The best roast beef

Beef rump was on special at the supermarket on Tuesday, for $9.99/kg. That's cheaper than mince, and there's nothing wrong with beef rump! I bought a 1kg hunk for another sous-vide experiment.

Last night I vacuum packed it and submerged it in my waterbath, with the water at 55°C, and left it for four hours.


I'd made a cover for the waterbath the other day from some polystyrene I'd been not throwing out in case I found a use for it. This serves the dual purpose of keeping anything in the waterbath from floating, and keeping the heat in.


After four hours I took the beef out, unpacked it, salted it, and seared all of its sides in smoking hot oil. I used the juices that had gathered in the bag to make a sauce - added a bit of brandy and some smoked garlic and reduced it.

Result:


The tenderest, most succulent, roast beef I've ever eaten. A perfect medium rare all the way through.

And tonight I've been finding it very difficult not to keep slicing more and more of it off to eat cold with a dab of horseradish and a sprinkle of salt. It's just heavenly.