Growing up it was on Sundays we would enjoy a Roast Beef. As an adult, I make these on longer weekends during the cooler months. There is just something about having a marvellous hearty roast to serve for dinner. These are actually quite uncomplicated to make. Often I have put these in a crock pot, but there is something about a slow roasted roast beef that is so hard to resist.

Meat Selection

You can use most any cut of meat when making a roast beef. I have used anything from a rib eye roast, to a rump roast, a sirloin roast, or even a chuck roast. All of these cuts taste quite good. Often my choice depends solely upon what is available for sale. This last week it happened to be that rib eye roasts were on sale. These are also known as standing rib roasts when the bone is left in the roast.

Meat Grades

So years ago I was a co-manager at a Kroger store. During my training, we received a fair amount of training within the store. I spent a month working in the butcher shop. It was there I learned about different grades of meat. Typically in the grocery stores you will see three different grades of meat, those are select, choice, and prime. Prime grade beef is the beef that is the highest of quality. The fat marbling is through out the meat. Prime beef has a lot of marbling through out the meat, less than 5% of all meat is graded prime beef. The next best grade of beef is choice, it has less marbling than Prime but more than Select. What I honestly like to do is to watch when meat goes on sale is to look at what grade of beef it is. I like to compare the price of Prime and Choice grade beef, if the difference is small, I will choose the Prime beef. It is the fat that gives you the flavor as well as the ability to make gravy and Yorkshire pudding.

Seasoning the roast

There is a lot of discussion around how to season a roast. If you want to marinate your roast, you need to do it a couple of days in advance. It takes times for the flavors to penetrate past the outside surface area of the meat. If you are going to take the meat from the package, and cook it your options are more limited. The flavors you add aren’t going to make it all of the way through the meat. The old standbys of salt and pepper will do the job for you. You can always serve your roast with beef gravy, au Jus, or a wine reduction sauce. There is no need to worry about getting a specific seasoning together, I promise salt and pepper will do the job quite well.

Cooking the roast

Ideally you should cook the roast low and slow. This has some advantages over cooking the meat as quickly as it can be cooked. By cooking it at a lower temperature the juices within the meat are retained, your final result will be more tender and retain more of the juices. Cooking slower means that the meat will cook more evenly, roasts are not always evenly shaped you don’t want portions of the meat to be over cooked. So by slow cooking the roast, you ensure that it will cook more evenly.

Wait before you Carve the Roast

So you have cooked your roast perfectly, what should you do now? Wait, wait 15 to 30 minutes. Why should you wait? This will give the meat a chance to rest. What does it mean to rest a roast? It means that the juices within the roast will get a chance to redistribute over the roast. This has a few advantages you can prepare the gravy, set the table, or even make some Yorkshire pudding while the meat is resting. You can cut it immediately when you remove it from the oven, but if you wait a few minutes, it will pay off. So when you pull the roast out of the oven cover it with foil and let it rest before carving it up.

Other optional steps

Trussing

Why would you truss a roast, you can truss a roast to help force it into a more even shape? This will help cook the roast evenly evening. It also can make the roast easier to slice when it comes time to slice the beef. Did you know that often you can ask the butcher to truss the roast for you? You can also truss the roast yourself with some butchers string that is sold in most grocery stores.

Searing before cooking

You can sear the roast before you cook the roast. What this does is to help brown the roast and seal in the juices. You could stick your roast in an extremely hot oven and then turn the oven down, but this can dry out your roast. If you sear it you will sear the edges of the beef quickly, so it retains the juice. Personally I like to sear cuts such as chuck and sirloin when I cook roast, these cuts are leaner and do not self baste like a roast with more marbling.

How to make the Perfect Roast Beef in the Oven is a post from: CopyKat Recipes | Restaurant Recipes

When I serve deviled eggs classic style I like to stick with traditional ingredients. Mayonnaise, dijon mustard, red onion, paprika and dill pickle relish lend their flavors to this classic dish. These deviled eggs are delicious for a picnic, family dinner, or even for an appetizer party. You can prepare deviled eggs hours or even a day or two before the special event. For me, the dishes you can prepare ahead of time, in fact, the eggs take on more flavor if you prepare them ahead of time.

Please share what makes your deviled eggs unique. Do you use a particular ingredient or to make your deviled eggs extra memorable?

How to Make Deviled Eggs

Classic Deviled Eggs is a post from: CopyKat Recipes | Restaurant Recipes

Panda Express Broccoli Beef is a post from: CopyKat Recipes | Restaurant Recipes

This recipe was developed by Jim Lahey from Sulivan Street Bakery. He was able to create a bread recipe that will have the most inexperienced bread breaker making some of the most delicious bread in their life. What makes this recipe so incredible? Well the very long rise, this bread may rise up to 18 hours. What does a long rise get you? This flavorful and tangy bread, with an incredible crust.
The cooking technique is also very unique; the bread is baked in a Dutch oven with the lid on for a portion of the baking time. What does this do? It helps to replicate the baking ovens in a bakery. In a bakery some oven inject steam into the oven while it is baking. Ovens found in our homes do not have such a feature. It is the steam that makes this bread incredible.
So if you have never baked bread before, you can make this bread, and it isn’t difficult at all. There is no kneading, nothing complicated about this recipe at all. If you can measure, stir, and follow some very basic directions you are going to have some of the most delicious bread you have ever had in your life. If you are a more experienced baker, be aware that the dough is going to be spongy, and very sticky, and you can leave it alone.
This recipe has just 4 ingredients in it, flour, salt, yeast, and water. You use a tiny amount of yeast. I use SAF brand because I like the way it tastes. I also used King Arthur flour because I love the density of any baked good when you use this flour. What I love about this recipe is that there is nothing artificial.  I also like that it tastes like a hint of sour dough bread without having to keep that culture alive, I have always had the worst luck when trying to keep a sour dough bread culture going.  So without any more of my blathering, let’s get down to some delicious bread baking.

Please note, the cooking time is not listed correctly in the recipe.  It will take at a minimum 14 and 15 hours to rise, and at least 45 minutes to bake.

No Knead Bread is a post from: CopyKat Recipes | Restaurant Recipes

Cracker Barrel Cucumbers Tomatoes and Onions

One thing that I love about the Cracker Barrel is its homey style menu. Every time I go there I feel like I am stepping into my Grandmother’s house. She would always make cucumbers and onions every summer with the cucumbers from their garden. This recipe from the cracker barrel adds those lovely sweet grape tomatoes in this well known salad.
This salad is perfect for those of us who like to cook ahead. This salad will stay nice and fresh in your refrigerator for about a week. In fact, the flavor only improves as the flavors mingle. So be sure to put this one together ahead of time. You may want to season this with a little fresh cracked black pepper. While they don’t add cracked pepper at the Cracker Barrel I think this adds a very nice touch to this recipe.

Cracker Barrel Cucumbers Tomatoes and Onions is a post from: CopyKat Recipes | Restaurant Recipes