"toddjb" > wrote in message
om...
> "pavane" > wrote in message
om>...
>
> >
> > Two minor problems: 1) This will cause a lot of smoke from the
> > oven; if you are having company it could be a problem. ...
> >
> > pavane
>
> Wow, thanks for that tip, pavane.
>
> I do have a lot of smoke detectors and they are overly sensitive.
> (and my kitchen fan is high up, noisy, and not that efficient.
>
> So, maybe for this meal I'll stick to a more tradional method.
>
> But I *really* want to try this slow cooking some time. It sounds great!
>

I think you should give it a try...just be ready to vent your cooking area
if you get a lot of smoke (this depends upon how well your oven is
insulated, among other things...if you have a self-cleaning oven you
should have minimal problem) and the smoke will happen in the first
half-hour of cooking (when the "beast" is in the hot oven) so you have
time to recover from it.

Historical background, btw, is that this technique, and a similar one
for leg of lamb, was first published to a mass audience by Craig Claiborne
in his "The New New York Times Cookbook" which came out in 1975
and he credits it to Ann Seranne, a less well known food person in the
New York scene.

As far as the questions of reliability, I have used this many times and
as long as you err on the conservative side you should do beautifully.
Of course do NOT let the roast sit overnight or you are inviting
all sorts of interesting bacterial growth. The only other caution is to
let the roast come as close as you can to room temp before you start
the cooking. For a good medium rare just take the roast out of the
fridge as soon as you get home, then preheat the oven to 500 or more,
calculate your cooking time (6 pounds needs 33 minutes heat on) and
put it in 2 hours and 33 minutes before you want to serve it. Because
of the extensive set-up time in the cooling oven you will not have to
let the roast rest at all before carving it.

pavane