Another episode of America's Test Kitchen on PBS deals with the best way to make a beef roast using a cheap cut of meat. I'm doing you a service because this saves you having to listen to all the technicalities and their really irritating cartoon segments where they go into the science of the food. They picked the eye of round roast because it has a more uniform shape. The salting step is suggested for any beef, steaks included.

3 1/2 to 4 pound eye of round roast
4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Wash the meat. Dry it off. Salt it all over (be sure to measure the salt). Wrap it well in plastic wrap and refrigerate it 18 to 24 hours. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil until it starts to smoke. Pat the roast dry with paper towels and rub a light coat of vegetable oil. Rub in 2 teaspoons black pepper. Brown 2 - 3 minutes per side to get a good dark crust on each side, almost burned. Use a colander for a splatter screen. Place on a greased rack over a flat baking pan. Put in a 225 degree oven until a thermometer stuck in the blunt end measures 115 degrees, 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. Then turn the oven off and let it finish cooking to 130 degrees (about 45 minutes). Remove from the oven, put on a cutting board and let rest 15 minutes.

Mashed Potatoes with Root Vegetables (turnips, parsnips, carrots, or celery root)
1/2 pound root vegetable (like parsnips)
4 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds potatoes (Yukon gold)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup warm half-and-half (don't add all at once)
Chopped chives

Peel the parsnips and cut in half lengthwise and then into 1/4 inch slices. Brown them in butter for about 12 minutes until really brown. Peel the potatoes and slice 1/4 inch thick. Rinse them off in a couple of changes of water to remove starch. Add the potatoes to the parsnips with 3/4 teaspoon salt and chicken broth. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer 30 minutes until potatoes are tender. Remove from the heat and let stand uncovered for about 2 minutes while steam evaporates. Use a potato masher to mash, going through at least twice so no big chunks, but don't overwork. Ricers or food mills don't work well because the parsnips are so fibrous. Stir in most of the warmed half-and-half and some chopped chives.

Meat probe thermometers review. These are those electronic thermometers that sound an alarm when the pre-set temp is achieved. They tested 11 different units, but only two were considered adequate: Polder and Thermoworks. Even the two they liked had accuracy issues because the probes were inaccurate. They say buy a couple of extra probes so you can try to find one that is right when you test it in boiling water (be sure to adjust for altitude).