In this video, get Chef John’s top beef roast recipes that are perfect for any occasion. From tender rib roasts to hearty pot roast, Chef John shares his secrets for achieving juicy, flavorful results every time. Learn the best techniques for seasoning, roasting, and carving to create unforgettable meals. Whether you're hosting a dinner party or craving a comforting family dinner, one of these recipes will work perfectly.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with your favorite beef roasts. That's right,
00:07after much consideration, these fan favorites were deemed the most succulent, tender, and
00:12mouth-watering. And if you're looking for perfect tenderloins, chuck, and tri-tips,
00:16you've come to the right place. So sharpen those knives, and as always, enjoy!
00:23Roast beef and pan gravy for beginners. That's right, this easy, no-fail method will turn even
00:29the cheapest, toughest cuts of beef into something beautifully succulent and tender.
00:34It's also going to produce an amazing pan gravy. But the best news is, you need no experience
00:40or skills to do it. And to get started, we're going to need a nice big piece of beef.
00:45And what I have here is about a three and a half pound piece of top round,
00:49which is relatively lean and kind of tough. But the good news is it's cheap,
00:54which makes it perfect for beginners. You know, just in case we mess it up,
00:59which is actually hard to do. But anyway, to prep this beef, we're going to generously season both
01:05sides with a mixture of kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and granulated garlic.
01:11And the general rule of thumb is a teaspoon of kosher salt per pound of meat, which is why I'm
01:16using just over three teaspoons. And then I tossed in a teaspoon of granulated garlic and a teaspoon
01:22of freshly ground black pepper. And that's going to make for an amazing dry brine, as we call it
01:28in the business, for this beef. And what we'll do after applying half of that mixture to each side
01:33is pick this meat up. And we'll press the edges onto whatever fell onto the butcher paper,
01:38so it has to use all that up, or as much as we can get. And then once that's set,
01:44we'll want to transfer this onto some kind of rack so we can get some air circulation going
01:48underneath. If you don't have a rack, you can just make your own by just twisting up some pieces
01:53of aluminum foil. And then besides the generous amount of seasoning, the other key to this
01:58technique is letting this meat sit and air dry in the fridge for about 24 hours. And if you happen
02:05to remember, try to pull this out halfway through and give it a flip. And what's going to happen
02:10during that time, that seasoning is going to permeate the meat and add a ton of flavor. But
02:15it's also going to help tenderize the beef, and we'll end up with a much better texture.
02:20So please make sure you start this a full day ahead, or just put a reminder in your phone.
02:25And that's it. After dry brining and dry aging for 24 hours, we'll go ahead and sear both sides
02:31on high heat in a little bit of oil. And ideally, we're doing this in a pan that can go in the oven,
02:37since that's going to save a step. Otherwise, you'll have to do your searing in a frying pan
02:41and then transfer it into a baking dish. But either way, we'll want to sear that very well
02:46for a few minutes on both sides. And once that's been done, I also like to pick it up and try to
02:52sear the edges a little bit as well. But that's optional, and no big deal if you don't do it.
02:58And then once our meat is nicely seared, we'll turn off the heat, and we'll add some diced onions
03:03to the pan, wherever there's space. And no, we don't need the same amount of onions on either
03:08side, but I think we'll all feel a little better if it's close. And then on top of the onions,
03:14I'm going to add some maitake mushrooms, also known as hen-of-the-woods. But if you can't
03:20find maitake, you could also use shiitake, or matsutake, or really, I think any of the takis
03:26would work, or just simply some good old-fashioned sliced button mushrooms. And then once those are
03:32in the pan, we'll go ahead and season the top with a little bit of kosher salt. And then we
03:36will follow that with a fairly generous drizzling of melted butter. And not just on top of the
03:42mushrooms, I think we should probably brush them on the meat as well. And that's it! Once that's
03:47been applied, this is ready to transfer into the center of a 475 degree oven for exactly 15 minutes,
03:54at which point we'll turn our heat down to 325, and we will roast at that temperature
03:59for as long as it takes to get to the target temperature we're after, which for medium-rare
04:04would mean pulling this at 125 internal temp. Although that's not what I did, and I'm going to
04:09get to that in a few minutes. But once our meat does come out, we will transfer that to a plate,
04:15and very loosely cover that with foil. And we will let it rest for at least 15 to 20 minutes,
04:20while we make an incredible pan gravy. And that starts by removing our roasted mushrooms to a bowl,
04:26so we can serve those alongside our beef. And no, we don't have to get every little last scrap.
