Get to know the Roasts
General Tips for Cooking Grass-fed Roasts
Last time we gave a quick run-down of our steaks, this time we are going to dive into the roasts. First of all, sometimes I think there is a misconception out there that the roasts are “lower quality” cuts on the animal. I think anyone who has had really good smoked tri tip, or melt in your mouth brisket would beg to differ. The fat and tough collagen that make brisket a poor steak melt under high temperatures to make an amazing smoked barbecue that no tenderloin can ever replicate. The roasts, although they can take some more care to prepare properly, can be some of the most delicious meals out there.
It is challenging to offer many “general” tips for cooking roasts, as each of them can be so different. Some are best cooked, like steaks, to medium rare. Others shouldn’t even be considered close to done until you are over 200 degrees. That being said, a few of the following tips still apply.
For most roasts, low and slow is the name of the game. However, the temperature and time of cooking ranges from roast to roast vary widely.
As with steaks, thoroughly thaw your roasts, and in a perfect world let them come to room temperature before cooking. If the middle of the roast is frozen or cold, you may burn or overcook the outside before the inside comes to temperature. With larger roasts, this often means leaving them in the fridge for a few days, as they can take that long to thaw in the fridge, and if you let them thaw for too long outside the fridge the inside will still be frozen while the outside could actually come to a temperature high enough to allow bacteria to grow. (Bonus - this means that they can be soaking up spices and marinades the whole time)
Dry your roasts well before cooking, and sometimes think about searing them in a hot pan to brown the surface and add flavor before the slow-cooking process begins. This is especially true of roasts, such as chuck roasts, that you might slow cook in a crock pot. That initial sear can really add flavor to the end product.
It is hard to “over-season” roasts. This is because the surface area to volume ratio of a roast is much smaller than that of the steak. There is a large portion of the meat on the interior of the roast that won’t be seasoned, so you can really heavily season that outer layer.
The bigger the cut of beef, the more it will continue to cook after you pull it off the heat. So pull our your roast a little before it reaches your intended cook temp. (Internal temps can raise 5 degrees or so after you pull the roast from the oven) If you are using a reverse sear, you’ll want to pull it out even a little sooner as the sear will continue the cooking process.
Getting to know your Roasts
Mannix Cow Tenderloin Roast
Tenderloin Roast
The great thing about cooking tenderloin as a roast is that it seems easier to get that perfect temperature throughout the meat before searing just the outside. It is a little easier to over-cook the filets.
Because tenderloin is a little used muscle, it is the most tender on the whole animal, but it is also not as flavorful as some other cuts. That’s why you will see it well seasoned, or sometimes wrapped in bacon, on restaurant menus. Also, because it is lean, it is best to not overcook it. I prefer medium rare, and wouldn’t recommend going past medium, or it can get a little dry.
Whether using sus vide, a smoker, or the oven, my favorite way to prepare this roast is by cooking it low and slow until it is about 5 degrees below medium rare, and then pulling it out and searing it over high heat on a grill or cast iron pan. This gives you that perfectly medium rare interior with a great sear on the outside.
We don’t generally keep our the tenderloins from our prime beef animals as roasts, so you won’t see them for sale in our store. However, if you would like one, please reach out! We can accommodate most special orders if we have 2-3 weeks of lead time. What you will see in our online store is our “cow tenderloin roasts”. The only difference here is that they are kept off of our burger cows, which are 36 months and older, instead of 24-36 months old. We think these roasts are fantastic. They are still very tender, have great flavor, and you can get them for much cheaper than we sell our prime beef tenderloin. It is one of my favorite ways to treat a group of friends.
Rib Roast
This high-end roast, often used for “Prime Rib”, is a favorite for special meals and holidays. It is of course from the rib section of the animal, and is essentially a series of 4-7 ribeye steaks in one roast. This roast can be kept bone-in or boneless. Sometimes we have them in stock in the online store, but if not and you would like one just reach out! We would be happy to have the butcher keep one for you, we would just need 2-4 weeks lead time. We often have some available around the holidays, but its still a good idea to order ahead of time to make sure we have one in stock for you!
As with other roasts that come from tender cuts of beef, you only need to cook this to medium rare or medium. (However, due to its higher levels of marbling, this roast is more forgiving to cooking to higher temperature than lean roasts like a tenderloin) Sear this roast in a hot pan or oven before turning the heat down, or cook it low and slow and finish with a reverse sear afterwards.
New York Striploin
What the Prime Rib is to Ribeye steaks, the Striploin is to New York steaks. Treat this tender, marbled, high-end roast much like you would a rib roast. Cook it in the oven or the smoker until it is just under your desired finish temperature, then give it a good sear to finish it off. (or vise versa)
Medium rare would be our recommendation, but cook to your desired level of doneness. Remember that grassfed is a little leaner than grainfed, and it is important to not dry it out with over-cooking.
Coulotte Roast
The coulotte is also known as “top sirloin cap” and in Brazil as “picanha”. This relatively unknown cut is my new favorite cut of beef. It is tender and incredibly flavorful, with a beautiful fat cap that adds moisture and flavor in cooking. I love the mild flavor of the fat cap on this roast.
The Coulotte is a single muscle cut, and as the name suggests, is the “cap” of the top sirloin primal, removed from the rest of the top sirloin. It is the most tender part of the sirloin, and as a single muscle cut you can cut each bite across the grain.
Try this brazilian picanha recipe, which is my favorite. It involves slicing it into 2” thick strips, skewering them, rubbing them with Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper, and then cooking them on the grill. Served with some chimi churri. Beef Picanha Recipe with Pitmaster Rasheed Philips
Or try this Cast Iron Spiced Coullote Roast recipe, which involves searing in a cast iron pan before finishing in the oven.
