# beef eye of round roast. **need input**



## dalton

I decied to try an eye of round roast tonight.  they were cheap at costco so I thought why not.

here is my how I preped it.

unwaped it from the shrink wrap and gave it a quick rinse.

sprayed it down with a little olive oil and apple juice mix

gave it a coating of my home made rub (garlic,onion,salt, pepper, celery salt, allspice)

wraped in plastic wrap and let sit for about an hour

placed in treager at 225 until internal temp of 148. (about 2.5 hours)

wraped in foil and let rest for 45 min.

sliced and served with gravy

here is my question...

the flavor was fabulas!

it was juicy

nice light smoke ring

but...  it was a bit tough...   any suggestions??

here is my thought...  I like my meat a bit on the rare side (juciy and flavorful) but for a very lean piece of meat like this do I need to take it up to a higher temp to get it more tender?  should I just plan on it being a little dry and use the gravy for moisture?  or is the eye of round cut just not well suited for this?  I have made excellent beef jerky using it but never tried a roast like this

i tried to take pics but they didn't survive the transfer  lol

thanks in advance for your input

dalton


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## smokermark

IMO I think that for an eye of round roast you're going to have to take it up a bit higher to get it more tender. It's lean and a cut that's going to require taking it to a higher temperature low and slow to achieve more tenderness. I would probably foil it while it is still cooking at 150-155 deg. then take it to 160-165 before resting it something similar you did maybe even in a cooler some time. Foiled around an hour prior pulling it out from cooking. You can also try setting it in a foil pan later that you had been using for drippings a shelf or two below if you wanted to go that route once it got to the 140-145 deg. area.

I probably take roasts like these to higher temps than most.

Something I do is when I first put something like a roast in a cooker, I'll have my initial temp as much as 75-100 degrees higher right when I set it in for a short while before backing off to the 225-235 range to singe and seal the outside a bit sealing in the juices a little more. For a small to medium-sized roast no more than maybe 10-20 minutes, initially hotter. A little longer if it's pretty good sized.

Another thing if you hadn't, make sure to bring your roast up to about room temp. set to cook. If it's still chilly that can affect tenderness of meat and warming is going to aid in more uniform cooking.


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## mballi3011

I'm sorry Mark this Mark thinks that you had a bad piece of meat or like you said you took it from the frig straight into the smoker.?? Now I have done a couple but not that many I like a sirloin tip for sammies. It to is a very lean hunk of meat and I only take it to maybe 140° and then let it rest and then slice it. I usually eat some of it the first night and then put it into the refrig overnight and then slice it and if you need throw it into the freezer for a little bit to stiffen it up before putting it on the slicer.


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## SmokinAl

Like Mark said maybe you did just get a bad piece of meat. I only take mine to 135, & rest it. Refrigerate it then slice thin across the grain. I prefer sirloin tip too.


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## fpnmf

I'm not seeing the pictures..is my computer broke??

  Craig


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## Bearcarver

I use eye round for cured dried beef because it is so lean.

The only thing I can tell you is basically what Al said.

If you're gonna smoke eye round, which is very lean and not a tender cut, smoke it to however rare you like, but then partially freeze it & slice it very thin.

Bear


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## arnie

mballi3011 said:


> I'm sorry Mark this Mark thinks that you had a bad piece of meat or like you said you took it from the frig straight into the smoker.?? Now I have done a couple but not that many I like a sirloin tip for sammies. It to is a very lean hunk of meat and I only take it to maybe 140° and then let it rest and then slice it. I usually eat some of it the first night and then put it into the refrig overnight and then slice it and if you need throw it into the freezer for a little bit to stiffen it up before putting it on the slicer.


Ditto 145° tops


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## rbranstner

I was going to suggest like Bear said and make that baby into dried beef. I have one in the freezer and I can't wait to make it.


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## cycletrash

Need pics


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## dalton

Thanks for the input. That is pretty much what I thought. Next time unwell take it to a Higher temp

Thanks again


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## sqwib

You may also want to remove from the refrigerator about an hour before smoking.

I grill my roast's but slice em down, have never smoked a whole roast yet but will try, I know this is a bit off topic but I have had great success with the following method for grilling, in case you are interested.

What I usually do is slice the roast cold about 1" to 1-1/4" thick

Salt heavily with kosher salt about an hour

Rinse salt blot dry

tenderize with a Jaccard

Sear on grill

1-1/2 minutes

turn 45-90 degrees 1 minute

flip 1 minute

turn 90 degrees 1 minute.


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## dalton

I have done sevral sirlions the same way I did the eye of round and they all turned out great!  but then again the sirlion is a much better cut of meat than the eye of round.  I usually take them to about 143-145 let rest over night and slice.  they never last long in the fridge.

thanks for all the input


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## pops6927

The biggest variance in eye of round that I have found is directly proportional to the amount of Fixodent I use...


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## wakespray1

Just did one in the USD for Easter. 
Turned out real good. Poor mans brisket. 

1. Rub w/ garlic infused olive oil(soak the chopped garlic in the oil for @ least a day)

2. Dry rub, wrap in cellophane & fridge over night.

3. Pull it of fridge hour before smoke time.

4. Ugly Drum Smoker: mesquite, oak & plum wood. Meat on top rack. Water pan with boiling water (1/2 gal), Worcestershire sauce (1/2 cup), soy sauce (1/4 cup), sesame oil (1/4 tsp) directly under meat on lower rack between meat & coal basket. 230-250 degrees for 3 1/2 hours.

5.  Double wrap in foil with BBQ sauce, honey garlic. 3 1/2 more hours @ 230 degrees in smoker or oven.

6. Double wrap (again) in foil, double wrap in towels and put in a dry empty ice chest for at least 1 hour, but not more than 5 hours.

