The Absolute Best Way To Cook Top Vs Bottom Round Roast, According To A Chef

When you are shopping at a grocery or butcher, you'll see a plethora of familiar beef cuts. If you're planning to serve roast beef for a traditional weekend Sunday roast, it's likely you will need to choose between three different types of round roast. They are not all ideal for a roast beef dinner, however. The least tender cut that needs special care when slow-roasting is the eye-of-round. But top round and bottom round can make a special meal when cooked the right way. Both roasts come from the hindquarter primal cut but from different muscles of the cow's leg, which means they need to be cooked differently.

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We asked Jesse Moore, a corporate chef at Cargill Protein North America, for his opinion about the best way to cook top and bottom round. "The best way to tackle a top round roast in my opinion," Moore told us, "is oven roasted with an herb crust." Beef needs assertively flavored herbs that complement and are not overwhelmed by the roast's bold taste. For example, you can opt for basil, rosemary, or thyme. They could be fresh or dried herbs, chopped or ground to a paste. Moore said that you should "pat the roast dry, hit it with some extra virgin olive oil, and oven-sear to get some good Maillard reaction going on." An oven sear involves first blasting the roast in a 450-500 degree Fahrenheit oven for 10 minutes on each side, and then, as Moore advises, lowering the heat to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Bottom round can be trickier to cook than top round

The top round should be roasted uncovered for 15 to 18 minutes per pound. The cut comes from the cow's upper thigh muscle, which isn't exercised much, and so the top round is tender without heavy fat marbling. "You don't want to cook [it] well done," Moore told us. "Since it's a lean cut of meat, it serves well at medium rare or medium." 

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The bottom round comes from the cow's outer leg muscle, close to the rump, and gets more exercise, so it's less tender and should be slowly cooked. Depending on where you live, the bottom round is also called rump roast.  It's best to braise this cut. Moore told us, "Season, sear (you get so much flavor from this step), and deglaze the pan with some stock [or] wine," which is one of the keys to ensuring you get the most flavor from the beef. "Add veggies and herbs, and cook low and slow in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit with a tight fitting lid." 

The length of time to braise the bottom round depends on how you want to serve it. For a medium roast, it should be removed from the oven when its internal temperature hits 130 degrees Fahrenheit. But if you want to shred the roast, then you need to wait until it hits 195 degrees Fahrenheit "to break down the collagen and make it tender." 

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Resting the roast and monitoring its temperature are crucial

Chef Moore warned that nailing the exact temperature is tricky. It's crucial to monitor the roast's internal temperature by using an instant read thermometer or thermometer probe. "A probe is really nice because you stick it in the center when you put it in the oven, and you can monitor it while it cooks." An added benefit to using a probe is that you won't need to open the oven door and check on whether or not the roast is done to your liking.

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Also essential — especially for a bottom round — is letting the roast rest. The USDA recommends removing the roast from the oven when its internal temperature is 145 degrees Fahrenheit, but that guideline doesn't take into account carryover cooking while the roast is resting. "Most people will pull a piece of meat at 135 degrees Fahrenheit and then wonder why the meat is medium well to well done," Moore said.

For a perfectly pink medium center, he recommends instead pulling the roast out of the oven when it's 125-130 degrees Fahrenheit, covering it with foil, and letting it rest for 15 to 20 minutes before slicing. This resting period allows the beef's juices time to redistribute and come to its final cooking temperature. If you were to cut into the roast before then, "all those juices you worked so hard to keep inside are just going to go all over your cutting board or plate."

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