04:32And also, feel free to leave any pieces of onion in the pan. And then next up, we will turn our
04:37heat to medium-high, and we will add some more butter to our existing pan drippings, followed
04:43by a nice rounded tablespoon of flour. And then we'll cook that stirring for about two minutes,
04:48over medium-high heat, to form a roux. R-O-U-X. And you're probably thinking, I didn't know you
04:54could make a roux if there was liquid in the pan. Well, you can if you have enough fat.
04:59And since there was already oil and beef fat in the pan, plus we added that extra butter,
05:03we're going to be fine. And once we cook the raw edge off that starch for a couple minutes,
05:09we will stop and add a splash of sherry vinegar, or any other vinegar you prefer,
05:15as well as a couple cups of some nice store-bought low-sodium beef bone broth. And we'll go ahead
05:21and whisk all that together. And because our roux was hot, and our broth was cold,
05:25we're not going to get any lumps. And if you think you see a lump, that's not a lump,
05:30that's probably an onion. Oh, and if we have any accumulated juices from the plate we're
05:34letting our meat rest on, which we will, we'll go ahead and add those now. And then besides giving
05:40that a whisk, all we really need to do is let that come to a boil, at which point we'll simply let it
05:45cook and reduce until it's as thick as we want. And while that's happening, we can go ahead and
05:50season this up with a little bit of freshly ground black pepper, and maybe another pinch of salt,
05:56depending on how salty the broth is, as well as some freshly picked thyme leaves,
06:01and if we want a few shakes of cayenne. Oh, and even though I love the thyme, rosemary and
06:06tarragon would also work here. So if you'd rather use those, go ahead. I mean, you are after all the
06:12Larry Bird of which herb? And speaking of French lick, instead of using the sherry vinegar, you
06:18could also add a splash of red wine. But in any event, as I said, we'll simply let this cook and
06:24reduce. And if I have to guess, it will reduce by about half before it probably gets to the point we
06:29want, which is a gorgeous, slightly thickened sauce. And of course, besides checking the texture, we'll
06:36also want to give it a taste to see if it needs any more seasoning. And if it doesn't, and mine didn't,
06:42we'll simply turn off the heat, and our very simple, but extremely delicious pan gravy's done.
06:48And we will simply keep that warm until we need it. And that's it. Once our meat has rested for
06:53about 15 or 20 minutes, we'll go ahead and slice it up. And while I do, let me go over why this is
06:58cooked as much as it is. Right, for expensive roast beefs like prime rib or tenderloin, I like it
07:03medium rare. But for tougher cuts like top round, I actually think the texture is better at medium.
07:10Except like a beginner, I kind of messed up, and instead of pulling it at 130, it was closer to 140.
07:16So while this did still have a little bit of pinkness, it was really closer to medium well.
07:21But shockingly, as you'll see, things actually worked out. And then as far as presentation goes,
07:28what I like to do is slice about half, and then we'll place the uncut piece of meat right on our
07:32gravy. And then we'll go ahead and lay that sliced meat right in front. Oh, and I should mention I
07:37removed half the sauce to a gravy boat, so that we have some extra to pour over the top, and to serve
07:43alongside once we plate up. And then of course we will add our roasted mushrooms as well, which I
07:49kept warm, but they are great at room temp. And that's it. We will finish up with a little more
07:54gravy on the top, plus one more scattering of freshly picked thyme leaves, as well as possibly
08:01maybe a few more whole sprigs of thyme. And that's it. What I'm calling roast beef and pan gravy for
08:07beginners was ready to enjoy. The best beef tri-tip. That's right, I received a food wish
08:14recently for some good old-fashioned roast beef, which I'm using as an excuse to show you this
08:19incredibly easy and effective method for roasting beef tri-tip, which by the way is my favorite cut
08:24to use for roast beef. And if you're already a fan of tri-tip, I really think you're going to love this
08:29method. And if for whatever reason you're not familiar with this tremendously delicious triangle
08:33of meat, it is definitely time you get on that tri-tip tip. And to get started, the first thing
08:39we're going to need to do is make a dry rub, which only contains one mandatory ingredient, which would
08:44be some kosher salt. And then as far as optional seasonings go, I'm also going to include some
08:49freshly ground black pepper, a whole bunch of smoked paprika, some garlic powder, a little
08:55touch of cayenne, some dried rosemary, and some freshly chopped rosemary leaves. And even though
09:01those are both rosemary, they both bring a little different flavor to this rub. And that's it. Once
09:06that's all together, we'll give this a thorough spooning, at which point we are now ready to rub
09:11our meat. And the meat we're going to rub today is about a two and a half pound beef tri-tip,
09:16which almost always come fully trimmed. And besides placing it in some kind of roasting pan,
09:20what we're going to want to do is cover it very generously with our spice rub. But before we do
09:25that, let me go ahead and freeze the action here, so I can point out one thing before this gets
09:29spiced. All right, one thing about the tri-tip, the meat fibers on the top third kind of run in this
09:34direction, whereas the fibers on that longer tail piece actually run this direction. And since we
09:40always want to slice across the grain, later after this is cooked, you're going to see me cut this in
09:45two pieces, dividing it basically where those grains change directions. So just a quick little
09:50visualization, because once we have this seasoned and cooked, it's going to be a lot harder to see.
