It's no secret I use bottom round beef flats for my famous pit beef, everyone actually thought for years due to misreporting that I was using top round. Truth is, top round has a large layer of fat on it, and I find myself prepping more and losing 25% of it's weight. I don't personally find it any more tasty than bottom round beef flats, if cooked right. Also when using an open pit, all that fat can really cause grease fires. My neighbors on either side of me at the fair won't appreciate me using top round at all. My yield on a bottom round slab is about 90% with only a thin layer of fat and silver on the bottom, and some fat running through one end. I get a lot of emails about using it at home.
Cut and Portion
A regular size slab of beef flat will weigh anywhere from 13-15 lbs on average. In manufactuer case packs they will come three to four slabs depending on the distributor. One slab is enough to cut into four and have four nice sized roasts for your family meal time. If I was cooking these at home, I cut them raw, and freeze them, sometimes marinating them in Italian Dressing then freezing them in zip lock bags.
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| Cut #4 |
If you are looking at a butcher's chart this can be confusing, as technically beef bottom round is cut from the outside of the roast. Keep in mind this whole flat in one big swoop of bottom, so what you see above is cut #4 which sure looks like brisket ....hmmmm Truth is when you get the whole flat you are actually getting several different cuts of meat that normally you would buy separately. If you do your cuts right, you can end up with lots of good meals. Overall, I like the marbling and you don't lose a lot of meat. The fatty membrane on top and bottom will mostly grill off if you are using it on a grill or open fire pit, but for the family member that hates having a little fat on his meat you may want to trim some of this off. I don't but you may wish to. I leave mine on for baking will add more flavor to your au' jus.
Home Preparation and Bottom Round Roast Recipe
You can use bottom round beef flats for :
- Baking roasts
- CrockPot roasts,
- Boiling down into beef barbecue
- Broiling
Quick and Easy Pot Roast
In this recipe I am going to show you the simple pot roast.
WARNING: The key to remember is cook low and slow, because the meat is tough and needs to cook long ...
You will need:
- Italian Dressing or any marinade that contains oil for moisture
- Any favorite spices you desire - I'm using Dill
- Any fresh veggies you desire, for this I used sweet & hot peppers, celery and carrots.
- Glass or ceramic baking dish
- One cup water
For this recipe, I used another cut from the photograph above which ended up being almost 4 lbs, so then I cut it in half to score me approximately 2 lb mini roasts, set of two. Small enough to cook fast and have them in time for dinner. Notice the fat that goes up into the beef flat, that is "V" shaped. If you choose to cut this out it's easy to do. I leave it on for more flavor. I am using one to shave thin for sandwiches, and one to cut thick for dinner.
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| Cut of bottom round, with fat in tact. |
Notice how the veggies are placed all down in between and around the meat. Since I'm cooking low and slow, these veggies will cook low and slow and their natural flavor will get into the meat. For this I did not use onion, and I'm sure you are wondering whyy. This is only because the Lite Italian dressing has onion flavoring in it and I don't want to overdo the onion flavoring on a pot roast. The sweet and hot peppers are going to add some kick to the roast, and the dill will sweeten it up. I finish by adding 1 cup of water in the bottom.
Cooking Times:
The longer you cook it the better. I started at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to brown the outsides, then I cut the temp back to 325 and cooked it slow for a few hours. I actually removed one half at about 3 hours in, so that I could slice it for sandwiches. I left the rest in another hour and 15, making a total cook time of 4.25 hours on that one small 2 lb roast becasue I was slicing that for dinner thick and I like mine tender.
You of course can remove from oven once your meat reaches 165 degrees internal or let it ride for a fall apart in your mouth dinner!
TIP: Be sure when removing the pieces to let them rest a bit before cutting. This will ensure it maintains is juices.
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| Dinner is served! |
Yield on one 4lb roast cut:
Pot Roast Half: Four servings of pot roast dinner, everyone had three thick slices with veggies.
Sandwich Half; Sandwiches served on potato rolls, and beef sliced thin topped with sliced onion, cheese, horsey sauce and bbq made six luncheon sized sandwiches.
If you are a big guy like me, you will eat this up in two days. Yum!
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