7. Cut against the grain & serve like brisket with BBQ sauce.  As [email protected] 1/2 the price.

8. Enjoy Ya'll.


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## wy will

I did a chuck roast yesterday. I chose one high in fat and injected it with melted butter. I cured it first and then injected it. Put a rub on it and cold smoked it. Then wrapped it on plastic for 2 days. Then I grilled it. It was still a little tough, but very tasty!


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## Bearcarver

wy will said:


> I did a chuck roast yesterday. I chose one high in fat and injected it with melted butter. I cured it first and then injected it. Put a rub on it and cold smoked it. Then wrapped it on plastic for 2 days. Then I grilled it. It was still a little tough, but very tasty!


Cured it with what?

Any Pics??

Not saying it can't be done, but I never saw a cured Chucky.
 

Bear


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## smoking b

Bearcarver said:


> Cured it with what?
> 
> Any Pics??
> 
> Not saying it can't be done, but I never saw a cured Chucky.
> 
> 
> Bear


I don't have any pics Bear but I cured a chuck last year. I lost track of one in my freezer & it was in there longer than I like.  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  I discovered it & was gonna just use it for chili but curiosity got the best of me so I cured it with #1 in a brine & smoked it (& then made chili with it  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





)  As crazy as it probably sounds it actually wasn't bad


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## wy will

I halved the recipe of Pop's wet curing brine. It got vacuum sealed and left in the fridge for 3 days. I used a hickory rub. Smoked it for 3 hours with sugar maple pellets. Then it was reverse seared on a grill the next day.

It was a little tough, but very tasty and juicy.

No pics. I was pressed for time and making it up as I went along.


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## Bearcarver

Smoking B said:


> I don't have any pics Bear but I cured a chuck last year. I lost track of one in my freezer & it was in there longer than I like.
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> )  As crazy as it probably sounds it actually wasn't bad


I figured maybe you did, because you've been curing meats for a year & a half now, but I was asking for pics from wy will. I find Chuckies to be a bit fatty for curing.  Making Chili with it sounds like an excellent idea.


wy will said:


> I halved the recipe of Pop's wet curing brine. It got vacuum sealed and left in the fridge for 3 days. I used a hickory rub. Smoked it for 3 hours with sugar maple pellets. Then it was reverse seared on a grill the next day.
> 
> It was a little tough, but very tasty and juicy.
> 
> No pics. I was pressed for time and making it up as I went along.


OK---Thanks Will !! Like I said, I wasn't saying it can't be done, I just never saw one. I wouldn't think it would be as good as a Chucky that wasn't cured, just because of the fatty nature of the beast. However I would have never thought it would be tough. Hmmmm.

Well Thanks again, Will !!  I appreciate your reply.

Bear


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## sqwib

Bearcarver said:


> I figured maybe you did, because you've been curing meats for a year & a half now, but I was asking for pics from wy will. I find Chuckies to be a bit fatty for curing.  Making Chili with it sounds like an excellent idea.
> 
> Bear


Or Sous Vide
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	

















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__ sqwib
__ Apr 22, 2014


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## smoking b

Bearcarver said:


> I figured maybe you did, because you've been curing meats for a year & a half now, but I was asking for pics from wy will. I find Chuckies to be a bit fatty for curing.  Making Chili with it sounds like an excellent idea.
> 
> Bear


I've actually cured meat for many years starting with helping my pap when I was just a kid. After he quit butchering I didn't do any curing on my own till I moved back here from York & got settled down again back in '98. After that I did lots of belly bacon, deer, jerky & ham with my pap's old school recipes. I never cured any pork loin for CB till after I joined here (I never liked any I had before) but it looked so good on here I had to learn. I tried it & now I like it a lot. I also never dry cured any country hams with my pap's recipe till after joining here & getting the lowdown on acceptable nitrate levels because it's an old school recipe... This is a great place to learn the technical safety points of curing too  
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






Yeah the chili was pretty decent but not so good that I would waste time curing another chuck to make more!


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## brycraft

I know this post is rather old but thought I would interject. An Eye of Round is a very lean cut of meat, the lack of fat rendering in the meat makes it susceptible to being tough.

To tenderize an Eye of Round, the day before you plan on cooking it, season it pretty heavily with kosher salt (Not table salt). Cover all sides with a good couple of Tablespoons of salt.. Then tightly wrap the meat in plastic wrap (Can I say Saran Wrap?) Leave it in the fridge for 12-18 hours... Leaving the science out of it, the salt will truly take that cut of meat and tenderize it, even if you like to cook it a little more well done it will stay tender...  To get it even more tender after you brown the meat in a pan, start it off in a 500 deg oven for 30 min... Then shut the oven off and do not open the door and let the meat sit.. The meat will continue to cook for the next several hours. 

I have also cooked it after browning at a low temp of 275 and cooked it long and slow.. The longer the meat fibers can stay under 120deg the more tender the meat will ultimately come out... Just my 2 cents...


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## caliman126

Hey guys. I read all your comments and started mine 2 days ago. It was 6 Ibs i rubbed with olive oil garlic worschestire thyme salt and some herbs. Took it out of the fridge 3 hrs prior. Soaked hickory chips 24 hrs. Bout to get home and check its been 3 hrs sofar.













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__ caliman126
__ Sep 13, 2015


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## caliman126

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__ caliman126
__ Sep 13, 2015





Done smoking hit the oven at 500 for 15 min then wrapped up for 2 hrs.


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## caliman126

After oven i did 1.5 hrs wrapped up in a cooler













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__ caliman126
__ Sep 14, 2015


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