Lucky’s had a good deal on a several pound tri tip roast a couple weeks ago. I bought it for just under $15, cut it in half and sent it to the freezer.
Given that it was mid-week, I was tempted to use the Schilling packet of au jus we had on hand. The food snob in me couldn’t do it. I wasn’t about to make homemade beef stock, however, remembering my friend Jon told me about some high quality démi glâce sold at Sonoma Market.
Before dashing off to the store, I hoisted the bread machine down from the pantry shelves and started a batch of rolls.
The money I saved on the meat was spent on the broth but it was worth it. For about eleven dollars, I bought a small container of démi glâce and some beef broth. Both products were excellent and located in the refrigerated section of the market. Sorry to my friends who live in jurisdictions where the constituents are less demanding for high end ingredients, your big box supermarket may not sell such things….
I seared the meat and baked in the oven until just right. With this size roast, it was amazing how much cooking happened after I pulled it from the oven. Sliced thinly and accompanied by homemade rolls, look out for a pig out.
Like trying to feed kids real orange juice instead of Tang, I was worried the family would balk at my au jus, given they’ve never had a mostly homemade, much less salty, version. I shouldn’t have given it a second thought. They licked the ramekins of au jus clean at the end of their meal.
Plus, we had leftovers to make another round of sandwiches.