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Pepper Encrusted Smoked Eye of Round Roast

After almost 15 years in the meat industry, I can tell you that every butcher I’ve worked with least favorite cut is eye of round. Customers would buy eye of round steaks and grill them. They must like leather. There’s not a lot that you really do with it other than sliced roast beef, and I would choose top round, sirloin tip, or top sirloin over eye any day. But now I found a purpose for eye of round in my life: smoking.

There are two approaches you can do with the eye: brine or dry rub. If brining, mix a 1/2 gallon of water with a 1/2 cup of sea salt. Brine for 24 hours. I chose to dry rub the roast. First rub the eye with salt. Let sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. The salt will help extract moisture and dry out the roast. The rub the exterior with black and white pepper. Let it sit in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes. Before you smoke the roast, let sit at room temperature for an hour.

Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees according to the manufacturer’s directions. I am using mesquite and pecan wood for smoking. Place the eye of round roast in the smoker fat side down. It is best to use a probe thermometer right off the bat to monitor the temperature. Smoke to your preferred doneness: 125 degrees-rare; 135 degrees-medium rare; 145 degrees-medium; 150 degrees-medium well; 160 degrees-well done. Pull the beef from the smoker and let rest for 15 minutes. You will want to pull the roast from the smoker 10 degrees shy of the internal tempature that you are looking for. The temp will go up 10 degrees internally after you let it rest.

Once the roast has rested, slice thinly. This is great for sliced roast beef for sandwiches, which I included a simple recipe below. You will never eat at Arby’s again after you taste what real smoked roast beef is.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

Resting Time15 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Keyword: Beef, electric smoker, main course

Author: Alex Gorgos

Equipment

• Electric Smoker

Ingredients

• 4 lb beef eye of round roast trimmed; fat cap left on
• 3 tbsp sea salt
• 3 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp white pepper

Wood Chips

• mesquite wood chips
• pecan wood chips

Instructions

• If you bought a whole untrimmed eye of round; trim it, but leave the fat cap on.
  
• Place the eye in a baking dish. Rub salt over the entire roast. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. The salt will extract moisture and help dry out the exterior of the roast.
  
• Rub the roast with the black and white pepper. Return to the refrigerator for another 30 minutes.
  
• Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees according to the manufacturer’s directions. Place the roast in the smoker. Using a probe thermometer, smoke to your preferred doneness: 125 degrees-rare; 135 degrees-medium rare; 145 degrees-medium; 150 degrees-medium well; 160 degrees-well done.
  
• Pull the beef from the smoker and let rest for 15 minutes. You will want to pull the roast from the smoker 10 degrees shy of the internal tempature that you are looking for. The temp will go up 10 degrees internally after you let it rest.
  

Tips For Smoking Eye Of Round Roast

• Rub salt into the roast and let sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. This will help extract moisture and dry out the roast.
  
• Let the roast sit out at room temperature for an hour. Throwing a cold roast in a smoker will take longer to cook.

• Using a probe thermometer, smoke to your preferred doneness: 125 degrees-rare; 135 degrees-medium rare; 145 degrees-medium; 150 degrees-medium well; 160 degrees-well done.
  
• You will want to pull the roast from the smoker 10 degrees shy of the internal tempature that you are looking for. The temp will go up 10 degrees internally after you let it rest for 15 minutes.