I might try 250F next time. I love it rare but friend thought it was a bit too rare so we heated up w/microwave (I’m not offended). Also there were zero drippings. Wonder what that was about? I did the Alton Brown let it stand in the fridge overnight uncovered thing. Maybe that?
That was my only criticism. It was very tender - but not “juicy” - maybe I did it too slow and the juices were retained. I don’t know.
I did it every hour on the hour. It increased 13F every 60 minutes.
Obviously your roast was good to eat i.e. not dried out, so maybe the lack of any high temperature cooking does that. I wonder if another similar roast would act the same - but like you said much earlier, this exact cut is too expensive to be doing a lot of experiments on.
I was happy with the results but my standards are low. That is not a joke. In my house if you don’t ruin something it’s good to go. It was a nice, tender, rare cut, and I was happy with that.
But it wasn’t the juicy roast of my childhood , not that I’m a perfectionist. I got a deal on a Whole Food credit card, hence this experiment (they’re reimbursing me if I spend $100 in the next two months so why not.)
Next month I’m trying it again at 250F with no advance prep. Alt doesn’t mention that, so I assume he’s taken that into consideration. (Perhaps Whole Foods aged it enough beforehand and I overdid that step?)
Of course, as people here have pointed out, nothing is truly replicable. The steer might have a different genetic makeup, for all we know. The atmospheric conditions in the apartment… OK I’m getting carried away.
Significantly different genetics from another example today? It seems pretty likely at least. Significantly different from the ones of childhood memory? There’s a major difference, without a doubt.
I’ve used a broiler for this sort of thing. There are two downsides that come to mind. 1. If you get distracted or wander off it’s easy to turn your meat into charcoal. 2. If you leave the oven door propped open as you generally should the kitchen will get smoky if you don’t have really good powered ventilation.
The advantage of a broiler is that the heating coils get really hot and you can get the meat close without the thermal affect of the roasting pan. Preheat the broiler and stand there–RIGHT THERE–and watch.
As an alternative you can sear with a propane torch. Flame temp is over 3000F. Just like Julia Child with everything from crepes suzette to French onion soup (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVeUWfG7xhQ from about 2:40) you can sear anything very quickly. With a little practice you can fix plumbing leaks in your kitchen. NO NOT THE PLASTIC PIPES. Jeepers.
The broiler and the torch and indeed smoking hot cast iron works well because the high heat gets the outermost part of the meat hot enough to sear before the heat can transfer to the meat further in. This is apparent from sophomore year Thermodynamics. The hotter you can get your searing implement the shorter the time to sear and the more protected that medium-rare interior is. As noted above, also the hotter you sear the easier it is to overcook IF you don’t stay attentive.
This is true for my oven, but I hear that with newer ones it’s no longer true and no longer recommended.
Linky to a manual that says that? Interesting.
I’ll take a chance and wade in here. This quote from Food52 pretty much sums it up for me.
“The most common reason people leave the broiler door open isn’t very scientific, but powerful nonetheless: “That’s the way my mother did it.”“
We don’t buy fancy stoves, and while I’ve never read the instructions to see whether I should or not, I always leave the door slightly open. And yet when I watch cooking shows they always pop something under the broiler and shut the door. I just assumed these are high dollar ovens. Here’s the rest of the article. Make up your own mind.
I’ll have to re-find what I was reading at the time, but one person claimed you can usually tell whether an oven door should be left open to broil because it has the handy-dandy detent in the door mechanism to hold it for you. The ovens with door-closed broiling have eliminated the door holder, not because they’re being cheap but because you don’t want it. So they said - I’ll see if I can find it.
EDIT: Verdict found. It definitely depends. 
For example, GE has a little web page devoted to this topic, explaining which of their models are designed for door open, and which for door closed.
Moral of the story: especially if your oven is fairly new, find out which way you’re supposed to use the broiler.
Wow! And that was in 2016. FWIW I definitely picked this up from the “interwebz”, and not my mom.
ETA I have a Dacor Renaissance wall oven.
I looked it up, and here is a screen shot of what I found. I don’t know what "jump in temperature " means, but I know the fan seems to go on forever when I use the broil function.
I stumbled upon this from “Masterclass”. I’m going to sign up one day.
You can use any broiler with the door closed, but on the ones not designed for it, when the thermostat hits 550 or whatever, the element will turn off. Opening the door a bit makes sure the thermostat doesn’t get that hot, meaning the element will stay on until you’re done using it.
