Sunday Roast Beef {for 200}

As I mentioned yesterday, this little home decor blog is going to take a bit of a diversion as I spend the summer cooking at our camp kitchen.  The days are pretty full, but I thought it might be kind of fun to try to blog about 1 (or 2) pictures a day from the camp kitchen.  Cooking may not be your thing (honestly, it’s not mine, either, but…shhh…don’t tell anyone!!), but it’s what I’m doing these days, so I thought I’d document some things here.  This is only day one, so we’ll have to see if this will work practically speaking, but here goes!

Sunday roast beef was a tradition at our house growing up.  Mom would put the roast in the oven on time bake before we left for church, and we would come home to a delicious smelling lunch.

I admit that I haven’t carried on the tradition.  Neither my husband or I am real fans of roast beef.  In fact, in all the years we’ve been married, I’ve probably only cooked a few roast beefs.

I’m making up for lost time now!;)

Today we cooked 5 (approximately) 20 pound roasts.  Here’s how my chef teacher Connie taught me to do it:

1.  Place the frozen roasts on the bottom shelf of the cooler (on a large tray or pan) to thaw 3 days before you want to cook them.

2.  On the morning you want to serve them, remove the outer plastic wrapping, and rub on a mixture of paprika, rosemary, thyme, garlic, and crushed peppercorn. Don’t use salt, as it may dry out the roast.

3.  At 10:30 a.m., place the roasts uncovered in a 450 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Then reduce heat to 225 degrees.

4.  They should have reached temperature (69-74 degrees Celcius)  by about 3:30 in the afternoon.

5.  Cover loosely with a “tent” of foil for at least 1 hour.  (This lets the juices settle and makes it really tender.)

6.  Slice and place in a warming oven until serving time.

I cooked extra roast beef today and had some shaved some extra thin for tomorrow’s lunch of philly cheese steak sandwiches.