Sandwiches are the unsung heroes of the kitchen. They can be as simple as spreading peanut butter and jelly, or melting a piece of cheese between two slices of bread. They can be piled high with healthy ingredients like avocados, cucumbers, and peppers, or battered and deep fried. In our family, we eat some kind of sandwich almost everyday. My latest favorite has been a roast beef sandwich.
Since we do a cowpool, a term I’ve just learned which describes our splitting a local grass fed cow amongst friends and family, it makes sense to make our own roast beef for sandwiches. Think about it, I could buy deli style roast beef in the store for $8-10 a pound. But isn’t it so much better to make my own lunchmeat from tender, organic, flavorful beef that only cost us about $4 a pound? If you’re still not sure, the answer is yes, yes, YES!
To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t sure how to make roast beef for sandwiches at first. So I tried making a basic roast that I would normally slice thick and slather with horseradish. Once it was cooked and cooled, I simply sliced it as thinly as possible.
The meat was beautifully pink in the center with a dark crust of seasoning on the razor thin edges. I’d found my answer in just one attempt, I just needed to make a roast beef, well, roast!
This is a perfect recipe for Hunger Action Week, because I quickly learned in my first year of the challenge that lunchmeat is VERY expensive. Even if you don’t share in a cow like we do, you can still save lots of money by cooking and slicing a roast that you buy from the grocery store. A 3 lb roast will fit in a food stamp budget (usually $10 or less) AND provide lunches for a week!
This is a very basic recipe using ingredients that most people already have in their pantry. For the spices, you can get them from the bulk spice section and pay just pennies for exactly the amount you need.
For the cut of beef, I have used everything from prime rib, to top loin, sirloin tip or top round. The main thing is to remember that leaner roasts will get dried out if cooked too long, so err on the side of caution and check your meat’s temperature regularly. I prefer my roast medium rare to keep it nice and tender. Use the following list to determine how to get yours to the degree of doneness you prefer:
Rare 120° – 125°
Medium-rare 130° – 135°
Medium 140° – 145°
Medium-well 150° – 155°
Well done 160° and above
You may notice in the photos that we have a beautiful meat slicer. That’s a new addition to our kitchen, but for years before getting it I simply sliced our own sandwich meat thinly with a knife, so don’t feel like you need one to make your own lunchmeat.
Okay, here’s my easiest roast beef recipe. But I want to know, whether a roast for dinner or for sandwiches, how do you make roast beef?
Yield: 20 servings (3-5 thin slices per serving)
HOMEMADE DELI STYLE ROAST BEEF RECIPE
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time50 minutes
Total Time55 minutes
Ingredients
- 3lb beef roast (round, top, or sirloin are all fine)
- 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- Rub olive oil all over beef roast.
- Mix salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder in a small bowl. Rub the spices into the beef, coating the entire roast, then place beef on a rack in a roasting pan.
- Roast for 25 minutes, then drop heat to 300 degrees.
- Roast an additional 20-40 minutes until meat reaches desired temperature (see temperature guide in the post above).
- Remove from oven and let cool before slicing thinly. Keeps up to a week in the fridge or six months in the freezer.
Notes
Approximate cost/serving:This should end up being around $2-4 a pound depending on the quality of meat and whether you get it on sale or in bulk. Even at $4/lb it’s still just60 cents for a few slices, much cheaper than buying pre-sliced lunchmeat.
Gluten Free:Just make sure that the onion and garlic powder don’t contain gluten, I’ve seen a couple that have it sneaked in for anti caking.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
20Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 213Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 267mgCarbohydrates: 0gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 21g
Nutrition information is an estimate only.
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Nutritional and cost information is for estimating purposes only, and subject to variations due to region, seasonality, and product availability.
