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Roast Beef for a Crowd


This method of preparing a large meal breaks up the effort being put into cooking for a crowd. For this dinner I cooked two roasts the day before. I sliced them, prepared the gravy and refrigerated the meat and gravy, ready to re-heat just before the meal the next day. On the day of the dinner, I did the mashed potatoes, cooked peas and mixed the coleslaw. This served 25 people. When planning a meal like this, if you want to be on the safe side, count on 1/2 lb of beef per person.

Ingredients:
  • 2  (6 lb) sirloin tip roasts
  • 10  - 12 cloves garlic
  • salt and pepper or favorite seasoning salt
  • 3 cans regular or wild cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 or 2 cans mushrooms
  • 4 cups water
  • 4 tablespoons flour
Method:
  1. Spray roasting pan/ pans with cooking spray. (I prefer the black speckled roasting pans for nice browning)
  2. Season roasts lightly. Squeeze garlic cloves under twine or lay on top. Bake at 375°F for half an hour lid off. Turn oven down to 300° F, and continue cooking for 3 hours with lid on. Don't stress if they look well done. Once they are sliced and cooked with the gravy they get very tender.
  3. Remove roasts to a platter and tent, allowing to cool. Refrigerate after one or two hours.
  4. Once completely cooled, slice thinly with a sharp knife. (Much easier to slice once cooled)
  5. To drippings in roaster, on medium heat, add cream of mushroom soup, stirring with whisk until smooth.  Add mushrooms. Shake up flour and water, adding it to the gravy according to desired consistency and flavor. Bring to boil.
  6. Add sliced meat to gravy, making sure the meat is basically covered with the gravy.
  7. Refrigerate and reheat about half hour before serving.
  8. Remove roast slices to serving plate and gravy to gravy dish. Serve with mashed potatoes or large buns for roast beef sandwiches.

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14 comments:

  1. Thanks for the detailed instructions about making it ahead of time. I'm going to start a Pinterest board for marking the recipes on here that I want to try! This will be one of them!

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  2. It was delicious. Anneliese, I always love the way your ingredient list is simple. The roast tasted full of flavour and the gravy was ever so flavorful.

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  3. What a good idea. It sounds like a wonderful way to be prepared in advance and not have so much cooking to do all at once. I'll be bookmarking this one.

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  4. this looks delicious! One question - why do you pour the gravy over the meat before refrigerating it? Does that keep the meat from drying out when reheating it? Then, after reheating, I pour the gravy off, right? Thanks!! (guess that's actually three questions :-)
    ~Colleen

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  5. Wonderful suggestions...and so clearly laid out...on doing roast beef ahead of time. Thanks-you.

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  6. Colleen,
    With this recipe you have to think "comfort food". It's lots of gravy, very tender meat because it's cooked in the gravy, some of the slices will be falling apart already. You could try a small roast to see if you like it this way... using one can of cream of mushroom soup. However, the roast beef cooked and sliced this way when it's cold, makes for nice sandwich meat too. Then you would not put gravy on it.

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  7. This would make beautiful open-faced hot roast beef sandwiches.One of my favorites!

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  8. This is brilliant roast beef recipe for a crowd. I love recipes like this so you don't have to fuss too much just before serving - I get too flustered and like to do things ahead like this. Thank you so much for sharing this method!

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  9. I've never considered roast beef a "do ahead" meal, what a fantastic idea. Your dinner looks scrumptious.

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  10. This looks very good and sure to be a winner with people.

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  11. How do you reheat this?

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    Replies

    1. Bake the meat, covered in gravy, in covered dish (lid or foil)for about 1/2 hour at 350F.

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  12. How did you slice this to get such nice even slices? Electric knife, regular knife, or food slicer?

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    Replies
    1. I used a regular sharp knife but, as specified, if you wait to slice until the meat is cooled off, it is much easier to get thin, even slices. This is the idea of making ahead... cook, cool, slice, cover with gravy and re-heat.

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