09:55But anyway, like I said, we'll go ahead and coat this with our spice rub,
09:58extremely generously on both sides. And then besides that, any excess that falls in the pan,
10:03we'll use that to press into all the other sides and edges. Oh, and just a quick reminder that this
10:08is actually a roast beef technique, and not necessarily a recipe. So other than the salt,
10:13you really get to use anything you want here. I mean, you are after all the Scottie Pippin
10:17of your beef tri-tippin. So not only can you change these ingredients, but you probably should
10:22to fit your tastes. And that is no bull. But anyway, we'll go ahead and make sure our tri-tip
10:26is covered completely with our rub. And once that's said, it is now ready to transfer into
10:31the center of a very low 225 degree oven for about an hour and a half, or until it reaches
10:38an internal temp in the thickest part of 130. If that is, you want a nice rosy pink medium rare.
10:44And because the oven temp's so low, we're really not going to get a crust on this,
10:48nor do we need one. Look, if you want to sear this beforehand, go ahead.
10:52But tri-tip is so beefy and flavorful, I really don't think you need to. Although if you can
10:57remember, halfway through your cooking time, give it a flip, because the meat coming in contact with
11:01the pan is always going to cook a little quicker, and you will achieve a little more doneness,
11:06uniformness, which I'm hoping is a word. But regardless, as soon as this comes out of the
11:11oven, what we want to do is cover it and let it sit for about 20 minutes before we try to slice it.
11:16All right, just let it rest. Get your side dishes together, like for example, a chilled
11:20Roma bean salad. And then after 20 minutes or so, we can go ahead and unwrap it, and we will slice
11:26it up for service. And by the way, you're going to have some beautiful but intensely flavored pan
11:30drippings at the bottom, and it would not be a bad idea to splash in about a half a cup of beef broth
11:35or chicken broth, and then use that to drizzle over your slices. But anyway, we'll transfer that
11:40to a cutting board and go ahead and slice this up. Right in that spot I showed you earlier,
11:44where the grain kind of changes directions. And like I said earlier, it's kind of hard to see here,
11:48but in person with this right in front of you, it's going to be pretty easy to recognize where
11:52you should cut. And as you can see from that big piece, those long fibers are running across the
11:57whole width. So when we go to cut that piece, we will turn it and cut across. But first, I'm going
12:02to start slicing up this smaller tail piece, which we can do going straight across like this.
12:07And it's always a great sign when the most cooked, smallest end pieces are still moist and tender,
12:12which these really were. Not to mention, the flavor was magnificent. All right, even if you
12:17season this with nothing but salt, you're talking about a tremendously flavorful, beefy piece of
12:22meat. And above and beyond the great taste and texture, a tri-tip is such a good cut of meat for
12:26a party. Because even if you only cook it to 130, like I did, you're still going to get some slices
12:31that are medium well and medium. And as you continue to slice in, you'll get to the medium rare.
12:37And then the thickest part, you might even get a few rare slices. And I don't always get these
12:41camera angles right, but this time as I slice, you can really see how incredibly juicy this is.
12:47Which is mostly thanks to that very low roasting temperature, which sort of mimics what would
12:51happen if we were smoking this. And I totally could have ate most of this right off the cutting board.
12:56But I decided to plate up some of my larger and pinker pieces next to a very tasty and
13:01refreshing Roma bean salad. And of course, we're going to spoon over a little bit of those diluted
13:05pan drippings. And that, my friends, is my favorite way to do what people simply call roast beef.
13:11Salt Crusted Beef Tenderloin! That's right, this video was inspired by a Colombian technique,
13:17where beef is encased with salt, wrapped in a kitchen towel, and then set over hot coals to cook.
13:22And apparently this produces the juiciest, most flavorful beef tenderloin you've ever had.
