Smoked Eye of Round cooked with a flavor creates a delicious and flavorful roast beef perfect, for making tasty sandwiches. The smokiness enhances the beef while slow cooking, at heat keeps the meat juicy and delightful!
What Is Eye of Round Roast?
Eye of roast also referred to as round eye pot roast comes from the hind legs of a cow situated between the rump and rear shank. It is sliced from the elongated muscle found at the heart of the section. This particular cut earns its name “eye of round” due, to its appearance. Since this muscle sees an amount of activity it tends to be both lean and tough. To achieve tenderness it requires gentle cooking methods. A delightful choice, for a roast beef dish!
Is The Eye Of Round Roast Expensive?
It’s a budget meat option, with fat compared to chuck roast and brisket resembling beef tenderloin without the high price tag. The price can fluctuate based on your location. I was fortunate to snag an eye of round on sale for $2.99 per pound. Normally priced at $35 I managed to buy it for than $15—a deal considering the current surge, in meat prices. Eye round is indeed a cost choice.
What If I Can’t Find An Eye Of Round Roast?
If you can’t locate an eye of round, top round and bottom round make alternatives. These cuts all come from the rump and hind leg of the steer, known as the primal. They are quite lean. Can become tough when cooked for long. Slow cooking is recommended to ensure they become tender with a low and slow smoking method being ideal!
How To Prepare Whole Eye of Round Roast For Smoking
Before we trimmed and cut it the whole eye of roast weighed 4.715 pounds.
Remove any silver skin from this meat cut. While the roast may contain patches of fat it also has chewy, between the fat and lean meat that won’t render when cooked so trim off as much as you can.
To ensure cooking it’s important to trim the end of the roast and set it aside for use, in soups or stews later.
What Seasoning Works Best?
We incorporated an tasty Brazilian Steakhouse Seasoning, into this recipe, which imparts an savory taste to the beef featuring robust earthy undertones and aromatic hints of onion and garlic. Additionally we included Worcestershire sauce, in the rub as a binding agent.
If you don’t have Brazillian Steakhouse Seasoning you can opt for your beef dry rub or simply mix together salt, black pepper and garlic powder in equal amounts.
The Worcestershire sauce doesn’t really enhance the flavor of the meat. You could opt for oil or mustard instead or simply skip using a binder.
What Wood Is Best for Smoking Eye of Round?
This marks the debut of our smoked beef recipe and rest assured it won’t be the one we share!
We selected wood chunks due, to the sweet flavor it imparts on the meat. As the beef isn’t smoked for a period it can absorb plenty of smoke during a cooking time.
Other wood options for smoking beef:
- Oak
- Mesquite
- Cherry
- Maple
- Pecan
- Apple
How Long Does It Take To Smoke An Eye of Round Roast?
To smoke a 3 pound eye of roast until the internal temperature reaches 130 degrees it should take around 1.5-2 hours at a temperature range of 225 degrees F. Keep in mind that focusing on monitoring the temperature is key rather, than strictly adhering to the time duration.
David set up his Weber kettle grill with 3 Zone Fire using baskets on each side to hold the charcoal and wood. Each basket should contain, around 8-10 briquettes along with a chunk of smoking wood on either side. This setup ensures that the roast cooks evenly without needing to be flipped. In case your heat source is only coming from one side flip the roast once the internal temperature reaches 60 90 degrees Fahrenheit and rotate the meat so that both sides get exposure, to the coals.
Refer to the diagram provided to assist you in deciding the moment to remove the roast, from the grill, pellet grill or smoker.
Beef Temperature Cooking Chart
| Preferred Doneness | Pull Temp(After Smoking) | Target Temp(After Searing) |
|---|---|---|
| Rare | 115-125°F | 120-130°F |
| Medium rare (recommended) | 125-130°F | 130-135°F |
| Medium | 130-135°F | 135-140°F |
| Medium well | 140-150°F | 145-155°F |
| Well done | NA | NEVER! |
Ingredients Needed To Make the Roast Beef Sandwiches
The list of ingredients, along, with their measurements can be found on the recipe card provided towards the conclusion of this article.
For the Smoked Eye of Round
- Eye of round roast: For a 3 – 4 pound eye of roast make sure its trimmed. If you can’t find the eye of round a beef bottom round roast or rump roast will work too.
- Binder: (optional) While a binder, like Worcestershire sauce doesn’t add flavor to the meat we enjoy using it to help the rub stick to the meat. Alternatively you can also use prepared mustard or oil for this purpose.
