Slow and low: The way to a tasty roastIf you are fortunate enough to remember the charms of Sunday dinner-style roast beef -- browned on the outside and tender, juicy and pink throughout -- you probably also can recall that it took considerable effort to make it happen, with no guarantee that you bought the right hunk of meat or could achieve consistently good results.
But the fact is, you can produce perfectly cooked roast beef while you sleep, even with an array of beefy-tasting cuts, from pricey prime rib to affordable round roast. Slow roasting at a low temperature is the way to go. Butchers, chefs and meat experts agree that it's easy to do in basic home ovens. No fire-breathing, commercial-quality ranges are required.
"Roasting slowly is where all the good stuff happens," says Jim Swenson, who has been executive chef at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., for 17 years. He prefers the slow-low approach for roasts and vegetables -- where the carrots, celery and onion caramelize along with the meat -- because "the vegetables bloom into richer and more mellow flavors. You really taste it when you use them to make the sauce or gravy."
By primitive, traditional or high-tech methods, slow cooking is a culinary fundamental. "Man has been doing this since there was cooking, whether it was done in a cooking pit covered with banana leaves or in an oven," says Gerard Bertholon, a chef and an executive at Cuisine Solutions in Alexandria, Va. The company uses microprocessor-controlled equipment to produce food by the sous vide technique, in which vacuum-sealed foods are cooked in a low-temperature water bath. The process preserves and intensifies flavor and texture
Restaurateur and chef Michel Richard, known for his creative and modern approach to cooking, describes the best way to roast in one word: "slowly."
Walk through Richard's Washington kitchens at Citronelle and his bistro, Central, and, as you might expect, you will see chefs and cooks chopping, prepping and checking stovetops. You also will see specialty "combi" ovens that apply the science of slow cooking by combining moist and dry heat. How slow and low does Richard go in his kitchen? Try 72-hour short ribs cooked at 138 degrees.
A combi oven, such as Winston Industries' CVap (short for controlled vapor technology), has a dual system that uses moist vapor heat to control food temperature and dry-air heat to control moisture evaporation. The CVap's inventor, Winston Shelton, has become an expert on cooking and, at age 84, lectures before culinary school faculties without notecards.
Roasts are about 75 percent moisture, Shelton explains, with the water bound up in the cells, waiting for the heat that will release it during cooking. "Too much heat has the effect of squeezing a sponge; or, in this case, the sponge is squeezing itself," he says. "As the heat increases, the proteins shrink and the moisture is forced out, either into the pan or evaporating completely. The result is a dense and dry roast. However, if we use our knowledge of moisture in meat to manage the heat and evaporation during cooking, we produce a tender and juicy roast."
Home cooks don't have access to combi ovens. But for slow-low roasting, they don't need them. According to Howard Richardson, executive chef at Winston Industries, the significant action occurs when the meat's internal temperature is between 100 and 140 degrees.
"At approximately 100 degrees, the strands of proteins that make up the muscle and connective tissues begin to cook but also unwind," he says. "The water and juices are released at around 120 degrees, and the collagen in the connective tissue in meat begins to melt and gelatinize at around 140 degrees. While our (combi) ovens can target and hold the heat at very specific temperatures in this range, you can use your own oven to create a beneficial combination of low temperature and time and achieve excellent results."
Slow-low roasting maximizes the taste of a whole beef tenderloin and prime rib roast, but the great secret and value of such a method is that it will tenderize and bring out the beefiest flavors of the less-expensive shoulder, round and rump roast cuts.
However, not every inexpensive cut of meat or roast found in your grocer's meat case will benefit from this approach. A knowledgeable, customer-friendly butcher can guide you through.
"Buy the right roast, and the roast will do the rest," says Sam Haddad, who heads the meat department at Giant Food in Potomac, Md. "We sell a lot of what people call pot roasts, but what is best for your Crock-Pot or slow cooker is different than the cut of meat you want to roast in your oven."
Asked which less-expensive cut would work best for the slow-low method of roasting, Haddad reaches for a boneless shoulder roast.
Chefs Richard and Swenson and Central chef Cedric Maupillier agree with the choice. Maupillier says that "because the shoulder is richer, with more fat, it needs to be cooked a little longer. Around 138 to 140 degrees is perfect for a medium-rare to medium shoulder roast."
Although the slow-low method takes about 2 1/2 hours per pound at 170 degrees, it won't cost you extra time. A three- to four-pound roast can be placed in the oven to cook overnight. The temperature is so low that nothing will burn, and by the morning, the roast will be done. Let the meat rest on the counter, tented with aluminum foil, while you get ready for work. Wrap the roast and any vegetables tightly, and refrigerate. When you get home from work, make the gravy from the roasted vegetables while the meat is reheating.
Tips for slow-low roasting
• To develop a caramelized crust, sear the roast, either in a dry pan or with a small amount of canola or peanut oil (not olive oil, which might hinder further browning in a low-temperature oven).
• Place the roast fat side up in the pan so it self-bastes.
• Because low-temperature roasting creates virtually no carry-over cooking effect, roast the meat to the desired internal temperature. (In high-heat roasting, the temperature of the meat continues to rise for several minutes after it is removed from the oven.)
• Tent the resting roast with foil and allow 10 to 15 minutes before carving, so the meat's juices will return to the center; slice the meat against the grain.
• Before reheating the meat, slice it thinly. Reheat at the same temperature at which the roast was cooked.
Shopping for the right cut
The best cuts to buy for slow, low-temperature oven roasting:
More expensive: Prime rib, boneless rib-eye, strip sirloin, tenderloin
Less expensive: Boneless shoulder roast, top round, eye of round, rump roast, bottom round
Source:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com
Jessica Rose Paetsch (14) and Jon Nuss (20) perform to music from the Capone soundtrack for their Long Program. 