Tri Tip Roast
Tri tip roast, which comes from the bottom of the sirloin primal, opposite of the Coulotte, is another great roast. If you’ve ever had smoked tri-tip done well, it’s a real treat.
Because it comes from the sirloin primal, the meat is similar in taste and texture to a sirloin steak. However when slow cooked, this roast really shines. It is a fairly lean and tender roast, so it doesn’t need to be cooked to high temperatures. This one is great when smoked or roasted to medium rare, and then seared to finish. You can also slice it into steaks and grill them like any sirloin steak.
Because it is a fairly large, thick roast, you can season it generously on the outside. Try dry rubs, or switch it up and marinade it overnight or play with different pellets in your smoker. (I really like pellets with sweet notes for this roast)
Mannix Tri Tip
Bonus Tip: Slice this roast, like any cut of meat, across the grain. The trick is that there is actually two sections with muscle grains going in different directions. If you can find where the muscle grain changes, and cut each side against the grain, you’ll get the most tender eating experience with every bite.
Chuck Roll Roast
The chuck is one of the most complex muscle groups on the animal, and produces everything from extremely tender steaks to tough roasts. The chuck roasts tend to come from well used muscles with plenty of connective tissue. As such, they are too tough for grilling. However because of this they have incredible flavor and lots of marbling, and are perfect for a melt in your mouth pot roast. The same connective tissues that make it tough will melt and self-baste the meat when cooked low and slow.
This chuck roast in our online store is the traditional, more marbled roast from the chuck roll and/or underblade. It is the number one roast for pot roast, and is perfect for your crock pot. However, you can also cook this in the oven, or smoke it like you would a brisket, with delicious results.
Tips: Try browning a chuck roast in a pan or oven before you put it in the crock pot, which will add deeper flavor to your pot roast. If at all possible, don’t cook on the high setting. The higher temperatures can shrink and toughen the muscle fibers while the collagen melts. Cook on low for at least six, and ideally 8-10 hours.
Chuck Shoulder Roast
While the Shoulder Roast could also be included with “chuck roasts”, they are just different enough that we have separated our “shoulder roast” from the “chuck roll” roast in our online store.
The "Shoulder Roast" will be a little leaner, but maybe more tender and very flavorful. It works great for pot roast too, but If you are looking for an oven roasted roast beef, this would be a great choice. In general, I might pick a “chuck roasts for a crock pot, and a “shoulder roast” for the oven.
Another great way to cook this is in your smoker! Some of the best barbecue joints in Texas prefer to smoke shoulder clods instead of brisket. If you want to try it, cook it low and slow at around 225 or 250 until it registers 190-200 degrees. When done, you can shred it and mix it with the cooking liquid, put in tacos, or add some barbecue sauce for barbecue beef sandwiches.
Brisket Roast
Brisket comes from the chest, or pectoral muscles of a cow, which are rich in collagen and connective tissue. As such, these muscles are naturally very tough, and need to be slow cooked. Brisket, much like chuck roast, makes a great pot roast, and can be roasted in the oven as well. It is also the cut used to make corned beef.
However, we really can’t move on without talking about smoked brisket. Smoking a brisket is challenging to master, but is incredible when done right. (In fact it is definitely a work in progress for me, although I feel like I’ve come a long ways in the last year or so) If you haven’t smoked brisket before, or have but weren’t happy with the result, it is definitely worth doing some research online and really nerding out on the details. Here is a short summary:
Because of the tough collagen and connective tissues, brisket needs to reach a temperature of over 200 degrees (maybe 202 or 203) before those tissues melt and the brisket becomes tender and juicy.
Season your brisket well for flavor and creating the delicous “bark”. This can be simple coarse salt and pepper, or more complex seasonings.
Cooking low and slow is the name of the game, and the larger your brisket, the longer it will take. Be prepared to make a day of it!
As the brisket warms up, the temperature will stall and stop rising at around 160 degrees, due to evaporative cooling. Don’t stop here! If you just leave it on the smoker longer, it will eventually heat up again, but this can dry out the meat. Most experts recommend tightly wrapping the brisket at this point in foil or butcher paper, and often spritzing it with a little liquid, before continuing to cook.
cook your brisket to 202 or 203 degrees in the thickest part, and then let it rest. Resting the brisket is especially important, because at those high temperatures those juices from the collagen you took so much time to melt will run out on your cutting board.
The Round Roasts
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
The three round roasts that you will see in our store are Top Round, Bottom Round, and Sirloin Tip Roasts. In some of our bundles, we may just include a “rump roast” which could refer to any of the three.
In general, because they all come from the hind quarter of the animal they are large, well used muscles. As such, they are lean and less tender than some other parts of the animal, but full of beefy flavor.
Each of these roasts could be braised in a crockpot, roasted in an oven, or smoked.
The sirloin tip roast is probably the most marbled and tender of the three. Sirloin tip steaks, although they are from a different primal than top sirloin steaks, do have a similar taste and texture. (although the top sirloin steaks are more tender) If I was doing a pot roast, and didn’t have a well marbled chuck or brisket roast, sirloin tip might be my next choice, as that marbling will help it stand up to longer cook times.
Top Round is a little finer grained, and therefor a little more tender than bottom round. That’s why we keep some “london broil” steak cuts from the top round but not the bottom round.
Bottom Round, while larger grained and not as tender as the two above, is a large roast that is maybe the best for deli-style roast beef.
Never made roast beef before? If not, give it a try! In general, season the meat well and let it sit for a day or two in the fridge. When you are ready to cook it, start by searing the outside or roasting under high temps for a few minutes to get a good brown on the surface. Then cook it low and slow in the oven, grill, or smoker until you reach medium rare or medium. Let the beef rest for 20-30 minutes, and then slice it as thinly as possible across the grain. Check out these two videos for more if you’ve never tried it: