Tough Roast - what now?

[bunny213]

Okay..the other night I made a roast...325 degrees for 1 3/4 hours, just like the package said. The first night, it was pretty good...but a bit chewy. I have a fairly good size piece of it left...what can I do to it (or with it) to be able to use it? I had a piece of it yesterday, sliced it very thin and it was okay. Hubby didn't want any, said it was too tough. So - is there something I can make with it so not to waste it? I think it's pretty tasy otherwise. I really hate to waste it. Thanks...Barb

 

[RumpleMom]

I would think you could soften it with any kind of liquid...

Heat in a jar of Heinz gravy or reheat in some beef broth or put in crockpot with barbecue sauce.

HTH

 

[cryssi]

throw it in the crockpot, cover with beef broth and a can of beer...? I wonder if that would help...

 

[Imzadi]

It really sounds like you didn't cook it long enough.
A tip I learned from Tyler Florence on the Food Channel is that it is the slow heat AT THE END that makes meat fall off the bone, or so juicy & tender you can shred it. As you are cooking, for a while, the muscle fiber seizes up & becomes tough. This happens especially if cooking too fast with high heat. When you continue cooking at a low heat beyond that point, WITH a liquid 9or sauce,) the muscle fiber breaks down, until it finally falls apart & off the bone. So if the ribs or any meat is still too tough, keep cooking!

People make the mistake of cooking at the end, with too high heat, & not long enough. If your heat is low enough and you have enough moisture, you can almost never OVER-cook meat.

Put the roast back in a pan. Maybe add a can of beef stock to it. Cover it & cook very slowly on low heat.

 

[piratesmate]

I agree with cooking it some more with liquid at a low heat. I've had occasions when DH needed to be somewhere & wanted to eat dinner before I thought the roast was really done. I ALWAYS use the crockpot to cook roast. I've opened the crock & cut some for him. It was done - not rare - but not tender. I put the lid back on & continued to cook it for another couple hours and then I couldn't slice any...it just fell apart at that point.

I don't bother using broth when cooking a roast - just water. But I sprinkle some Kitchen Bouquet or Gravy Master on it & then some beef bouillon so the I end up with broth.

If you can get it to the point where it's falling apart, go ahead & shred it then serve it in the juice for hot roast beef sandwiches. Your husband won't even know it's the same roast.

 

[MazdaUK]

I'd turn it into shepherds pie. Mince the meat (use a food processor if you want) or cut it inot even-size pieces. Make a brown sauce (like making a white sauce, but use beef stock - bouillon - instead of milk) and set aside covered with damp baking parchment to prevent a skin forming. Chop some onions, carrots (or grate them) and peppers, fry until soft and golden (the onion) but not brown - you'll need to give the onions a head start. Roughly chop some tomatoes and add to the pan with the chopped meat, toss together and mix in the sauce (use more sauce than you would usually, so its quite sloppy) and herbs/seasoning to taste (depends on the flavour of your stock). Pour into a dish and top with mashed potato (or you could even put it in a pie dish with pastry on top). The sauce will soak into the meat and soften it, and because its in tiny pieces anyway any residual toughness won't be noticed.

 

[cdrn1]

Invest in a pressure cooker. The beef roast is absolutely a slice of heaven.