I have fond memories of deli meat. No, seriously! As a child my absolute favorite school lunch included two slices of sandwich bread smothered in yellow mustard with a few slices of summer sausage. When I really think back about it, I cringe!! I’m not sure what the quality of sandwich meat was like back then but I can tell you today’s lunch meats are loaded with fillers, nitrates and other crap, some of it even pretends to be natural (ex. celery extract)
What I didn’t realize until very recently is that making my own deli meat isn’t rocket science. In fact, it’s really super easy! The best part is that you are in control of the quality. Today, I will share my step by step instructions on making your own ‘Deli Style Roast Beef’. Our kids love it so much, that they request it in their lunch on its own!
Deli Style Roast Beef
Ingredients:
1 beef inside round roast (or really any kind of roast will work)
sea salt
olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 200’F and set oven rack to center. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with aluminum foil (you could use parchment paper here but because the meat isn’t actually going to touch the foil I prefer aluminum for easier clean up), then placing a rack on top of it.
2. Give your roast a rinse and pat dry.
3. Drizzle with olive oil and generously sprinkle with sea salt, garlic powder, onion powder and black pepper (if not on on AIP)
4. Put meat thermometer in centre of roast and place roast on rack fat side up.
5. Place in oven and cook until desired tenderness. A general rule of thumb is 30 mins/lb of meat.
120 F – rare *a bit too jiggly and runny for our liking
126 F – medium-rare
134 F – medium
150 F – medium-well *we like to get to 145′-150′ so that it’s still pink on the inside but not bloody.
160 F – well done *this would be a little too tough and dry for deli meat
6. Slice to desired thickness. We’ve used a sharp knife but a meat slicer is magic. 🙂
Enjoy!
