Foodies - how to keep roast beef moist

I buy beef once in a while as we use an expensive but brilliant butcher. To feed that amount of people for Christmas I will be paying about £40+ for a joint of best scottish rump. This is the same meat as Rump Steak.

If you want cheaper go for Top Side or Silver Side.

Wrap the whole joint in foil but loosley, folding it over at the top and put in a roasting tin with a lid. Your joint will weigh about 3 or 4lb at least so i would cook it on 175 deg for about 2.5 - 3 hrs hrs. Leave the joint to rest for 10 mins or so in the foil as its easier to carve.

It will go dry unless its a bit pink in the middle. For medium cook, it should feel like if you press your chin with your finger.

I would avoid supermarket joints if you can afford it.

TBH I don't think roast beef is worth eating unless it's rare ? as Mizz Pink says, it's bound to dry out. I suppose you could try a pot-roast with topside ro silverside, or even salt beef? Except you don't have enough time for that...

I can't help with the cuts I'm afraid but I always sear the meat before roasting. Apparently this helps keep the juices in when cooking.

Unless it's pink or bloody I think it would be dry. Remember beef cooks even after it's out of the oven so remove it when it's pink for your liking and let it rest.

I would just say cover it losely with foil, cook it as slowly as you can and baste it with its own juices a few times throughout, oh, and place a tray of water in the bottom of the oven (my butcher gave me that tip and it seems to help).

Good luck xx

All of the above, plus using the deepest roasting pan you can find. This also keeps the juices/moisture in.

A hint for fab gravy is to cut an onion in half and put it in the roasting tin with the joint. when you remove the joint and make the gravy leave the onion in the dish, then strain it out afterwards.

Thanks for the tips everyone, I'm really not overly enthusiastic about cooking beef, but it's what he wants so...

I think I will cook it pink in the middle and then I'll just eat the edge bits

Buy the best beef you can afford and look for a marbling of fat running through it- this helps keep it moist.

I think well done beef is always going to be quite dry though. In your shoes I'd probably get a joint for everyone else and a small steak or something for myself, then cook the joint rare and the steak WD. Or do a pot roast or stew.

To clarify: which of my chins would that be? ?

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Its a tip I heard Gordon say once on TV, for well done it should feel like pressing your forehead, medium your chin and rare your cheek

I cook beef almost every week for Sunday Lunch - so I would say I am an expert ?

The most important bit is to go to a good butcher and buy something decent - I normally go for topside. Don't be fooled by supermarket beef as it is not as good and although looks a nice big bit - it will disapear into next to nothing and will be dry and horrid.

I would buy a piece about 4-5lb - they say to base it on 1/2 lb per person.

I then put the oven on to the highest temperature it goes to and whilst heating up

I get a plate and put some plain flour, mustard powder and grind some pepper and mix it together and then roll the beef into the flour mix and completely cover it with a thin layer.

Put the beef into the roasting tin and put the lid on.

Cook the beef at the high temperature for 20 mins - this will seal the beef and prevent it from drying out.

After 20 mins I turn the oven down to 180 (I have a fan oven - if yours is conventional then put it at about 200.

I then cook the beef for 15 mins per pound - so for 5 lbs this would be 1hr 15mins - or 1 hour for a 4lb joint. This will cook it medium/rare but the edge bits will be fully cooked with no pinkness so you could have that.

I then take the meat out and put on a calving dish and cover it loosely with foil so it can relax. I tend to leave it for about 20 mins. It will oozze out some juices and maybe a bit bloody but I just add these juices back to the gravy.

I would have already parboiled the roast potatoes but I will then put these in the roasting pan and mix them around so they cover with fat and then transfer them to a roasting tray and cook.

What is left in the roasting pan is used to make the gravy and I use the left over flour mix and make a paste and then slowly add in the veggie water - i make the gray in the roasting pan.

have fun