Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Beef Roasts in General

you ever dealt with Livingston’s ?

Yes, but it was a long time ago. I buy from Hampton's.

Jeeze! I just go to a grocery store I know that has good beef and when they have a sale on beef I ask the butcher to get me a whole beef top round. I get a better price buying chunk that big and I get decent beef and after I take it home and cut it myself I wind up with the really tasty top round steaks I by it for plus I make a little stew meat out of the less tender parts and I make a little burger out of those parts as well. I almost never make roasts, but were I of a mind to, that'd be where I'd start. A roast out of the top round is always really good on the grill.

I have never seen the price of a whole round more than the price of cut & packaged chuck.

I've had good luck with blade roasts lately.

my favorite is to cook them on low in a crock pot all day with Au Jus and Stew sauce packets, throw in some italian blend vegetables and a little flour to thicken the water up to gravy. Sometimes I season the meat and brown it in butter before I put it in crock pot.

seems to be the right mix that the entire family enjoys.

I'll just watch this.

Yrs I raise longhorns, higher in protein and lower in fat and cholesterol than white meat chicken
Very good

I like the shoulder roast.Sometimes called a shoulder arm or shoulder round.Several tender muscles are in this cut and comes from below the chuck cut.I like to brown the roast with a little olive oil on each side,then add water about half way up the thickness of the meat and cook it in the oven lid on at 375-400 degrees for around 3-4hrs.Keep an eye on the liquid occasionally and add as needed.About the last hour of cooking add potatoes and carrots on top the roast if you so choose.

Supermarket beef is hit or miss around here regardless of how its graded.

The wife thinks grass fed and reduced fat is the way to go. Most of the women who live around here feel the same way.

Supermarkets are in business to sell middle aged women what they want. Not what their husbands want.

Got a small butcher in town who sells good meat at outrageous prices. Most of his customers are men.

Does the middle come out maroon-pink that way, please?

No.

Learn to braise (it's simple). The basics:

- Brown the roast. Use anything from a frying pan to a propane torch, but cast iron is your friend. If you can rig up something in the garage you won't smoke up the house.
- Place the roast in a covered pot along with an inch or so of water.
- Bake at 325-350 for 3-4 hours until fork tender. That means when you stick the roast with a dinner fork and twist the meat tears. If the meat springs back it needs more time.
- Check the pot every hour or so and add water as needed, more often if you have a crappy pot. Do not let the pot dry out.
- When done, separate the drippings from the fat. Use a separator or spoon off the fat.
- Slice the roast against the grain - 1/4" pieces or so. Orient the meat to ensure against the grain even if it means smaller pieces.
- Pour the drippings over the meat.

The critical elements are not letting the pot dry out and learning what "fork tender" is.

Our roasts are good, but we raise prime beef.

Buy a better cut. Braising is for chuck, sirloin tip, round roasts, etc.

I my part of the country Polled Hereford is King, Black Angus is second. Feed Lot only.

I have a good friend that is the representative for Superior Livestock and handles thousands of cattle a year. He once told me that you can raise almost cholesterol free beef but that you can't eat it. I have a few Longhorn, Brahman, Hereford cross cows that are thrifty cows and raise good calves when bred to a Charolais or Hereford. The buyers apparently can't detect the Longhorn.

Two things that work well as a tenderizer for us because we eat grass fed beef which tends to be tough:
1. lime juice marinade
2. cooking wine marinade

The astringents help to break down the meat. The best is to marinade 12 hours before cooking but even done just with the cooking will help.

We slightly prefer lime juice because it does not seem to flavor the meat at all. Then use a slow cooker/crock pot with water in the bottom. First hour at high heat (350-400) to break down the collagen and some gristle and then low heat (250 +/-) for the balance of the cooking.

Agreed... We buy a beef quarter from a small-town butcher shop every year... Good stuff that.. Also get a half pig every April when they have a sale..

Charolais crossed with longhorn look like charolais

Longhirn meat isn't cholesterol free but it is lower in cholesterol than white meat chicken

Longhorn beef being low in fat needs to be cooked on a lower temperature and for less time or it gets overcooked and that makes it tough to eat

I've always been leery of buying a quarter (or more) for fear that the whole thing will be tough.

I was once standing at the meat counter of an upscale supermarket and the woman ahead of me asked the guy behind the counter: "What's the difference between the grass-fed prime rib and the regular prime rib?" (The grass-fed was maybe $2 more a pound.)

The guy said with a straight face: "The grass-fed doesn't taste as good." The woman walked away without buying anything.

I said: "Thank you for telling her that." He shrugged. He didn't seem to care if he kept his job or not.