Ways to prepare eye of round?

[TwinsP0p]

I saw that several people here (including John) had made eye of round part of their diets, and I welcomed the opportunity to work a little more red meat into my meal schedule. I asked my wife to get some eye of round steaks when she next went to Costco.

She ended up getting me this 5+ pound pack of big cuts that look meant for roasting, although I imagine I could cut them into small thick steaks for grilling.

I did a little poking on google and cooks.com and it seems that most people roast it but there's little agreement on how to do the latter. What people do seem to agree on is that it's a tough steak in general so it doesn't grill well without a powerful (acidic) marinade.

How do you prepare your eyes of round when you have it in your lineup?

[phillydude]

I boil mine in a big cauldron with a pinch of dried dragon's wings, a cup of bat's blood, and a lock of my intended victim's hair... oh wait, that's eye of newt, not eye of round. Nevermind.

[AnonIMust]

Originally Posted by TwinsP0p

How do you prepare your eyes of round when you have it in your lineup?

Although part of a larger primal roast, Eye of round can also be sliced as steaks and cooked as such. It has the properties of being both lean, and tough (since it is a majorly used muscle), which makes it a cooking 'challenge', though certainly not impossible or difficult.

Also, stir fry is one way if you can find an acceptable way of cooking in a little fat that meets your overall nutrition goals. You could also prepare it as a whole roast and slice thinner in serving size portions and vacuum freeze for later consumption.

[TheRyanator]

Glad you asked...I actually cooked up a couple 16 oz. eye of rounds 1 inch steaks tonight after the gym. I marinate them for 30 minutes or so in about 2 tbsp of low sodium soy sauce, 1 tbsp of worchestershire, 1/4 cup of pineapple juice (if I have it handy) and a sprinkle of Montreal Steak Seasoning (ground pepper, garlic and salt mainly). Yes its a bit of sodium, but I think some of it cooks off and if it makes me retain water oh well...the flavor is worht it. If it were summer time and I was going to the beach the next day I would do it different to avoid the sodium...but in the meantime I am a big fan of enjoying my food when I take the time to cook it.

Edit: I did not eat both steaks by the way...one was for my wife, ha ha. I could have eaten both though, they were THAT good!

[1FastGTX]

Here is how us lazy guys - who eat for function and not enjoyment (haha) - do it.

Get those exact steaks your wife picked up from Costco. Cut them up however you want. Buy some disposable foil broiler pans from the grocery store (because we hate cleaning that big broiler pan under the oven). Prep food however you want (spices, etc.). Put a bunch of steaks in 2 broiler pans. Broil for a few minutes, flip over, broil some more, take out of oven. Weigh out portion sizes (if necessary). Eat one or two and store the rest to eat throughout the next few days.

A better idea would be to grill them, but again I'm kind of lazy about it.

[John Stone]

Originally Posted by TwinsP0p

She ended up getting me this 5+ pound pack of big cuts that look meant for roasting, although I imagine I could cut them into small thick steaks for grilling.

Yep, I get mine at Costco, too.

What I do is trim all the visible fat from the big hunk, then cut it down into 8-ounce steaks. I use the digital scale to check my work. Once you do a couple it's very easy to eyeball it and get within an ounce of your target weight each time.

After I get the steaks cut, I put them in individual zipper freezer baggies. I take a steak out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to slowly defrost about 36 hours before I am going to eat it.

An hour before the steak goes on the grill I remove it from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature. I always bring my steaks close to room temperature before grilling. Lots of pepper and a little salt is all I do to my steaks before grilling. I get my grill super hot (700+ degrees), and cook about 3 minutes per side (they are thick cuts, and I like mine fairly rare). The high heat gives the steak a nice crust and a great flavor (it also helps lock in the juices, which is especially beneficial when cooking a tough cut of meat like eye of round). Once the steak comes off the grill I let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting into it.

It is a tough steak, but I don't mind the texture at all. They taste great, and are a welcome change from chicken. I'm all excited this morning because I get to have steak for the next 3 nights.

