Steamed Roast Beef
Key to making perfect roast beef is cooking it low and slow with plenty of moisture to keep it moist and tender. Steamed Roast Beef achieves this and more by locking in all of the beef’s flavorful juices in a very simple, fool-proof way. First, the roast is cooked for a relatively short period of time in the oven at a low temperature with plenty of water in the bottom of a baking dish, which creates a haze of steam that warmly blankets the roast. The roast finishes cooking outside the oven by residual heat, when it’s wrapped in foil and a kitchen towel and further steams in its own juices. You’ll find when you’re done that barely a drop of the meat’s flavorful juices has escaped the roast.
Steamed Roast Beef is an elegant cold side dish that can be served during any kind of meal. Thinly sliced, it’s one of the highlights of the box of O-sechi celebratory foods enjoyed at New Year’s. It can also be used, sliced or chopped up, to make other dishes like Roast Beef Sushi and Setouchi Beef Tartare.
Steamed Roast Beef
Mushita Rosuto Bifu : 蒸したローストビーフ
Serves 4-6
Main Foods
Beef Round, Rump, or Sirloin, around 1 lb. (450-500 g)
Best is a block of beef that measures roughly 6 inches (15 cm) in length, 4 inches (10 cm) wide, and 3 inches (7.5 cm) in height. Beef roasts come this way at supermarkets in Japan. Either ask your butcher to cut a piece like this or do it yourself from a larger block of meat. If it’s a slightly uneven shape, tie it up so that it cooks evenly.
Seasonings
Sake, 1 tablespoon
Coarse Sea Salt or Kosher Salt, 1 teaspoon
Aromatics / Flavorings
Ground Black Pepper, 1/4 teaspoon, to taste
Directions
Brush the meat all over with the sake. Then sprinkle the sea salt and pepper on a plate and roll and press the meat into them. The sake will help the sea salt penetrate the meat as well as season it with a layer of umami, eliminating the need to create an umami-enriched crust by searing the roast in oil on the stove.
Lay the meat on a rack placed on top of a small baking dish and let it come to room temperature, about 1 hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 250F (120C). Pour 1 cup (240 ml) of water into the bottom of the baking dish, but don’t let it touch the meat. Cook for:
45 minutes for rare
60 minutes for medium-rare (pictured in the title block above)
75 minutes for medium
Turn the meat once halfway through the cooking time. If necessary, add some more water.
When done, immediately wrap the meat in a double roll of aluminum foil and then tightly wrap this package in a kitchen towel, making sure the beef is well insulated. Let it rest on the counter until barely warm, about 2-3 hours, then refrigerate.
Refrigerate the roast for a few hours before serving. The meat will both relax and firm up, making it tender and also easy to slice.
Serve
Slice thinly and serve with any kind of garnish and condiment you like. A sheaf of peppery kaiware daikon sprouts, dabs of citrusy-peppery yuzu kosho, or spritzes of soy sauce and touches of wasabi are all traditional. Or try our Savory Onion Vinegar, Bitter Orange Ponzu Sauce, and Shio Ponzu Sauce. Each is delicious dipped into or spooned over the beef.
Note
Make the dish a few times to learn the best timing for the type and size of beef and oven you’ll be using and how you like your roast. For rare, the roast will be soft but slightly bounce back when you push down on it with your finger or tongs just out of the oven. It will be firm at medium-rare. In addition, it will have started to sweat small beads of red juice. You really don’t want to cook it much longer past this stage. It’s an indication that the roast is releasing its juices and beginning to dry out. It will, however, still be quite tasty and rosy inside at around 75 minutes, if you prefer your roast medium to well-done.
Variations
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper are really all you need to make a delicious roast. Keeping the seasoning simple is also good if you’ll be using the roast as an ingredient to make other dishes. However, you can season it with any kind of aromatics and flavorings.