Yup - that makes a difference - stick a skewer through it a couple of times to make sure that it isn't frozen, if it is frozen - then seal it in a plastic bag and put it in a sink of luke warm water for a bit to get it to thaw quickly. It is really important to get it up to room temperature before you try to cook it....don't roast straight from the fridge.
In order to get it to medium you want to get meat up to only 70 degrees, any more and it will become well done. The faster you cook it, the more unevenly it will cook as the outside will cook first - slower is best - I usually roast beef joints at 80-90 degrees for 6-7 hours.
For your joint - rub some cracked pepper into it then sear it in a frying pan with some hot oil to seal in the juices, then pop it in the oven at 160 degrees for about 70 minutes, then take it out of the oven, cover it with foil and let it sit for at least 15 minutes before you carve. It will keep cooking for this 15 minutes on it's residual heat.
If you have a meat or probe thermometer then you can check the core temperature of the beef and remove some of the guesswork.
If your oven is capable of it then you can drop it right down to 60 degrees, and cook it for 24 hours....this will leave the whole joint cooked to a perfect, uniform medium rare. I serve it with a compound butter made with anchovies and capers or fresh bearnaise sauce instead of gravy - the sharpness works really well with the beef.
If you are going to try doing it this way then:-
1. Don't trust your oven thermometer, they really don't work at low temperatures - you can get little thermometers to place in the oven so that you know exactly what temperature you are getting.
2. Sear the meat after it has been slow roasted, the caramelised outer surface adds a lot of flavour that you will miss out on otherwise.
3. Roast on the bone, the meat will be so tender that the bones can literally just be pulled out of the flesh.
Last edited by TheBear; July 27th, 2008 at 10:27 PM.
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