Cheap Meat: it's all about cooking method

So cheap meats don't have to be tough, dry, bland (or any other unappetizing adjective).  It's all about how you cook them.   I made an eye of round roast--a very lean, usually tough, inexpensive cut of beef. 

First, I salted it (1/2 tsp per pound or so) with coarse kosher salt, and put it in the refrigerator, covered, for 24 hours (actually about 22....). 

I took it out of the fridge about an hour before putting it in the oven, to bring it up to room temperature.  Always a good idea when roasting meats.

After browning it in a hot skillet with a bit of oil, I placed it, on a rack, set in a baking sheet, in a very slow oven--only 225 degrees for about an hour, until it registered 115 on an instant-read thermometer.  Important thing  here--take the meat out of the oven to take its temp; don't leave the oven door open or you lose too much heat.  Then I turned the oven OFF, but left the roast in the oven for about 30 minutes or so.  This brought the temp up to about 130 degrees--perfect for medium rare. 

I took the roast out of the oven, allowed it rest another 10 minutes under a tent of foil, and then sliced it thinly.  While it didn't have filet mignon texture, it was juicy and tender--and surprisingly flavorful.

All meats are not created equal, and neither are all cooking methods!  This same method would probably ruin a well-marbled filet mignon.