Cooking Cheap Cuts of Beef

The crucial observation is that cooking a smaller cut does reduce the cooking time, but not that much. Cheap cuts contain connective tissue, which consists of collagen. Converting the collagen into gelatine takes time. The conversion from collagen to gelantine begins at 70C (160F), so it important the braising keeps this temperature. How long the conversion needs depends on the cut of meet but I think your 60-90 minutes are not long enough. I would make it at least 3-4 hours.

Suggestion: Cook the your roast in one piece. Cut it in serving portions and freeze. Thaw and warm at serving time.

If you want to speed up the braising process consider using a pressure cooker.

Eye of round can be difficult to cook. A roast tends to produce the best results, but it can be cooked in steak form as well. There are a couple of directions you can go.

First is to cook it as a steak, but do not take it past Medium Rare. Marinate before cooking. Slice it thinly after cooking, across the grain. Serve with sauce. Think London Broil.

If you like your steak more done, then I wouldn't recommend cooking it as a steak. Instead, make Swiss steak out of it. Or better yet, country fried steak (yeah, forget I said Swiss steak). If you pound/macerate the meat, it will be pretty well tenderized, and you will get a good meal out of it.

I am going to try cross slicing it, then tenderizing with a hammer. The slices will then be slow cooked in a beef rue and wrapped around a bread stuffing.