How to prepare Eye of Round
Beef is a great source of protein but most people stay away due to the fat content. All beef is not created equal however. Most steaks that you are going to get in a restaurant are going to be New York Strip, Beef Tenderloin (fillet) and Rib Eye. These steaks are tender and taste great, why? Fat. Fat makes things taste good and the marbling (lines of fat running through the muscle) adds to the tenderness. I am not going to be teaching you how to grill one of these cuts though; I am going to focus on a much leaner (and less expensive) cut of beef, Eye of Round.
Eye of round, when trimmed of all visible fat is almost as lean as a skinless chicken breast here is an example:
4oz of roasted Eye of Round 4oz of roasted Skinless Chicken Breast
33.3g Protein 35.2g Protein
5.3g Fat 4g Fat
1.9g Saturated Fat 1.1g Saturated Fat
78.7mgs Cholesterol 96mgs Cholesterol
70.7mgs Sodium 84mgs Sodium
Nutrient breakdown provided by “The NutriBase Nutrition Facts Desk Reference 2nd Edition”
The major problem with extremely lean cuts of beef is that they tend to lack the flavor and tenderness of the fattier cuts of beef. I am going to fix that by showing you step by step how you prep the beef as well as cook and carve the steak, all important factors in order to achieve a great tasting, tender, lean steak.
- 1. Don’t buy eye of round already cut into circular steaks. The way they are precut from the roast by most butchers makes them tougher after they are cooked. Buy the roast, trim the fat and cut the steaks lengthwise about 1 1/2” in thickness. I prefer my steaks this thickness, you can cut it thinner so it cooks faster.
- 2. Once you have cut your steaks we want to add flavor, I am using a rub that I came up with that you can find on the website. You can customize this rub by adding or removing different spices to suit your tast. By excluding the salt and using a salt alternative you can monitor your sodium intake more closely for those of you that might be trying to shed water for a show or whatever. Use as much or as little rub as you like, I like to season it a lot.
- 3. Place the steaks on a very hot grill, turn the heat down to medium high once they steaks are all on the grill and leave them alone for 7 minutes. That’s right, leave them, don’t keep turning or checking them. Once the 7 minutes has gone by flip them over and cook for another 7 minutes. This should cook the steaks medium rare to medium. Time will vary from grill to grill.
- 4. Take them off the grill and place them on a cutting board and loosely cover them with tinfoil and let them “rest” for 10 minutes. This will let the meat relax and keep the juices inside, if you carve them too soon after taking off the heat all the juices run out.
- 5. Have a look at the surface of the steak, you will notice the “grain” or fibers running in one direction. This is where we carve the steak ACROSS the grain in order to shorten the fibers and make that steak melt in your mouth. Notice the 45 degree angle that I carve at, this gives more surface area and makes it look more appetizing.
Now all you have to do is eat and enjoy.