13:27And while that does sound great, I realized that roughly half the married population of the country
13:31would not be into burning up a perfectly good kitchen towel. So I decided to try a towel-less
13:36version of the same technique. And this is that experiment. So let's go ahead and get started with
13:40what's basically the adhesive here. And for that, we're going to start with one clove of crushed
13:44garlic, to which we will add some freshly ground black pepper. And then the key to the whole
13:49operation, one egg white. And believe it or not, that's it. We'll simply take a whisk and give that
13:54a mix. And by the way, I'm using garlic and black pepper here. But as long as you have the egg white,
14:00I'm pretty sure you can use any seasonings and spices you want. Okay, don't forget, you're not
14:04only chief of your beef, you are also the sir of your loin. So as long as we have that white here,
14:08we can play around with the flavorings if we want. But anyway, we will give that a mix. And
14:13then we'll grab a brush, because this is now ready to apply to our tenderloin. Speaking of which,
14:18there it is. For this, I got a two-pound center-cut beef tenderloin roast, which as you can see has
14:24been fully trimmed. And what we'll do is take our brush and our egg white adhesive and paint that
14:29all over. We're talking top, bottom, and the sides. So please make sure you're very thorough and
14:34generous, because it's this egg white layer that's going to cause the salt to stick. So we'll go ahead
14:39and apply that all over as shown, at which point it's ready to coat in our coarse sea salt, which
14:45should look something like this. And by the way, it doesn't have to be sea salt. Okay, where the salt
14:50comes from is not as important as it is coarse ground. And what I decided to do is coat my meat
14:54in the same baking dish I was going to cook it in. So I started by covering the bottom with about a
14:59quarter inch of the stuff. And we'll place our meat in there and kind of roll it around, coating
15:03it with the salt. And of course, we're definitely going to want to coat all those sides, as well as
15:08those ends. So basically, I just rolled that around, adding more salt when I thought necessary,
15:15making sure it was all nicely pressed in, especially on the top. And above and beyond
15:19encasing that beef with salt, I also added a little more around the roast so the bottom of
15:22the pan was covered. And I'm not sure exactly why, but it felt right. And then because I was staring
15:28at the bush out the back window, I decided to cut a couple rosemary sprigs and add them to the salt.
15:33I thought it could subtly scent the meat, but more importantly, make our house smell really good.
15:37But anyway, as with all things, that's optional. And then what we need to do once our beef has
15:41been encrusted with salt is simply let this sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes,
15:46which is going to do a few things. It's going to let our meat warm up a little bit. It's also going
15:50to give our crust a little time to dry out and set up. Not to mention, our tenderloin is being
15:54seasoned by what's basically a dry rub. In fact, you'll notice at the end of the 30 minutes, there's
15:59a good amount of moisture in the bottom of the pan. But don't worry, while we're loosening liquid,
16:03we are gaining in flavor. And at this point, after a half hour on the counter, it is pretty much ready
16:08for the oven. But before I pop it in, I'm going to push in this probe thermometer. Okay, this
16:12tenderloin is not cheap, so we'll use this, which will sound an alarm when we've reached the perfect
16:16temperature. So I slid that in so the tip was right in the center. But unfortunately, the way
16:21I did it with that thermometer leaning on the edge of the dish caused the only major mishap with this
16:26experiment, as you're just about to see. But anyway, once that's set, we can go ahead and transfer that
16:31into the center of a very hot 475 degree oven for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until we have a
16:38finished internal temp of about 125, which means we have to set our probe lower than that. Okay, because
16:43this is going to keep cooking even after we take it out, I like to set my probe for 116, because that
16:48internal temp can climb as much as 10 degrees. So we will set our alarm for 116, at which point we'll
16:54pull that out. And if everything's gone according to plan, it should look something like this,
16:58except without pieces of your crust cracking and falling apart. You see what happened because of
17:02my thermometer placement, is the meat contracted, that moved, causing it to raise the crust, which
17:07caused those pieces at the bottom to break off, which caused me to say a bad word. But the good
17:12news is that's going to be easy to avoid, and yours will look perfect. Hey, that's why I experiment.
17:18So even with my crack, I thought it looked awesome. And then what we need to do before
17:21we even think of serving this, is let it rest at least 15 minutes, which will give our guests
17:26plenty of time to get all their oohs and ahhs out. Not to mention, I imagine, a few Instagrams.
17:31And then once that has rested, we'll go ahead and crack and remove the crust, which, thanks to our
17:35egg white, will come off very easily. Oh, by the way, because I was inspired by that Colombian
17:39technique, which I believe is called Lomo El Tropo, but anyway, because they don't sear the meat in
17:45that technique, I did not sear mine, which is why that surface is not the most appealing color.
17:50So if that bothers you and you're going to carve this table side, feel free to take an extra minute
17:54and brown that surface in a nice hot pan before you slice it. But having said that, if you're
17:58going to plate up slices like this, it really doesn't matter. Oh, by the way, in case you're
18:02wondering, a two pound roast like this will make enough to feed four friends or six acquaintances.
