roast beef should be pink slices. Falling apart well done beef is achieved via slow cooking or braising. It’s entirely different.

If you have a local butcher or even a local meat counter at your supermarket ask them. Tell them what way you like your meat rare, medium, or well done and how many you want to feed. They will advise the best cut of meat, how long to cook and what to do.

I find the supermarket joints very hit or miss so prefer to go to my local butcher and in fairness they are a tiny more expensive but there is no waste/gristle with their meat so in the long run they are cheaper.

I’m a rare beef person and have an air fryer with a temp probe which has taken all the guess work out of it. Cooking perfect beef in an oven isn’t easy unless you use a temperature probe and then you have to keep checking.

The AF also works with other meats. I do lamb on the beef setting as I like that pink too.

7/8 oxo cubes is a LOT!

It's absolutely true that most posts are not roast beef. However the OP says her beef is always dry and the suggestions for slow cooking or pot roast will produce a melt in the mouth beef. Many people don't like pink or rare beef and so cook it well done. Well done in a proper roasting joint = dry.

@TheBluebird If Op doesn’t like pink beef, roasting it is indeed pointless. However dry beef is usually overcooked beef if it’s roasted. I took the op at face value - she wanted to roast the beef. It’s truly the best beef - but not if you want well done and falling apart with a stock/gravy.

I’d suggest watching a quick video - Matthew Ryle did a great cook the classics series, I’m sure there was a roast beef one.

Delia Smith will have guidance. Roast beef isn’t rocket science. Follow basic rules, be ok with pink, and it will be yummy.

I love melt-in-the-mouth, slow cooked, pot roasted beef as much as I like a trad roast beef and Yorkshire, but it's not the same dish

I also use a meat thermometer. Great thing to use. I also tend to get my roasting beef from the butcher, not the supermarket. I agree that it needs to be served a bit pink at least or it will be dry.

The salt in that! OMG.
just use a rich beef stock pot and some tomato paste.