culinary flights of fancy

Home Cooking Adventures in Berkeley Heights

Tag Archives: In the Charcuterie


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Rare Eye of Round Roast Beef

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I cook this recipe all the time at home.  It lasts a long time and does well in the freezer if I have to freeze it.  Eye round beef is also a very lean cut of meat which is also a bonus.  One of the drawbacks is that it is a tough cut of meat and if you don’t prepare it rare, it’s not going to be very tender.  Also, it needs to be cut razor thin, which works well if you are making a sandwich or something like that.  I usually cut it as thinly as I can and usually serve it at room temperature along with a salad, some blanched broccoli or beans, some crusty bread, and/or some cheese…and I usually just put all of it on a cutting board and serve it as is.  The flavor of this roast is great, at once salty and sweet with hints of herbs and spice.  I got the recipe from this cookbook, which I’ve featured on the blog before (buy it…you won’t be sorry about the investment).  I’ve followed this recipe exactly and I’ve also made it using the same basic technique but using different spices and herbs.  I really liked the way it tasted with herbs de Provence.  However, here, I followed the recipe by and large from the book as written so that you could get a sense for what it looks like from that perspective.

Two things before the recipe that I should mention.  One, the good news is that this roast only takes about 20 minutes to cook the whole thing at 425 degrees.  Two, the bad news is that the rub of all the seasonings and herbs needs to be done two days (48 hours) in advance of cooking it.  So this involves a bit of planning to pull off.  However, the saving grace about it is that once you create the rub and season the beef, you wrap it up, pop it in the fridge and it just sits soaking up all the flavor for a couple of days.  It takes about 15 minutes to gather everything, make the rub, and season the beef.  So all in all, not a whole lot of time to prepare.  It does, though, require some forethought which may be inconvenient on occasion.  So, with those two things in mind, here is my current favorite rare roast beef recipe.  It’s almost exactly the recipe published in the book, just written in my own words with a few noted changes.  Recipe follows after the jump… Continue reading →


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Products Worth Mentioning: In the Charuterie by Boetticher and Miller

 

So, I’ve mentioned this before, but my wife and I travelled over the holiday weekend to Montreal.  We had a great time enjoying all the city has to offer from classic architecture to museums to water front bars to a vast array of culinary adventures.  Given all we ate and the various delicacies we tried, my personal favorite was the charcuterie platter at the restaurant Lawrence.  They make their own cured and smoked meats, pickle their own vegetables, and make their own bread.  As an aside, Lawrence was recommended by friends of ours who lived in Montreal and it did not disappoint.  In fact, we ate dinner there and enjoyed it so much we went back for brunch the next morning.  I think I can speak for my wife too in that we both highly recommend going if you are ever in Montreal.  Anyway…

The charcuterie in Montreal has fueled a renewed interest in making charcuterie at home, which is where the book In the Charcuterie comes into focus.  I own this book.  I’ve personally used this cookbook a good number of times and each time, it did not disappoint.  The downside of the book stems from the fact that a large number of recipes require some hard to find ingredients.  Overcome that barrier, and you will find an easy to follow guide to making great sausages, roasts, terrines, bound meats, and other meaty goodness.  So, if you, like me, are interested in and enjoy charcuterie and need either a place to start or a way to continue along the path, this book works great. 

I purchased my copy at William Sonoma and, it is at least available at the store near us (Short Hills Mall).  Amazon also carries it.  I’m sure it’s available elsewhere including at the restaurant The Fatted Calf, located in the San Francisco area.  The Fatted Calf is owned and operated by the authors of the cookbook.