18:08And yes, I believe this technique will work with even a longer piece of tenderloin.
18:11So I went ahead and sliced up my tenderloin, and I could not believe how juicy it was.
18:16I mean, come on, look at that. I mean, I was actually thinking it was too much juice.
18:21I was thinking maybe it all leaked out, and the meat's going to be really dry and tasteless.
18:25But that was not the case. Every bite was dripping with moisture. And above and beyond the incredibly
18:30tender and insanely juicy texture, this was by far the most flavorful beef tenderloin I've ever had.
18:36Thai-dipped beef tri-tip. That's right, we really should have called this satay-soaked beef tri-tip.
18:41But unfortunately, that didn't rhyme. But anyway, I've always wanted to try this little twist on one
18:46of my favorite all-time Asian marinades. Plus, since we're heading right into the middle of
18:49grilling season, it's never a bad idea to remind people how great and user-friendly the tri-tip
18:54roast is. And we'll be getting to the beef briefly. But first, we have to put together our marinade,
18:59which we'll do quite simply by adding the following ingredients to a mixing bowl.
19:03And we'll start with a whole bunch of minced garlic, followed by some bruised and chopped
19:07up lemongrass, which by the way, I'm going to give you a few tips about on the blog post.
19:12We're also going to add a ton of finely grated ginger root, as well as, if you don't mind shedding
19:16a few tears, some grated onion. And that's going to do it for our aromatic vegetable base, which
19:22means we can continue on with a whole bunch of fish sauce, which a lot of people are afraid of
19:26because they don't understand what it is. Okay, once you learn this is nothing more than the
19:30liquid that comes off decomposing fish, you realize there's nothing to fear. And then we're
19:34also going to go ahead and add a little bit of soy sauce, as well as some seasoned rice vinegar,
19:40which is rice vinegar they make with a little bit of salt and sugar in it.
19:43And then of course, we're going to want to spice this up, which I'm going to do with some ground
19:46coriander, some ground cumin, as well as some gorgeously colored turmeric. And that is going
19:54to be it for the spices. Just kidding. Of course, we're going to put a little cayenne. And then to
19:59finish this up, we'll go ahead and dump in some brown sugar, which we're going to want in here
20:03to balance out all these intense flavors. And then last but not least, a little bit of vegetable oil
20:08for reasons I'd rather not discuss. Just put it in. And then we'll go ahead and take a whisk and
20:13give this a mix. And that's it. Our Thai-inspired beef satay-ish marinade is done. And normally,
20:19that would now be ready to toss in hundreds of little pieces of beef that we would marinate and
20:23then skewer before grilling. But I've always wanted to try this as a marinade for a large
20:27chunk of meat to put on the grill, in particular, a beef tri-tip roast. And there it is, apparently
20:33named for his triangular shape, which I believe is cut from the bottom sirloin. And not only is
20:38this a relatively affordable piece of meat, but it's also very user-friendly and doesn't require
20:42much trimming, as well as there's really no bones or connective tissue. So we pretty much get to
20:47eat all of it. And what we'll do is transfer that into our marinade so we can give it the old poke
20:51and soak. So let's toss that in and then take a fork and poke it all over. Like, I don't know,
20:5760 to 75 times. And no, don't count. We'll just do that until we think it's good. We are, after
21:03all, the tribe called quest of how many pokes is best. I was actually trying to work on a Q-tip
21:07reference, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. But anyway, once our beef has been coated
21:11thoroughly and poked severely, what we'll do is cover that and let it marinate in the fridge for
21:16anywhere between 2 and 12 hours. And whenever I marinate in a bowl like this, it's not a bad
21:21idea to pull it out once in a while and give it a toss, as well as some additional poking.
21:27So I did that a few times. And in case you're keeping score at home, I let mine marinate for
21:31exactly 4 hours, at which point we're going to pull it out of the marinade. And I like to set
21:35it down on some paper towels to drain just a little bit. And it probably doesn't matter at
21:39all, but I do like to brush off a few of the chunks. And then assuming that our coals are
21:43ready, we can head outside and get to roasting. And yes, I did say roasting, not grilling.
