Baby the Roast

1. Set the roast in a roasting pan. Brush the roast with olive oil.

2. Make a tasty paste for the roast that will turn a crusty brown while it cooks. Combine salt, pepper, minced garlic and thyme. Rub the mixture all over the roast and sprinkle it with a little more salt.

3. Let the roast sit out at room temperature for one hour before baking it or grilling it. This timeout will give the salt time to tenderize the meat and the interior to reach a consistent temperature.

Fire up the Oven

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Brown the roast for about eight minutes on one side. Turn it over and brown it for another eight minutes on the other side.

2. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Insert an oven-safe thermometer into the roast, if you have one. If not, cook the roast for about 15 minutes per pound.

3. Check the roast with an instant-read thermometer -- a vital kitchen tool for cooking meat and roasts in particular. To achieve an ideal state of medium-rare, the roast should reach a final internal temperature of 130 degrees F. Since the roast will continue to cook after it’s removed the oven, and probably rise in temperature by 5 degrees, remove the roast when it reaches 125 degrees F.

4. Cover the roast with aluminum foil. Let it simmer in its own juices for about 15 minutes before slicing it in ½-inch-thick slices across the grain.

Fire up the Grill

1. Spray a grill roaster pan with nonfat cooking spray and set it on your grill. Turn the grill to a medium-high flame.

2. Sear the roast on both sides, turning it over to ensure that it becomes evenly browned. Reduce the flame to medium and try to achieve a cooking temperature of about 350 degrees F with the help of a digital thermometer.

3. Close the grill and cook the roast for about 15 minutes per pound, turning it occasionally with tongs to eliminate flare-ups, and making sure that the entire roast gets roughly equal time under the flame. Check the internal temperature of the roast and tent it under the foil for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving it.