A perfectly pink beef sirloin roast with a spicy rub

15 May 2025

At which, somebody at the table will be muttering about how they just can’t stomach rare meat. This one is for the rest of us.

Those of us who like our beef pink in the middle do get a bit fatigued at having to listen to the sad old refrain yet again, just as we’re picking up our steak knife and fork, and somebody nearby screws up their face in disgust.

“Ooooh, nooooo, look at that! I don’t know how you can eat rare meat. It’s raw!”

Well, yes, just look at that… isn’t it just glorious? Come on. That’s our dinner you’re talking about, and we’re about to eat it.

Can we just accept that we have different tastes, choices, temperaments and preferences, and respect the fact that some of us really love it that way? Thank you very much.

We’re talking about steaks here, yes, but also, more particularly on this occasion, a beef roast. Not topside, silverside or even a whole fillet. I’m talking about sirloin, but not cut into steaks — a whole hunk of sirloin, fat cap and all. It makes for a magnificent roast if cooked medium rare.

The question is, how long to cook it for, and at what temperature? I did some Googling. The consensus is:

10 to 15 minutes per 450g for medium rare.

15 to 20 minutes per 450g for medium.

And 25 minutes per 450g or more for those other people at the table.

This piece of sirloin weighed 1.34kg, to be precise. I calculated this at 30 to 45 minutes for medium rare. After 45 minutes, plus 15 minutes of resting out of the oven, the meat was as close to medium rare as I would have hoped for.

You can see in the photo that 5 to 10 minutes more would have pushed it to medium, and turned it considerably less pink.

For the hunk of sirloin in the photograph above, here is what I did:

Tony’s perfectly pink beef sirloin roast

(Serves 6-8)

Ingredients

1.3kg beef sirloin roast with a fat cap

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt

1 glass/250ml red wine

1 Tbsp prepared mustard

For the rub:

1 heaped tsp ground cumin

1 heaped tsp dried oregano

1 heaped tsp garlic salt

1 tsp black pepper

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Method

Make sure the meat is at room temperature. An hour or two before you’re ready to cook, salt it all over and leave it on a plate, lightly covered.

In a small bowl, mix together the cumin, oregano, garlic salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Stir, and sprinkle it all over the meat, generously, rubbing it in.

In a pan on the stove, heat the olive oil and sear the meat first on all sides, then put it in the oven at 200°C for 15 minutes, then turn down to 180°C for another 30 minutes; total cooking time about 45 minutes for medium rare. Then let it rest for 15 minutes more, remembering that it will continue to cook a little while resting.

Or, for medium, add 5 minutes per 450g, equalling 15 more minutes in all, a total of 60 minutes for this 1.3kg cut. Medium is a good choice to appease those who don’t want to see any pink at all but who agree that they nevertheless do want their meat tender. It’s a fair compromise, surely?

For those who insist on no tinge of pink whatsoever, cut their portions from the ends of the meat.

To finish:

Deglaze the oven pan with red wine. Stir the mustard in. Taste and decide whether the seasoning needs to be adjusted. I served the meat with air-fried baby potatoes and sautéed green patty pans. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023.

Order Tony’s book, foodSTUFF, here.

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

This dish is photographed on a platter by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.

Categories:

Tags:

DM is much better if you are signed in...

Maverick Life