The Cut Of Meat Roy Rogers Restaurants Use On Roast Beef Sandwiches

Few fast food restaurants manage to capture the heart and soul of old-school Americana quite like Roy Rogers. Named after the famous cowboy actor, its menu hits the Western theme right on the nose. There are plenty of mouth-watering items on offer, but it's the roast beef sandwich that helped cement the chain as a household name. Sandwiched inside a soft Kaiser roll, it features slow-cooked roast beef slathered in au jus, paired with your choice of toppings and condiments from the fixin's bar. If you're a die-hard fan of the sandwich and want to recreate it at home, head down to the grocery store and pick up a top (inside) round USDA Choice steak.

Top round, interchangeably known as inside round, is a subprimal cut, meaning it's taken from one of the larger primal sections a beef carcass is separated into during an initial butchering. In this case, top round comes from the beef round primal, located on the upper rear leg of the cow. Because this is a hard-working muscle, the meat is lean with very little fat. The good news? It's budget-friendly. The bad? Don't throw this on the grill expecting a tender, juicy steak. Breaking down its dense connective tissue requires long, low-and-slow cooking, which is exactly what makes it such a great candidate for roasting.

Roy Rogers roast beef falls under the USDA Choice grade, the most common category of graded beef, sitting just below Prime in quality. For top round specifically, paying extra for Prime over Choice usually isn't worth it. Prime mostly reflects fat and marbling content, which matters a lot for something like a ribeye, but for a naturally lean cut like top round, the difference between grades is barely noticeable once it's cooked.

If you're looking to recreate Roy Rogers roast beef sandwich at home, you'll be glad to know it's incredibly easy to make. Unlike babysitting a searing steak and sweating over getting the cook time just right, roast beef is a largely hands-off process. Once it goes into the oven, you can leave it alone for several hours until it's ready to be sliced and served. That said, there are a few steps you can take to make sure it comes out even better. First, you can take a page from Roy Rogers knockoffs and dunk your sliced beef in gravy or consomme.

If you really want to boost the flavor and tenderness of your top round, it's always a good idea to use a marinade. Since it's so lean, it can greatly benefit from the tenderizing effects of acidic ingredients — think lemon juice, vinegar, or our personal favorite, red wine, for that extra richness. The marinade doesn't have to be fancy; a few simple seasonings like olive oil, salt, and pepper are enough to give it a fabulous flavor. Contrary to popular belief, the marinade doesn't need to sit overnight. In fact, if you're using an acidic ingredient, don't leave it any longer than a few hours, since it can turn the surface of your meat mushy. 

Once you're happy with the marinade, don't put the top round straight into the oven. Give it a quick sear first to build color and deepen the flavor. This step also matters if you truly want to capture the essence of the Roy Rogers recipe with a proper au jus, made after roasting by deglazing the leftover fond (those sticky brown bits stuck to the pan) and drippings with a liquid like wine or beef broth, then reducing it down to build a rich, gravy-eqsue sauce.