Last week we were in Adelaide, and while having lunch with Dave Sprigg he mentioned a cut of meat called a RostBiff. I was curious as to what this was so did a little investigating.
Rostbiff is a cut of beef that is considered in some countries to be the best cut of beef due to its marked flavour. It also known as rump roast or rump steak, and is a cut of beef from the rump, with the rump cap and fat layer removed. Rostbiff can be roasted whole in a hot oven, barbecued whole or cut across the grain into steaks or sliced into thin strips for a tender and delicious beef stir-fry.
So having worked out what it was the next step was to source one. When you have a butcher like Grant at Tony’s House of Tender Mest, that part is easy, just takes a phone call.
To prepare for cooking lightly season Rostbiff, I want to keep this simple and let the meat be the hero. So for this effort its the simplicity of Salt Flakes, and the addition of a little season with Thyme fresh from our garden. Optional, depending on the piece you have you may tie a string around your Rostbiff to preserve shape and maintain internal juiciness whilst cooking.
Preheat your smoker to 120 degrees Celsius. In our case it’s our Yoder ys640s, the workhorse of our cooking setup. The Yoder is so versatile, it can go low and slow for amazing briskets or pork butts, then step up for searing steaks or even turn out sensational pizzas. For this effort we ran the Yoder at 120C for the first 60 minutes to get a little smoke onto the beef, then dialed up to 180C until the planned internal temperature was reached. As we are slicing and not shredding this we’re not trying to break down all the connective tissue etc.
Place Rostbiff straight onto the top rack (with drip tray below) and roast according to the weight of your Rostbiff – estimate 30mins per 500g for a medium finish with an internal cooking temperature of around 52-55 degrees C, this will raise 3-5 degrees as it rests. So roughly 3 hours cooking time is the plan.
Or use your meat thermometer for your preferred result:
Very rare to rare: 120°F / 49°C to 128°F / 53°C.
Medium-rare: 129°F / 54°C to 134°F / 57°C.
Medium. 135°F / 57°C to 144°F / 62°C.
Medium-well. 145°F / 63°C to 155°F / 68°C. (mmm, can we still be friends)
Well done. 156°F / 69°C and up. (I have no words for you)
Remove from oven/bbq and rest for around 20-30 minutes to allow juices to settle into roast.
Slice your cooked Rostbiff across the grain, to your preferred thickness and enjoy!
So after cooking we paired our Rostbiff with simple roast veg and a red wine jus. This is possibly the best piece of beef we’ve cooked, so tender and flavoursome. Definitely a cook again job.
