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By Ellen CoileWhat to serve for the main part of the meal is a matter of taste but for me the easiest thing in the world to have is a nice roast of beef. I always use filet. It may look more expensive in the store, but there is so little waste that I have always believed it to be the cheapest meat in the long run.
I tend to cook a larger roast than I think I will need, or two smaller ones as you can, like slice it for supper or use it for roast beef sandwiches and it never goes amiss. Allow 4 ozs per person.
I use the slow cooking method for all meats except ham or pork. Preheat oven to 375°. The meat should be frozen. Brush roast all over with corn oil. Put in hot oven (375°) for one hour. Reduce temperature to 150° - 250°. The length of cooking time is a bit hard to tell. You will have to play it by ear a bit, but a good meat thermometer is absolutely essential for this method of cooking if you are not to serve still frozen or raw meat or ruin it by over cooking. For a roast for the evening meal I aim to have it in the oven by noon. If you are a bit later you can still do it, but you will have to have the temperature at the higher end of the range mentioned above. If you want the meat well done or for lamb, you can put it in the oven after washing the breakfast dishes and forget about it until the evening, having reduced the temperature to 150° after the first hour at 375°. With the beef that you want to serve rare, however, you will need a bit more attention to how it is doing. As soon as it has defrosted, put the meat thermometer in it. This will usually be after the first couple of hours (an hour after you turned the heat down). When you put the thermometer in you will see how low it goes, or if it races up towards where you want it to end. Then you can adjust the heat of the oven accordingly. This all sounds very unscientific, and I suppose it is, but if you try it with just the family roast a couple of times you will soon get the hang of it and you will be able to serve perfect roast beef every time. The main advantages of this method of cooking is that the meat doesn't shrink in the cooking and if you want medium rare roast beef the whole of the roast will be medium rare all the way through, not just in the middle but all the way to the edges of each slice and from the outside to the inside.
With roast beef for a party I don't attempt to have potatoes. I usually serve plain boiled rice (I am fortunate to have a Chinese rice cooker which takes the work and worry out of rice cooking). But I also serve Uncle Ben's wild rice mix, wild or brown rice, all with gravy. Add a vegetable or two and/or a salad and you have a gourmet slow meal.