Introduction: Roast Beef Deli Luncheon Meat

By The Coffee Dude
About: I'm a 49 year old Systems Architect living in the Midwestern United States. After travelling the world for 20 years as a consulting architect I became disabled, as a result, I am now embracing a Slow life. F…

The price of beef has gone astronomical, beef deli meats even more so. However, with a few simple steps and the right equipment, you can make an endless variety of your own roast beef deli meats at a fraction of the price...and with twice the flavor.

I only buy beef when it is on sale, and then I tend to buy a lot and freeze it. For this Instructable I used a very inexpensive beef bottom round roast that was on sale BOGO (buy one, get one free) and had been in the freezer for a couple months. With this method, and a few spices, I was able to create an incredibly tasty, tender deli meat that everyone enjoyed. The key is the cooking method, as well as using a proper roasting pan (with rack) and a granton-edge slicer* to cut very thin slices without a honking-big professional meat slicing machine.

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs beef roast (any kind you like)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt, pepper, spices, to taste (I used onion powder, garlic powder, and ground cumin)

Gear:

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*For more information on granton slicers, see my Instructable Tips for Thinly Slicing Raw Beef.

Step 1: Prep and Dust

Begin by preheating an oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wash roast and pat dry. Trim away any excess fat. Drizzle olive oil on roast and rub in to coat evenly. Apply salt and pepper to all sides. Dust spices of your choosing on all sides of the roast. You can lightly dust, as I have here, for a more subtle flavor, or coat thickly for a more intensely-flavored crust. Have fun experimenting with different spice combinations.

Step 2: Roast

Place roast on the rack of a foil-lined roasting pan. Roast at 500 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, then reduce temperature to 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. For medium-rare as shown here, the internal temperature should read around 126 degrees Fahrenheit. The one pictured was 128 degrees Fahrenheit when it came out of the oven.

Cover the roast with a piece of foil and allow to rest for around 20 minutes. Slice thinly with a granton slicer and refrigerate.

Enjoy!