21:48I'm actually going to cook mine over indirect, fairly low heat. All right, my cooking temperature
21:52ranged between 300 and 325 for most of the cooking. And I'm going to give you some different
21:57options on the blog for ways to cook this. But for a little change of pace, I decided to go low
22:01and slow. And other than brushing on some of the marinade and maybe turning it once in a while,
22:06I didn't really do anything except wait for it to get to an internal temp of 130 to 135,
22:11which for me is the ideal temperature to cook this to. All right, we don't want to cook this too rare
22:16because like things like flank steak and skirt steak, it can be kind of chewy if we undercook
22:20it. So I did check with a thermometer and pulled mine off at about 132 and headed inside to let it
22:26rest. Oh, and quick tip, if you have some extra marinade, which you probably will, what we can do
22:31is bring that to a boil to sterilize it. And then that's safe to brush on our meat or serve on the
22:36side or whatever. So I did brush on a little more. Not that I really needed it, but I did want to
22:42show you, you have to boil it if you're going to use it. But anyway, as usual, we're going to let
22:45that meat rest at least 10 to 15 minutes. Truth be told, I got a phone call. So I actually let
22:50mine rest about a half hour, but it was still beautiful. As you're about to see as I cut in
22:54here. And my first cut did go right into the center because I wanted to see how moist and
22:58amazingly beautiful this was. But then I remembered, I always like to take a few slices off the edge.
23:03And if the driest, most cooked parts are still moist and delicious, then I know the rest of it's
23:07going to be awesome. And as I was cutting, I could not believe how tender this felt. I also couldn't
23:12believe I wasn't cutting across a grain. I blame the amazing smell and appearance as well as my
23:16debilitating hunger. But you know what? Even though it wasn't from the middle and I sort of cut it
23:22with the grain, it was still absolutely incredible. Roast tenderloin of beef. Of course this is super
23:28expensive, but look on the bright side. If you screw it up, you'll feel bad for weeks. But don't worry,
23:34I'm going to show you a method that's so easy, so foolproof, you're going to be shocked at how awesome
23:39your beef comes out. So we're going to start this off with a two and a half to three pound
23:44tenderloin roast. This one comes from what they call the butt end. All right, it's the largest
23:48end of the tenderloin. And because of its size, it makes a really nice roast. And it also tends to
23:53be a little less expensive than the classic center cut tenderloin roast, which are also sometimes
24:00called chateaubriand. So we have a little bit of prep to do. We're going to remove what's called
24:04the silver skin, which is, yes, that shiny silvery white skin. So you want to take a thin sharp knife,
24:10all right, go underneath. You only want to get that silver skin. Do not cut into the meat too far.
24:16All right, so be careful. So I'm going to remove any obvious silver skin from the top.
24:21And it's pretty easy to see. But on that side, between those two little muscles, I don't want
24:26you digging down too deep. All right, you'll see when we slice this, it's not a problem.
24:30That fat really doesn't go in there too deeply. On the other side, there's a piece of meat attached,
24:34which they call the chain. And I want to leave it attached to the roast. But any of that external fat
24:40like you see there, I'm going to go ahead and cut that off. So tenderloin is a really lean piece of
24:44meat. So we can leave a little bit of that white fat on there. But the tough part, the silver skin,
24:49you want to remove that. I'm going to cut that little chunk of fat out there. But that's pretty
24:53much it. I'm going to flip it over. So on this side, there should just be a little bit of trimming
24:57required. So I'm going to slice that off. If I see any more silver skin, I'm going to take that off.
25:02And that is trimmed and ready to tie. All right, so we're going to take some butcher string,
25:07and we're going to do a classic kind of trussing method. I'm going to start off by tying one end
25:12down. And then I'm going to just make a simple loop with the string, bring it over the loin,
25:18and just kind of cinch it up. And as you pull, it actually will tighten up beautifully. All right,
25:22so let's see another one here. So I just loop the string over, just like that. Bring it all the way
25:27over the loin. And then you simply center it, and give it a little tug. And that string will cinch up.
25:35And you keep doing that every inch or two. And that's going to hold everything together nice and
25:39tight, and allow for it to roast really evenly. Okay, so when you get to the end, and you've made
25:45your last tie, flip it over, and bring the string along the bottom. I'm going to loop it under once
25:50there. And I'm just going to tie that off where I started. And that's done. By the way, if you're
25:55getting this from a butcher, they will do all this trimming and tying for you. It costs a little extra
25:59of course, but they'll do it. All right, so my beef tenderloin is prepped and ready to start.