[TwinsP0p]

Thanks for the advice guys. I especially appreciate the prep and grilling tips for what is essentially a tough steak to cook without ending up with jerky. I'll experiment with grilling and broiling.

Here's what I did right after my initial post: I was getting close to the sell-by date so I took the cuts and froze two of them and decided to roast the third, an almost two-pound log. Kinda-sorta following a recipe I saw on cooks.com, I did a little trimming and covered the thing in brown mustard and rolled it in kosher salt, white and black pepper, and garlic powder. I then tossed it in a meatloaf dish and baked it at 450 for almost an hour (despite what the thermometer was saying I think I'd cook it for 5-10 minutes less next time).

What's great about the mustard and salt is it gets cooked to a crispy shell that keeps the juices inside... you literally crack and peel it off the roast, and I ended up with a very juicy medium-rare roast. I cut it into a few 6 oz.steaks which I then cubed and packed with rice for lunches, and I sliced the rest for the family.

Next time I'll follow the ideas in this thread for steaks and broiling. I loved how the roast turned out, but it was a lot of prep and cook time, and I'd like to save that recipe for the next time family wants dinner at our place.

[MannishBoy]

How about slow cooking them? I slow cook flank steak quite a bit. I'll quickly (maybe 30 seconds per side) sear them in a pan in some olive oil, then put them in the crock pot with some onions, peppers, garlic, and sometimes some diced tomatoes, other times a bit of vinegar (so as to add something acidic to tenderize). I often make mine more "Southwestern" with some chilies along with spices like chili powder, cumin, etc. Set it to cook for 8 hours or so...

I've not done eye of round, but I bet it would be just as good. Flank is also a tough but flavorful cut. Tough cuts tend to do well cooking slow, and will literally fall apart when you put your fork in them if done this way.

[Bluestreak]

I do about the same as John with all my steaks. I often take my steaks out of the freezer a couple of days before hand and stick them near the cold-air inlet at the back of the fridge where they stay extremely cold, but they defrost in about 48 hours. It's sort of a poor-man's way to "age" a steak and a trick someone told me to try with tougher cuts of meat. Seems to work okay, but the jury's still out. I don't pay that much attention to toughness, because I try to buy higher quality meats from a deli or good supermarket rather than CostCo. Costs a bit more, but the meat always seems to turn out better than the cuts I used to buy from bulk suppliers like CostCo.

An hour before I want to cook them, I take them out of the fridge, dress them with some garlic salt, pepper, and some Emeril's essence, and let them sit. I grill at about 500-deg, 2:45 per side, and voila! Medium rare steaks, perfect every time.

-R

[gravityhomer]

Originally Posted by MannishBoy

How about slow cooking them? I slow cook flank steak quite a bit.

Ha the second before I read this post, I thought, this sounds like a steak that would be great for slow cooking. I just used our slow cooker for the first time this past New Years Day. I put a giant hunk of cowboy steak (~25 oz) in there with peeled red potatoes, carrotes, celery and yellow onions. Cooked it for four hours and the steak was awesome, really juicy. I just wasn't confident I could cook it any other way since it's 2.5 inches thick. You could probably fit several meals in at one time and cook for a few hours.

One thing to note. Slow cookers cook the meat just fine but they don't do well with vegetables. So you either have to boil them before hand or afterward, or they are still crunchy.

[AnonIMust]

Originally Posted by John Stone

I always bring my steaks close to room temperature before grilling. Lots of pepper and a little salt is all I do to my steaks before grilling. I get my grill super hot (700+ degrees), and cook about 3 minutes per side (they are thick cuts, and I like mine fairly rare). The high heat gives the steak a nice crust and a great flavor (it also helps lock in the juices, which is especially beneficial when cooking a tough cut of meat like eye of round). Once the steak comes off the grill I let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting into it.

