my first oven roast

Confession time - I have never made an oven roast. Never. I've "kind of" made a pot roast (usually, Paul makes the pot roast and I assist), but I've never made an oven roast by myself. So when I got my latest Canadian Beef Ambassador assignment, I was excited and nervous - I had to make an oven roast! This was the first time they had asked me to make something that I had never cooked before.

Paul was extra excited because lately he's been complaining that I need to cook more and bake less since he wants to eat some real meals and less desserts (apparently, he can't survive solely on baked goods like I can).

Cooking an oven roast is actually MUCH easier than I had anticipated. The one important kitchen gadget that I highly recommend having is a meat thermometer. Paul and I actually own several different meat thermometers (the little round non-digital metal ones and also a couple of digital ones) but Canadian Beef sent me a new one - a talking digital thermometer.

The new thermometer is really simple to use and has different settings for beef, chicken, veal, turkey, lamb, and pork. They have pre-set temperatures, so you just choose how well done you want your meat. For example, under the Beef setting, you can choose from Rare, Medium-Rare, Medium and Well Done. Under some meats, like chicken, you can only choose Well Done. When the temperature is close to ideal (about 5 degrees lower than the pre-set), a voice comes on and tells you that the cooking is almost done. You'll get more talking reminders as you get closer to the ideal temperature and again when you reach it. This method is much easier than trying to figure out timing based on the weight of the meat.

To make my very first oven roast, I chose a Top Sirloin cut, read this FAQ about roasting beef and then followed the step-by-step instructions on the Canadian Beef site. Again, I can't stress how easy this was, even for a rookie cook like me. The oven roast came out perfect! I used the Medium-Well setting on the thermometer and that's exactly how the roast came out - nicely seared on the outside and just slightly pink on the inside. It was juicy and tasty, even though I didn't really use any seasonings beside salt and pepper.

Paul mentioned that this thermometer resulted in a much more successful roast than any of our other thermometers we've tried so we're looking forward to trying other cuts of meat with it as well.

One thing - I definitely feel like I can handle cooking an oven roast now. Armed with our new thermometer, I'm ready to invite people over for a nice oven roast, paired with Paul's garlic mashed potatoes and my no-fail gravy (and of course, some baked desserts!)

Want to win a thermometer like the one I used? Join the Make It Beef Club and you could win one of your own!

stephanie's simple oven roast

ingredients:

1 oven roast (I chose a 5 lb top sirloin)
salt
pepper

directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Pat roast dry and then rub salt and pepper (to taste) all over the roast. Place roast fat side up in shallow pan.

Insert an oven-safe thermometer into the roast so that thermometer tip reaches the centre of the roast without touching fat or bone (very important).

Oven-sear by placing the roast into 450 degrees F oven for 10 minutes.

Without opening the oven door, reduce heat to 275 degrees F. Continue cooking roast to desired doneness (ensuring that you at least reach safe cooking temperatures for meat safety) , removing the roast from the oven when your the roast's internal temperature reaches 5 degrees F below the finished temperature.

Remove roast from oven. Cover with foil and and let stand for at least 15 minutes (the roast's internal temperature will go up a few more degrees during this time).

Roasts can stand 20 to 30 minutes before carving into thin slices.

Disclosure: I am a Canadian Beef Ambassador and have been compensated for this post. However, all opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced in any way by my association with the program.