Silverside Beef Roast - tough to cut on the plate and chewy

Question

I recently roasted a Silverside joint for a typical English Sunday dinner.

It was a pretty standard job. I got it to room temperature, rubbed it with salt and pepper and give that an hour to mesh. After that I seared all side in a cast iron pan, lifted it on a trivet of carrot, celery, garlic & onion and cooked it at 180C (electric fan) until the middle reached my desired temperature, in this case 50C rising to 62C when resting (20/30mins) - came out medium rare.

...anyway, the issue is that after slicing it and plating it up, it was still pretty difficult to cut on your plate - although it had tones for flavour and was very 'juicy'.

I did experiment slicing it more thinly and that did help a bit - but it can of seem rather odd to be eating ultra thin sliced beef.

We used to eat Silverside all the time when I was a kid and I don't remember it being this bad, but then again my parents would have cooked the crap out of it and it was probably pretty dry.

So is this just how Silverside is? (and presumably topside) and I should by a more premium cut (like Sirloin joint) if I want to it to cut more easily or am I missing a trick - do I need to buy a better quality (from a good butcher)/longer aged joint?

Answer 1

Silverside is one of those cuts that varies a lot, I've had topsides and silversides that came out reasonably tender and juicy, and I've had ones where I need power tools to cut them, even when I do everything right. They're cuts I avoid as a result.

Silverside is a cut that comes from the rear of the animal, it doesn't have much marbling and does a fair amount of work, so has lots of connective tissue which toughens it. Cattle breed and how the animal was raised make a big difference in whether you'll get a good result. If you do want to buy it then be selective, look across the cuts the supermarket has for marbling. Stick a thumb into them to see which one is most tender, and pick that.

Tweaking your method would help you get a better result. 180C fan is too hot, you will overcook the outside before the middle is done, and you will have less time for connective tissue to break down and make the result tender. I like to start mine hot to get a good crust, but after 10 minutes I would turn it down to 150C at the highest, 140C would be even better. Next you need to rest it for much longer than 20 minutes. When you rest the meat it continues cooking, connective tissue keeps breaking down, and the meat relaxes. This takes time, especially for tougher cuts. Some professional chefs say you should rest it as long as you cook it, I'm not in that camp myself but I'd say wrap it tightly and give it at least an hour before you cut it.

Answer 2

If you want something as lean and generally tough as a silverside to come out reasonably tender and juicy, you'll need to alter your cooking method.

I'd recommend using something similar to the High Temperature Eye of Round cooking method mentioned here:

• Preheat to 500 degrees F
• Put the roast in, drop to 475 degrees F
• Roast for 7 minutes per pound
• Turn off the oven, and leave it closed to gradually coast down the temperature for the next 2 to 2 and a half hours

You might need to make some adjustments if using a fan-forced oven that vents oven heat quickly when turned off.

Answer 3

To get round this problem I always cook silveside / topside for a roast using sous vide (I use 'Joule' make). I set it to 56C (medium rare) and let it cook for from 12 - 24 hours. You will not believe how tender it comes out. You'll need to sear the joint at the end of the cooking as it comes out a bit anaemic looking.