26:05But before we start the cooking process, I have one more thing to prep. Because I'm doing a shallot
26:11and porcini mushroom sauce, I need to soak my dry porcini. We pour over water. We let it soak until
26:17it's soft, which will take about an hour. If you use warm water, it goes faster. Once they're soft,
26:23squeeze them out, and chop in bite-sized pieces. Don't throw away the water. All right, I'm going
26:28to reserve that until I need it. All right, so when we're ready to start cooking the beef, I'm going
26:31to season that very, very generously with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. I'm going to put
26:37a heavy skillet on high heat. All right, a little bit of vegetable oil. And I'm going to sear that
26:42really well on all sides. I want a very brown crust. And I also want a nice fond in the bottom
26:49of the pan. And the fond, of course, you know, is that caramelized meat juice on the bottom. So I'm
26:54going to stay on medium-high to high heat the whole way here until I have a perfectly seared roast.
26:59When that happens, I'm going to remove the beef to a plate. I'm going to turn the heat down to
27:02medium. I'm going to throw in a chunk of butter. And I'm going to add lots of shallots and a pinch
27:07of salt. Now what's going to happen, the liquid from the shallots is going to actually deglaze
27:11that fond from the bottom of the pan. I want to cook those shallots in that butter for about five,
27:17six minutes. All right, until they start to turn golden brown. At that point, I'm going to deglaze
27:21the pan with tarragon vinegar. If you don't have that, you can just use regular white wine vinegar.
27:27You can even use white wine if you want. But I do want a little bit of acidity. You're going to
27:31pour that in, stir it around. It's going to evaporate pretty quickly. And when it looks
27:35like that, I'm going to go ahead and pour in some stock or broth. I'm using chicken. Veal stock,
27:40if you can get it, really is what you want to use here. But if not, I suggest a nice high-quality
27:45chicken broth. All right. At that point, I'm going to add in my diced porcini mushroom. All right,
27:50I'm going to toss in some salt and pepper. We're going to adjust that at the end. But I'm going to
27:54put in a little bit here. And because this is a special occasion and we want it a little bit more
27:59luxurious, I'm going to put in a splash of heavy cream and then a big splash of the water we soaked
28:04the mushrooms in. Of course, I strained it because it could have sand in it. So strain it, a splash
28:08of that. All right, I'm going to toss my beef back in. I'm going to toss it around in that sauce a
28:13little bit. And that's going to go in a 325 degree oven until it reaches an internal temperature
28:20of 125. That's for a perfect medium rare, a little bit on the rare side. So mine took about
28:2845 minutes at 325. And because you're roasting it very gently, you're going to get a perfect
28:34tenderloin that's evenly cooked throughout. A perfect, perfect pink. All right, I'm going to
28:39remove my tenderloin to a plate, cover loosely with foil. And that has to rest at least 10 minutes
28:44while we finish our sauce. Which is quite simple because it's already been roasting with the
28:48tenderloin. All right, I'm simply going to put that on high heat, bring it up to a boil. When I'm
28:52happy with the consistency, I'm going to turn off the heat. I'm going to toss in some salt and pepper.
28:57I'm going to throw in our traditional chunk of cold butter, stir that in. When it's almost melted,
29:02the last ingredient, a big giant pinch of fresh tarragon. And of course, tarragon is a main
29:08flavoring in Bearnaise, which is a very popular sauce for roast beef tenderloin. All right, you're
29:13going to taste for salt and pepper and that sauce is done. So simple, so amazingly elegant and delicious.
29:19So of course, you're going to cut the string off your tenderloin. You're going to place it back on
29:23the sauce if you want. Maybe some more herb. Maybe surround it with potatoes. And bring it to the
29:28table just like that. All right, so that would be one way, family style. Or you can slice it up ahead
29:33of time and just plate it up individually. And look at that perfectly, perfectly cooked and juicy
29:40beef tenderloin. I'm telling you, that slow oven and cooking it on top of the sauce really does
29:45magical things to this piece of beef. Slow cooker beef pot roast. That's right. I got so many requests
29:52for slow cooker recipes. I finally went and found and dusted off my slow cooker and we're going to
29:58use it to make a beautiful beef pot roast. So here we go. So what we're going to use here is what's
30:04called a seven bone chuck roast. All right, you see that bone kind of makes the shape of a seven.
