Roast eye of round at camp

I menu roast beef at Oakland Feather River Camp every week or two. I have been using the eye of round (IMPS/NAMP 171C) for five years now. It can usually be purchased at a reasonable price, slightly above $3 per pound when purchased in a 54-pound case. Each case holds six to eight individual roasts.

You can also purchase the eye of round at the local cash and carry restaurant supply house. I purchased it at Cash and Carry on Richards Boulevard, Sacramento, California, when I worked in midtown Sacramento. The store currently sells the roast for $3.22 per pound for a five-pound average roast.

I like the roast because it cooks quickly and gives a reasonably tender serving to the camper. The cylindrical shape of the roast yields a consistently round serving when sliced on the meat slicer. I don't use a recipe for the roast, but will describe my process:

1. Trim fat and silver skin on the roast. I generally leave a quarter-inch of fat on each roast.
2. Rub each roast with a light coat of canola oil. Then rub kosher salt, coarse ground and granulated garlic.Place in roasting pan.
3. Brown roasts in pre-heated 450-degree convection oven until browned, 20 to 25 minutes.
4. Pull pan from oven and reduce oven setting to 200 degrees. Turn roasts over. Add a bit of water or stock to pan if the drippings have dried.
5. Cover pan and return to the oven. Roast until roasts reach desired temperature. At camp I pull them when the internal temperature reaches 145 to 150 degrees. This gives you a nice, evenly colored roast.
6. Rest meat 10 to 15 minutes. Slice on meat slicer to desired thickness. I prefer it on the thinner side. This lets campers take as many slices as they desire without impacting portion control. Each six to seven-pound roast yields 20 to 25 (4-ounce) servings at Oakland Camp.
7. Prepare gravy or au jus as desired from the drippings.

I find that it's best to slice the roast using a meat slicer. The slicer gives you consistently sized pieces. It also helps maximize the slices from each roast.