For this year’s Chinese New Year reunion dinner, why don’t you do something different? Whenever I think of making something that my whole family will love it usually involves meat of somekind, preferably red meat. Family dinners are not for people trying to be healthy. As a family we love eating together and usually when we gather we tend to overeat but like I said… family get togethers… throw caution to the wind. Have a ball. Eat like Kings.
Back to the red meat. We love a good old fashion roast beef. Maybe it’s because we have a lot of family holidays in London or maybe it’s because my grandfather was a bit of an Anglophile. He was also a hunter before the war. He shot tigers and gave my sister a tiger claw necklace made from the said animal. I think he skins them himself. We used to have a tiger skin rug with head and teeth intact in 'the den'. He also had an elephant gun. He definitely shot an elephant. Growing up we used to have stools and umbrella stands made from hollowed out elephant’s feet. Morbid you say, but those were more relaxed times. My mum even had a pet bear named ‘Comot’. My youngest sister when she found out about this was so delighted she didn’t stop talking about it for a whole month.
Back to the roast beef. You need a nice sirloin, grass fed about 2kg. Have it rolled and tied (your butcher can do it). Make sure the fat is inside and the meat outside so that when you roast it the fat will render out. So your roast will be juicy and succulent. So after you get your rolled up sirloin, wash it and pat it dry. Here’s what you need for the crust.
Ingredients for crust:
Olive oil
Garlic
Salt and Pepper
Montreal Steak Seasoning (if you want a tinge of mesquite to your meat). You can also use Cajun
Method:
Pat olive oil on the beef.
Chop the garlic finely and mix it will the other seasonings with it.
Roll your meat in it so that the seasonings are evenly spread all over the meat.
Sear your roast on a pan to seal in all the juices. The outside of the meat should be brown and a little crisp.
Once this is done make sure you pour all the remnants of this delicious garlic infused oil on the beef.
Cover it with foil and pop it in the oven for about 1 and a half hours at about 170 celcius (make sure you preheat the oven first). The last half an hour roast it uncovered so that it will brown nicely.
"Family get togethers- throw caution to the wind. Have a ball. Eat like Kings."
Results:
Now when you take it out, poke it with the carving fork. If the juice oozing out is slightly pink, then it’s medium rare (the way my family like it). If you want it medium, leave in the oven for about 5-7 minutes more. When you poke it, the juices will be clear- that’s medium. If no juice comes out, then it’s kering kontang (dry as a mummy’s cough) so it’s well done. This makes it like daging pangang Malay style you know the ones they barbecue on top of the open fire in the olden days. You might as well make air assam and eat it with rice.
Now after you’re happy with your beef, just let it rest for about
10 minutes. Meat keeps on cooking even after you take it out of the oven so this will settle it. Also you want all those juices to drip back into every pore of the meat. Even for steaks you have to rest it first before digging your greedy forks in.
All you need to do now is slice it.
I like it nice and thin so it’s not too chewy. Eat it with roast potatoes/ mash and some green beans. If you want to go all British you MUST have Yorkshire pudding but that folks is another column.
Chef says:
For gravy, if you can’t be bothered with making a roux from scratch then there’s nothing wrong with ready made gravy. Here’s how you make it taste homemade. At the bottom of your roasting tray there should be a pool of good stuff, oil and bits of garlic and spices and meat juice. Throw away the oil and just scoop up the brown gravy at the bottom and add it to your ready made gravy. Usually I will roast a whole bulb of garlic in the oven with the meat. After one and a half hours, the garlic would be soft and mellow. Peel away the skin and mash up this garlic and whisk it in with the gravy. Instant homemade taste!
Practice makes perfect for great roasts. Even if your first one does not turn out exactly as you want it, you’ll find the second one will be a whole lot better. This is because you will understand your oven better and start having better instincts when it comes to taking out the beef at the right moment. It’s really simple once you get the hang of it, just don’t get intimidated to try it out and your family will love you for it!
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