How To Turn A Dried-Out Roast Into Succulent Sandwich Meat Slices
When you go to the trouble and invest the time into attempting a perfect roast, it can be disappointing to pull your finished product from the oven (or your leftovers from the fridge) only to find a tough, dry piece of meat that more closely resembles a leather football in texture. But there is a way to restore that tenderness and moisture, so you can salvage or resurrect your roast in the form of slices perfect for sandwich meat.
This method is quick, easy, and requires very little in the way of ingredients. Believe it or not, the answer is simply to re-cook your roast. It's a technique favored by the sandwich savants at Parasol's in New Orleans, as Guy Fieri discovered on an episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." The ideal approach will depend on the cut you have. If you're trying to revive a dry rib roast, grab a trusty frying pan and a sharp knife. Slice the meat against the grain as thin as you can. From there, you can simmer the meat in the pan along with some cooking liquid, and in less than 30 minutes on the stovetop you'll have the roast beef you need for the absolute best sandwiches.
The best way to revive your roast
While this process is simple, it's important to give proper attention to your liquid selection. First of all, if you're using a frying pan, be sure you're not using a sauce, marinade, or dressing that contains sugar or another ingredient that is likely to burn as you're warming up your meat. Instead, stick with broth or stock, or a combination of broth and wine. It's possible to use water, but you won't be able to achieve the same flavor and your roast may wind up losing some of its luster.
If you're working with a chuck or round roast rather than a rib roast, you can also save dried-out meat, but in this case you'll be better off using a Dutch oven, in which you can stew your beef in the oven set to a low temperature (around 275 degrees Fahrenheit should do the trick). You can also cube this type of beef rather than slice it if you'd prefer, but the goal is to get it to a tender, shreddable consistency which you can still use as a sandwich filling. Parasol's, for instance, cooks their sliced meat in gravy for an hour to tenderize it.
Either way, all you need to do from there is grab the bread you need for the perfect roast beef sandwich and your favorite fixins. There are some pro tips for making any lunch meat sandwich better, but as long as you start with succulent, tender protein, you've got a foundation for success.