Holy Cow! Sliced Roast Beef!

A few days ago I was trying to make some Canadian bacon. I put one of my test pieces into my little smoker.  Just by sheer chance, I had some beef sirloin, too.  So, I tossed a kilo of the sirloin into the smoker with my Canadian bacon.

I didn't get any pictures of that batch of roast beef.  And, it went quickly.  So, I did what any normal person would do who had been without decent sliced meats for over a year: bought and made more.

Unfortunately, this time I was only able to get the ends of the sirloin.  Kind of like the heels of a loaf of bread.  Still, hungry beggars can't be choosers ... even at P400 (US$8.00) per kilo.

Ingredients

• Beef Sirloin
• Crushed dried bagul (coconut shell)
  

Procedure

I prepared my smoker and put the pieces of sirloin in.  To make the smoke, I'm using crushed, dried bagul (coconut shells).  They're free and plentiful.  Whenever my father-in-law harvests the coconuts and gets the kopra (dried coconut meat), we're left with a ton of this.  Plenty for me!  And, I like the price.

Here's the meat mid-way through the smoking process.  Again, note the probe from the thermometer in many of the pictures.  I'm a numbers person, so I love having that tool available to me.

I cooked the meat until it reached 145F (63C).  I wanted the meat to be fully cooked, very little to no pink.  My family here doesn't like medium rare meat.  I try to tell them that cooking meat to the well done that they prefer is a crime against nature ... it's the desolation and desecration of perfectly good meat.  They don't listen. 

So, I try to compromise.  Medium to medium well if I'm cooking for them.  With carry-over, this should hit, or come very close to, medium well.  That will please those here who don't like to see a little blood in their meat.

Here is one of my lovely pieces of meat on the cutting board and awaiting its fate ...

... getting wrapped in aluminum foil and put into the fridge overnight.  Let the meat cool before I slice it nice and thin.

I'll enjoy many, many sandwiches from this batch!

Test Results

Primary Test Group: Yum!  Marasa!  So good, kuya!

Test Group M: You really impressed me! Definitely deli quality!

Potential Improvements

I think the beef needs to be brined.  Not strongly.  Just a light brine for a few hours.

Potential Variations

Large range of variations.  One for every kind of roast beef found in your normal delicatessen.  Peppered, garlic, etc.  Personally, I'm into more plain roast beef.  Still, it would be fun to explore a bit.

I also wonder what would happen if I smoked the meat entirely while wrapped in foil.  I'll have to try that. 

Conclusions

I'll make a lot of this stuff.  Oh man, yum.  I made some sandwiches with sharp Cheddar and mayo.  It's been too long since I'd had a good sandwich. 

Once I get Canadian bacon down, I'll move onto ham.  My own personal deli ... it'll be great!