Help - my beef is tough when reheated

[doodle]

hey everyone-- hope you can help - soon

I slow roasted a 24 lb inside round & it turned out beautiful
-- 8 hrs at 250 to a medium rare
I made a wonderful pinot noir au jus with the drippings as well

I then thinly sliced the left overs and frozen the slices into 15 small 8 oz batches with enough au jus to partly cover the pieces
BUT the reheating - at 300 for 1 hour, covered - has caused the meat to become tough and dry

what are your suggestions as to how I can "fix" the remaining leftovers

perhaps thaw first and "cook" the meat on a rack so the au jus runs off the meat to the pan below?
cover or not?
also any ideas as to how to avoid this in the first place?
please don't suggest that I shouldn't freeze the meat as that is not an option - long story -
any further tips would be most welcome
thanks- doodle

 

[grumblebee]

I think other people here might be better apt to answer this for you seeing as how I haven't eaten red meat in quite a few years.... However, I wonder if you could just toss the leftovers in a stew and slow cook it in a stewing mixture for several hours at low heat...? I know that is how is my mom would get tough meat to soften up and tenderize. Not sure how it would work with already roasted meat, but it's worth a try...

~GB

 

[GB]

The problem is with the re-heating. You cooked the meat to med-rare as I am assuming that is the degree of doneness you were after. When you re-heat it though it will end up going past med-rare. Thinly sliced at 300 for an hour is going to turn it into shoe leather and dry as a bone no matter what you do.

I would only slice what I need that night. Then when reheating I would do it for as short a time as possible and as gently as possible. I would just get it warm. I would not try to get it hot.

 

[Callisto in NC]

I agree with GB. The issues that araise with freezing cooked meat is generally that you've already cooked it to perfection. When you heat it up, the cooking process starts again so you've added an hour to your original cooking time. I would slightly undercook the meat to begin with (I do this with steak cooking it to rare when I know the additional heat will make it medium the next morning) so when you reheat you are finishing it to your desired tastes. You can cut off what you want to eat, finish it off and then freeze the rest.

 

[elaine l]

I wonder if you freeze the juice separate then when reheating you could heat the au jus then dip the meat in.

 

[GB]

That is probably what I would do elaine. I would heat the meat enough to take the chill out of it and get it warm at most, but heat the juice up nice and hot and use that to make the meat warmer.

 

[Callisto in NC]

I agree with that approach too. The biggest thing is don't use the oven to defrost the meat. Make sure you defrost the meat before heating it, that will help.

I have to ask, is the microwave not an option?

 

[GotGarlic]

Another way to do it would be to let it thaw completely overnight in the fridge and then heat the jus in a large saute pan or skillet. After the jus is hot, put the beef in the jus and warm it that way. It would probably take just a few minutes.

 

[*amy*]

Now that it is reheated & dried out, not sure if you can fix it. You might turn it into a salad like so:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/steak-salad-recipe/index.html

Or a cold sammie with au jus. Next time, I would simply cover it & use the Defrost setting in the microwave or reheat covered at about 50-70% power, & rotate till heated through.

 

[miniman]

We quite often heat up our meat in gravy - fairly quick

 

[doodle]

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions of other options to re-heat the rest of the frozen batches. I have never had this happen before and you have all given me thoughts as to what went wrong.
I suspected that the re-heat probably created a boil because it sat in so much liquid and this meat was sliced far too thin. I also was wondering if I had made the jus more of a (thicker) gravy or if I had heated the thawed jus in a pan and wrapped the thawed meat in foil & heated it separately that would have made a difference? The reason it was in the oven for 1 hour is because it took that long to heat it through. Clearly I need to revamp my method. I thought that b/c I froze the meat in a medium rare condition that would add to the success of the finished product to tender pot roast servings.
Anything you have to further enlighten me would be greatly apprecialted.
much thanks- doodle

 

[Dave Hutchins]

round of beef is notorious for being tough, I would very briefly heat it in some warm Au Jus put in a sub bun and dip in Jus and enjoy. Do not heat for a long period as it will be way to tough to eat, do not boil awfullllllllllllllllllllll.

 

[Jeff G.]

Easier re-heating.

Bring some beef broth up to simmer. thaw the slices and quickly dunk them in the broth.

 

[Jeekinz]

For a leftover roast, let stand until room temperature and slice. Heat up some broth or make a sauce or au jus and use that liquid to heat the meat. Works for leftover pork too.