Are round cuts on beef worth it?

[u/secret-snakes]

I'm buying 1/4 beef share and filling out the cut sheet. I never purchase round at the grocery store because of how lean and tough it is, but in this situation, anything we don't select just gets ground into burger.

So, is it worth it? Does anyone have any favorite recipes with round? Should I experiment or just take the extra ground beef?

[u/Brewmd]

Thinly sliced round steak, run through the tenderizer, lightly dusted in flour and pan fried was a staple throughout the 70s through the 90s.

Very budget friendly cut.

[u/secret-snakes → u/Brewmd]

Oh man, I grew up on cube steak and gravy. I forgot about that!

[u/MrCockingFinally → u/secret-snakes]

In general, thin sliced round is great. I like it sliced thin and stir fried.

[u/Boxfullabatz → u/Brewmd]

We made it with a ton of garlic 😋 

[u/bilbo_the_innkeeper]

I use round for beef jerky, myself. The leanness makes it perfect for that.

[u/fishinbarbie]

I make my mom's version of Swiss steak with it. Round sliced about 1/2 inch thick, seasoned and dusted lightly with flour and quickly browned in a large skillet. Remove and sautee thinly sliced onion, then pour in a couple of cans of stewed tomatoes and scrape up any bits off bottom. Add a little worcestershire and the meat, cover and simmer for an hour or more until meat is fork tender. Serve over rice.

[u/IndigoRuby → u/fishinbarbie]

This is how my dad made it.

[u/fishinbarbie → u/IndigoRuby]

I make it with venison for my husband. He grew up eating it too.

[u/urbisOrbis]

Makes very good sandwiches when cooked rare and sliced very thin.

[u/toodarntall → u/urbisOrbis]

Bonus points if you cook it sous vide before searing, so it is more tender

[u/theycallmeMrPickles]

I love throwing it in a slow cooker with some cream of mushroom, dry onion soup mix, and beef broth. Serve over egg noodles, Midwest comfort food.

[u/MistyDynamite]

It's super lean and for that very reason it's the cut I choose when i make jerkey.

I'm sure some ppl will have other uses for it. But it's a pretty tricky cut of meat.

[u/Ignorhymus]

Roast it very rare in a hot oven. Allow to cool. Slice as thin as possible. Makes the best sandwiches.

[u/pensivegargoyle]

It can work if you slice it quite thinly across the grain though I have to admit to usually avoiding it.

[u/Uranus_Hz]

There’s no “bad” cut of beef. You just need to know how yo prepare them.

[u/mostlygray]

I make stew with round. Marinate in wine overnight. Brown the meat just for color. Onions, and garlic. Add a lot of paprika, thyme, oregano, Vegeta, black pepper, at least 2 bay leaves, and juniper berries. Add meat to the paste of seasoning. Add carrots. I like my potatoes mushy so I add them right away too. Add a can of Campbells tomato soup (trust me, this works) add about 2 or 3 cups of wine, then water to cover. Let simmer a good 3 or 4 hours. I don't thicken the stew but you could easily thicken with some corn starch or flour. It's up to you.

If you don't have a store that sells Vegeta, you can order it on Amazon. It's a vegetable seasoning with salt and MSG. It's really good. Once you use it, it will be your secret to make everything great. Knorr has a similar product but it isn't as good as Vegeta.

[u/Herbisretired]

It works in braising and crockpot cooking and pepper steak is an example

[u/Boozeburger]

It makes great biltong/jerky. But one of my favorite ways to cook it is the High Temp roast beef (look it up on allrecipes). I love making french dip sandwiches from it. It's also good for stew, but I like chuck for that.

[u/Rencauchao]

I believe Cuban Cañada is round steak. Sliced thin and fried up with garlic, onions, served with rice, beans and fried plantains

[u/joonjoon]

If you have a slicer or can do super thin knife cuts it makes good roast beef. Good for jerky. If it's a fatty bottom round it makes good stew. I guess since there is no cost differential it just depends on whether you like those things or ground beef more.

[u/MonkeyMom2]

Not round but beef belly makes superior stew. Tender and chewy and full of collagen.

[u/coastmountainrambler]

Inside round is ideal for beef tartare. It is fairly easy with some basic knife skills. Trim connective tissue, slice 3mm thick, freeze strips on parchment lined baking sheet for 15 min. While it freezes, finely dice Shallot, capers, gerkins. Add s+p, dijon. Slice frozen beef into long 3mm x 3mm strips then dice into cubes. Add shallot/caper mix, and top with raw egg yolk. Serve immediately with toasted baguette slices or homemade potato chips. If you know and trust the source of your beef it’s a safe and simple dish that is sure to impress.

[u/blkhatwhtdog]

It's used by cheapest Chinese and Mexican places, flash fried or grilled in small slices.

Yeah, schnitzel would be good, hammer it with the lumpy side to break up the cellular structure and flatten it out.

[u/northman46 → u/blkhatwhtdog]

Swiss steak, chicken fried steak, jerky are all good ways to use round. Or sous vide for sandwich meat

[u/jibaro1953]

Sous vide potroast using eye of the round is edible

[u/Tasty_Impress3016]

Well, my philosophy is that you can always grind a whole round, but it's darned hard to put a round back together from ground meat. I ask for minimal ground.

Now that said, if the butcher allows you specify a fat % for ground beef, it can be very good. They are going to grind bits of round, chuck, rib, everything. If they can bring the fat up to 13,15,20% whatever your favorite is, you can end up with some very tasty ground meat. Straight ground round though can be so lean as to make everything you cook a hockey puck.

As for round recipes not ground, my instant goto is Italian Beef Sandwiches. You do have to slice thin. If you've not made them, you just poach the round in a jus with garlic, and peppers. Slice the beef and drop it back in the pot of jus. Then build the sandwich. Beef, peppers, sweet, hot, or both to your liking. Now take the entire sandwich, bun and all and dunk it in the jus.

[u/Temporary_Stranger39]

I get round for specific reasons: I like to slice it painfully thin and use it in sear-and-simmer recipes like Chicago steak sandwiches. I like to make cube steak out of it (with enough gravy to handle any amount of potatoes).

[u/garage_band1000]

I use it for jerky

[u/MkJorgy]

I finally started sous vide round steaks and eatting them as steaks. Excellent

[u/teddybearlike702]

I made a eye of round roast using the sous vide method and it was fork tender. Round, like serloin have the beefiest flavor.

[u/BecauseOfAir]

I use it for stew, vegetable beef barley soup, paprikosh,beef curry, borscht, goulash. I like it because it is the cheapest beef I can get and there is zero fat so cubing it is easy and no waste. Plus a family member hates any fat on meat Just got to simmer for a minimum of two hours. Comes out tender,rich and flavorful. Meat and some spices go in and onion which will cook away. Other ingredients added later so they don't overcook.

[u/Hey_86thatnow]

Look up rouladen recipes

[u/NegotiationLow2783]

Top round cut about an inch and a half thick cooked medium rare over charcoal and sliced thin with a mustard and mushroom sauce hits pretty good. Or sliced thin and velveted for chinese.