Sorry being late to the conversation… just found Fluther.
I usually buy a shoulder roast (eye of the round and top of the round are more tender/fien grained). I chose the shoulder roast because I like the texture and flavor. If you have carnivores visiting who like LOTS of meat, plan ¾ lb per person. Normally ½ lb is more than enough. I don’t rub, marinate or in anyway alter the roast. I put a rack in a pan (cake pan in my case and the rack is actually for poultry… works so I use it). I also put about a ¼” of water in the pan.
PREHEAT the oven to 500°—yup, 500! You ABSOLUTELY CANNOT SKIP THIS! A cold oven start will give you a very different result (yes, I tried).
I have a gas oven and believe I would do this the same way if I had an electric (having learned with gas, I have almost always had gas ovens). I put the rack in the pan, roast in the rack, the pan in the oven and set a timer for 15 minutes. You really need the timer because if you forget this you will have a smoke filled kitchen and a screaming smoke detector if the roast bakes at this temperature for very long. I actually use the rangehood exhaust just in case… my dog HATES the sound of the smoke detector alarm.
When the timer goes off or I smell roasted beef (whichever comes first), I turn the temperature to 175°—some people simply shut the oven totally off—I don’t. Now, you can leave that roast in there TEN hours and it will never cook more done in the middle than medium rare (and it will be medium rare all the way through except for the very edge of the circumference). No fuss, no worry about overcooking and you can have a terrific meal—even if your guests are HOURS late. I am uncertain of the amount of time per pound since I’ve not done it that way. I researched it and read differing thoughts from ½ hr per pound to 1 hour per pound.
By the way, the water in the bottom of the pan is more about the initial 15 minutes so that any fat or juice that isn’t seared into the roast won’t smoke when it hits the pan.
When you finally take the roast out, the outside is usually very dark and looks dry. The inside is perfect, moist and delicious. The only drawback to this method (for me) is that you can’t (or I haven’t tried) cooking potatoes and carrots with the roast—too hot initially and maybe not hot enough in the long-run. You could crockpot them though.
Hope your Christmas roast (and Christmas) were terrific and maybe, if there is a next time, you can give this a try.