Christmas Roast Beef
Beef loin with an herb crust, cooked at a low temperature to a perfect pink.
- Preparation
- 25 min
- Cook/bake time
- 1 hr 30 min
- Total
- 2 hr 25 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Calories
Beef loin with an herb crust, cooked at a low temperature to a perfect pink.
Beef loin with an herb crust, cooked at a low temperature to a perfect pink. At 120 degrees in the oven, the difference between the edge and the core is small, so the meat becomes almost uniformly pink instead of cooking in zones. The quick, hard sear beforehand doesn't seal anything in, it creates roasted flavors.
Roast beef is purely about temperature control. At a low 120 °C in the oven, the difference between the edge and the core is small, so the meat cooks from the outside in almost uniformly pink instead of in zones. The quick, hard sear beforehand doesn't seal anything in, a myth that has persisted for over a hundred years, but rather creates the roasted flavors via the Maillard reaction that make a roast taste like a roast. The half-hour resting time afterwards is not carryover cooking, but pressure equalization: during cooking, the juices are forced into the center, and only when cooling down do they distribute again. If you cut too early, the juices will end up on the board instead of in the meat.
Take the roast beef out of the fridge two hours before cooking, pat it dry, and season it all over with salt and pepper. Room-temperature meat cooks more evenly because the oven doesn't have to overcome the fridge temperature first. It must be dry, otherwise it won't sear, but steam.
Heat the oil in a heavy pan until it smokes slightly, and sear the meat vigorously on all sides for two minutes each, including the ends. Take it out and let it cool briefly. This crust provides the roasted flavors, they no longer develop in the oven at 120 °C.
Mix the butter, rosemary, thyme, and garlic. Brush the seared meat thinly with Dijon mustard, it acts as a glue and adds acidity, and press the herb butter onto it. Place the meat on a rack over a roasting pan and distribute the onion underneath.
Slide the roast into the oven at 120 °C top/bottom heat and cook it to the desired core temperature: 52 °C for rare, 55 to 56 °C for medium rare, 60 °C for medium. For 1.5 kg, this takes about eighty to ninety minutes. The clock is an estimate here, the thermometer is the decision.
Place the meat on a board, cover it loosely with foil, and let it rest for thirty minutes. The core temperature will rise by another two to three degrees, so plan for that. In the meantime, deglaze the pan drippings with the red wine, boil it down almost completely, pour in the stock, and reduce everything by half. Finally, stir in the cold butter and slice the roast thinly against the grain.
Whisk a thin batter from 140 g flour, 4 eggs, and 200 ml milk, let it rest for an hour, and bake in very hot roasting fat at 220 °C for twenty minutes. The classic British side dish.
First cook at 120 °C to a 50 °C core temperature, and then sear in a red-hot pan for one minute per side. The crust becomes more even, the gray band disappears almost completely.
| Calories | 428 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 46 g |
| Carbohydrates | 3 g |
| – of which sugar | 1 g |
| Fat | 25 g |
| Fiber | 0 g |
Roast beef from the beef loin, so prime rib or a whole rump steak piece, ideally with a fat cap. Calculate 180 to 200 g per person plus a reserve for leftovers.
The oven temperature was too high. The hotter the oven, the greater the difference between the edge and the core. At 120 °C, this band remains narrow, and with reverse searing, it almost disappears.
You can do the searing and crust two hours beforehand. Not the cooking itself: reheated roast beef continues to cook and is then well done. Leftovers are eaten cold, sliced thinly.
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Amanda Lawson
14. Dezember 2025
A thermometer takes all the fear out of it. Pink the whole way through.
Elena Grimm
30. November 2025
Heiligabend für acht Personen. Die Ruhezeit hat sich gelohnt, kein Tropfen Saft auf dem Brett.
Only 1 hr 55 min of that is hands-on – the rest takes care of itself.
Here some of the ingredients never reach the plate: most frying oil stays in the pan, and in a stock the solids are strained off. How much of it ends up in the food cannot be calculated – counting a litre of oil would quintuple the figure, leaving it out would describe a dish baked without fat. So this is an editorial estimate rather than a total that would look dependable without being so.
A guide value, not a lab measurement: no two onions weigh the same, and fat content varies from pack to pack.