- Brazilian Steakhouse Seasoning: use McCormick’s but your favorite dry rub.
For the Roast Beef Sandwiches:
- Steak Rolls: Use any type of buns or sandwich rolls you like. Toast them with cheese, for a sandwich! French rolls or hoagie rolls are options well.
- Cheese: We opt for cheese as it melts smoothly and contributes to a creamy texture. You can also try cheddar, mozzarella or provolone for a touch of cheesiness.
- Onion: Sliced sweet onions add a crunch and blend the flavors of the sauce and meat together nicely.
- Sauce: Try the Baltimore Tiger Sauce recipe provided below or opt for a sauce of your choice.
Baltimore Tiger Sauce
- Mayonnaise
- Sour Cream
- Horseradish: for horseradish with ingredients limited to horseradish, vinegar and salt. Avoid using sauce with added cream, like mayonnaise or sour cream.
- Mustard Powder: Pure mustard powder does not contain vinegar. Adjust the amount to your preference when using prepared mustard.
How to Make A Roast Beef Sandwich With Smoked Eye of Round
Here is a simple guide, on preparing smoked roast beef sandwiches. You can find instructions along, with cooking times and temperatures in the recipe card located at the conclusion of this article.
- Fire Up the grill or smoker.
- Smoke the eye of round roast
- Make the Baltimore Tiger Sauce
- Remove the roast from the grill, wrap it in aluminum foil, and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
- Top the buns with cheese and bake until the cheese melts.
- Build the smoked roast beef sandwich. Slice the meat and serve curled on a toasted steak roll with sliced onions and Baltimore Tiger Sauce.
Tips For Smoking Eye of Round Roast
- Trim the Fat: Remember to trim the fat as there is a layer of silver skin, beneath it that needs to be removed. This will ensure that your meat is not tough and chewy.
- Use A Binder: Consider using a binder, such as Worcestershire sauce to help the seasoning to the meat. While it can be beneficial it’s not always essential.
- When preparing this roast it’s beneficial to utilize a meat thermometer, such, as one, from Thermoworks to ensure that small cuts of beef cook rapidly and accurately. Remember, overcooking beef is never ideal.
- Lots of Smoke: There’s a lot of smoke involved in this cooking process so make sure to infuse that beef with plenty of smokiness. It can handle it!
- Make Tiger Sauce Ahead: Prepare the Tiger Sauce in advance; To achieve results it is recommended to prepare the Baltimore Tiger Sauce at 30 minutes ahead to allow the flavors to blend together.
- Resting Before Slicing: Let the beef sit and wrap it for half an hour before slicing it. This helps maintain its tenderness and juiciness.
- Slicing: To slice the beef thinly it’s ideal to use a meat slicer; however if one is not available a sharp knife can be used. It’s important to take your time and aim for slices. For results its recommended to store any leftover roast beef whole in the refrigerator and slice it the following day. Slicing beef is easier compared to beef slices!
How To Store Homemade Roast Beef?
Let the beef cool down to room temperature. Wrap the roast beef, in foil or plastic wrap then put it in a container.
How Long Does Cooked Roast Beef Keep In The Fridge?
When roast beef is stored correctly it can stay fresh in the refrigerator for about 3 to 4 days. If its been, than four days it’s best to freeze it by wrapping it in a freezer bag.
How Do I Reheat the Roast Beef?
Its practically guaranteed that the uncommon pink roast beef will lose its color and cook further when reheating. To lessen the cooking level put a bit of water in a skillet. Heat it until it steams on low heat. Steam the meat until warm which usually takes around 3 5 minutes. It might change color. It will remain delicious and tender. Alternatively you can enjoy it cold if thats your preference.
Serving Roast Beef
Feel free to enjoy this dish either as a roast beef sandwich or, on its own paired with some grilled potato wedges, potato salad or parmesan smashed potatoes. Share your experience with this recipe in the comments ! Your feedback means a lot to us. We’re eager to hear your thoughts on our recipes.
I spent a good bit of my 20’s touring the country playing music. As a teenager, and throughout my 20’s, in between music, I always worked in restaurants, in various capacities. Somewhere in my late 20’s I realized that I was not on the cover of Rolling Stone, as planned, and so, I started thinking about my future and trying to figure out other ways to have an impact, be creative and still live a bit of that rock ‘n roll lifestyle. The restaurant industry provided me with a good bit of those things. And so, I started honing my chops in the kitchen, putting my nose in food lover’s companion, and really started to go somewhere with it.