30:09That's where it gets its name. All right, if you turn it upside down, you have what they call an
30:13L roast. All right, I just made that part up. So once you get your seven bone roast, you're going
30:17to go ahead and season both sides very generously with salt and pepper. All right, looks like a lot,
30:23but that's a big thick piece of meat. All right, so season generously. Then I want you to coat both
30:29sides with white flour. Okay, just regular all-purpose flour. I want you to sprinkle it on
30:33and I want you to pat it into that meat really well. Okay, in the industry this is known as
30:37spanking in the flour and there's no way I would just make up a term like that to, you know, make
30:42you sound ridiculous in front of a chef one day. It's just not my style. All right, so you're going
30:46to spank in the flour until it's well coated. Shake off the excess and then what we're going
30:50to do is we're going to sear this meat really well on both sides. I'm going to put a large,
30:56large skillet on medium-high heat with a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil and when the oil
31:02starts to shimmer and it's hot, we're going to go ahead and sear that on both sides. Now you want
31:07a really nice brown crust on this. So there's two ways you can tell. The second best way is look for
31:13the blood, the juice coming up to the surface or just look underneath. That's the best way. If it's
31:18brown, turn it over. Now just because we're going to use a slow cooker to cook this meat doesn't mean
31:23everything just going to get thrown into the pot. In fact, those slow cooker recipes where you just
31:27add everything to the crock pot and turn it on, those are not good. Those are more, what's the
31:32word for it, stupid. Because you've got to still use the proper techniques like browning the meat
31:37and caramelizing some of the vegetables, etc. And you see here I have some quality, quality
31:43crustification. Alright, so once my meat was very, very well seared on both sides, I remove that to
31:49a plate. I'm going to turn it down to medium and I'm going to add some thickly sliced mushrooms
31:56and a chunk of butter. Alright, so I'm going to start sautéing those. Again, I'm on medium heat
32:00here. I gave them about a three or four minute head start. When they just started to brown lightly,
32:06I went ahead and I threw in a roughly chopped onion. Okay, this is going to cook so long. Do not
32:13be worried about precision cutting. Alright, just whack that thing up. So I'm going to cook the
32:17mushrooms and the onions for about five minutes more until the onions start to turn translucent.
32:23Alright, you definitely want some color on the edges of those mushrooms and onions. That's going
32:26to help give the sauce a nice deep color. I'm going to throw in a couple cloves of chopped garlic.
32:31Give that another minute. Alright, when it gets to that point, I'm going to throw in a nice big
32:36tablespoon of flour and that's going to help thicken that gravy later. Alright, stir that in. Cook that
32:40for about a minute and we're almost done here. I'm going to go ahead and add about a tablespoon of
32:45tomato paste. I'm going to caramelize that a little bit, just in the center of the pan, just for like
32:50a minute. Alright, and at that point we're going to add our stock. Now, I use chicken broth. I know a
32:55lot of people use beef broth for this. I really think it comes out better with chicken. You're
33:00going to get so much beef flavor from that giant hunk of beef we're going to braise here that you
33:04don't really need it. So I like the lighter flavor profile of the chicken broth. Up to you. Alright,
33:09I'm going to stir that in. As soon as that comes back to a simmer, it's going to thicken up and
33:14then just turn it off. Alright, so that's looking good. I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to place
33:18some celery and some carrots in the bottom of my crock pot. I'm going to lay my gigantic
33:24seven bone roast on top. And yes, it's a very tight fit, but that's okay. That's going to sort
33:31of shrink up and collapse as it cooks. So as long as you can get the lid on, you're okay. I'm going
33:36to throw in some fresh herb. I have some rosemary and some thyme. I'm going to dump over my onion
33:40and mushroom mixture, kind of poke everything down, and then the easy part. Put on the lid,
33:46lock it down, put it on high, and you're talking about five or six hours. Okay, basically you want
33:54it to be fork tender. Alright, so this was me after about two hours. It was starting to kind of
34:00shrink up a little bit, a little bit of juice, liquid was coming out of the vegetables. Alright,
34:06so check it every few hours, poke it down a little bit. Eventually it's going to look like this.
34:10You're going to have fat pooling up at the top, always, just like if we're braising this on the
34:15stove. You want to go ahead and skim off any fat that comes up. You can do that continually
34:20throughout the cooking. Eventually the bones are going to release, and you can pull out the bones
34:25with your tongs, and that will give you more room. Alright, and eventually it's going to be completely
34:30falling off the bone and fork tender, and you are pretty much done. You can try, but you really can't
34:36screw up a pot roast in a slow cooker. As long as you let it cook long enough, you're good to go.
34:40Alright, now some people pull out the meat like this in these big chunks and they try to slice it.
34:44Why would you bother? Just break off hunks of meat and serve that. Just grab a couple chunks,
34:51throw it on some mashed potatoes, ladle over that amazing gravy, and those braising vegetables,
34:57celery, onions, carrots, those mushrooms. And by the way, I believe I've trained you to the point
35:03where you know you needed to taste that sauce and adjust for salt and pepper, right? It probably
35:08needs another pinch or two of salt, maybe a grind of pepper, alright, maybe even a shake of cayenne.
35:13You know how we like it. Maybe you'll brighten it up a little bit with some chopped fresh parsley,
35:17optional. And there we go, a beautiful seven bone beef pot roast, so