This is a great steak cooking method, and one I often follow as well (bring to room temp / sear / rest)

However, scientifically, searing does nothing to retain moisture in a cut of meat. The point of searing meat is to caramelize the exterior which intensifies the flavor (and textural contrast) through a series of complex chemical reactions (Maillard reactions). This carmelization will vary based on the content of your rub or seasoning. One thing you surely want to do is not coat the meat in too much salt too long before you cook it. That will draw moisture, if left long enough.

So, sear away, just understand it may not do what you think it does.

[OrangeTiger]

I enjoy Cooking.

Too much sometimes, anyway there is a fairly simple marinade that seems to work rather well for most tougher cut lean steaks.

1/2 cup basalmic vinegar
1/4 cup worchester or soy sauce
2 tbls pepper
pinch of salt

Mix all that up and seal it and the aforementioned steak in a little freezer baggie and marinade for 30mins or 2 hours before grilling.

You need to do exactly 30 minutes or two hours though.

Anyway, most of the soy/worchester and all the vinegar cooks off, the vinegar leaves the steak extremely tender and the marinade just tastes good.

Anyway, thats how i cook mine.

[SatDive 1]

8oz Eye of Round

Place each steak in a Ziploc bag.
Pour in marinade. (Caribbean Jerk, Lemon pepper, Louisiana Red Pepper ect)
Let sit in fridge for an hour or so
Take out and place FLAT in freezer.

I tend to work out late in the evenings and do 30 minutes cardio as my last activity. Just before I start cardio I turn on the grill. Once cardio is over the grill is hot enough to carbonize any residue from the last grilling session. Wire brush that off. Spray Pam Grilling spray for non-stick. Take steak right out of the freezer and toss on the grill. (I do this with all of my meats. Marinate, then freeze, right to the grill.)

8 minutes at 350ish degrees on one side and flip
~ 5 minutes on the other. Medium well and no charring and very juicy.

Set on counter while I measure out my boiled veggies and (rice/potatoe)
Cut up and chow down.

I typically do not eat beef until recently when I was advised I should include it more. Now it’s a 3 night a week dish. I must admit, it’s tasty and a nice break from chicken and fish.

By the way, I grill everything. I enjoy cooking, particularly with the grill.

[TheRyanator]

Originally Posted by OrangeTiger

You need to do exactly 30 minutes or two hours though.

Why?

[OrangeTiger]

Because it will end up one of two ways, if you marinade for 30 minutes, the vinegar doesn't have time to fully tenderize the meat, but more of the meats natural fluids are kept in place. So you would have a less-tender, more juicy steak.

Two hours lends too a more tender, yet drier steak.

And as too why exactly one or the other, well let's just say that you'll taste the vinegar if you don't. And basalmic vinegar tastes very bad.

[JKulp42757]

Last night I had a dream that Emeril was at my house, and we were cooking steaks...very strange.

I like mine with a little McCormick brand Montreal Steak Seasoning on each side, and that's it.
http://www.mccormick.com/productdetail.cfm?ID=6209

[AnonIMust]

Originally Posted by OrangeTiger

.....And basalmic vinegar tastes very bad.

Balsamic Vinegar tastes excellent, IMO. Not sure how you could state something like that as if it were a fact. (And yes, people taste BV straight.)

Too keep this slightly on topic, try some BV on your favorite fruit, particularly strawberrys, assuming it meets your macro nutritional plans.

[Silver]

Originally Posted by OrangeTiger

Because it will end up one of two ways, if you marinade for 30 minutes, the vinegar doesn't have time to fully tenderize the meat, but more of the meats natural fluids are kept in place. So you would have a less-tender, more juicy steak.

To follow along with the theme of scientific accuracy...if I'm not mistaken, the tenderization process through marination is actually quite limited. Marinades generally only penetrate about 1/8" for every 24 hours.

This is according to a top chef in a high level culinary arts book I'm reading. I haven't yet double checked it against Cookwise or On Food and Cooking, but it sounds likely to be accurate.

[MannishBoy]

Speaking of meat tenderizers, my sister got me one one of these, and I love it:



Plus, it breaks down and you can just throw it in the dishwasher when you are done. It allows the marinade to penetrate pretty much the whole piece of meat.