Last week a local supermarket had rump roasts on sale, so I picked up about a 2.5 lb roast for about $4. When I brought it home, my husband groaned because it is one of the few cuts of meat that we often are not too successful with. I did some internet research and put together a SLiM Page with the results I found.
http://alpha.searchlikeme.com/slmpages/651/
My experience has been that with the cuts of rump roast I generally buy, if I try to roast it, it will come out dry and tough, so I decided to go with a crock pot recipe and last night I made the Rump Roast Au Jus from Allrecipes.com. You can find the original recipe in the SLiM Page link above. I modified the recipe slightly as my roast was smaller and I wanted a thicker gravy to serve with mashed potatoes. It came out great, but as the comments on Allrecipes.com suggested, it might be too peppery for some, so cut back a bit on pepper if you are worried. We had to salt a bit at the table, but I don’t mind doing that – I generally only salt things lightly while cooking so we can adjust when we eat. I served this with packaged mashed potato mix and a green salad. It is definitely a keeper.
Rump Roast Au Jus – Lynn’s version
½ T. ground black pepper
½ T. paprika
1 t. chili powder
¼ t. celery salt
¼ t. ground cayenne
¼ t. garlic powder
1/8 t. mustard powder
1 2.5-3 lb rump roast
½ C. water
2 T. cornstarch mixed with 2-3 T. water to thicken gravy at the end of cooking
Mix all seasonings together to make a dry rub and rub all over the rump roast (I did not put any rub on the fat slab that you usually find on one side of the roast). Place the roast in a Crockpot (I put it fat side down), pour the water around the sides (I tried to avoid rinsing the rub off as I was pouring), put the cover on the crock pot and cook on low for about 7-8 hours.
I checked on the roast and turned it a couple times during the cooking so that different sides would sit in the au jus.
To serve, I put the roast on a platter to rest and poured the juice into a sauce pan on the stove. You may cover the roast with tinfoil if desired while it rests. If you have not done it already, mix the cornstarch with some water. We do this by putting both in an old Tupperware kids Sippy Cup with a lid – put your thumb over the spout and shake to mix. Be careful when you remove your thumb as a little cornstarch mix may squirt out. (If you don’t have a Sippy Cup or something else to shake and mix, then just whisk the cornstarch and water together) Take the lid off the Sippy Cup and slowly whisk about half of the cornstarch mix into the gravy. Bring to a gentle boil and see if it thickens to the consistency you like for gravy. If not, whisk in more cornstarch mix and let boil gently again.
Slice or shred the beef and serve with gravy and mashed potatoes.
Let me know what you think.
Best regards,
Lynn
