Ultimate Pot Roast Recipe
Having been steered wrong by multiple sources (including Cook's Illustrated!) I am presenting the recipe for the amazingly perfect pot roast M just made.
For one thing, forget the crock pot - you need a dutch oven to get the right mix of braising and evaporation
Coat a ~3-lb beef chuck roast with salted flour
Heat the dutch oven to medium/medium-high and sear top and bottom of the roast. Set meat aside.
Deglaze with ~1 cup of merlot or pinot noir. Accuracy in measuring not essential, but you don't want to drown the roast.
When the crunchy bits are scraped up and well distributed and the wine has boiled down a tiny bit, put the meat back in.
NOTE: M went on to the next step; at this point I would put a couple sprigs of rosemary on top of the meat.
Open and dump the entire contents of a 14.5 oz can of crushed or diced tomatoes over the meat. (Yes, I know! But fresh just doesn't entirely work here; even the least processed canned tomatoes have been reduced a tiny bit. But no tomato paste. Tomato paste is an Abomination Unto Nuggan.) Seasoned tomatoes just fine. She used Italian Herbs; I'll use garlic.
NOTE: At this step, M was ready to put it in the oven -- both of us believe a good pot roast needs external vegetables and starch for a flavor blend, not everything in the same pot. I, however, will also throw in a handful of shredded, dried soup greens. (I made those myself from the fresh packages they sell at Giant, and have so far successfully put them on both beef and pork.)
Drop the lid onto the dutch oven and - THIS IS THE KEY PART - shove it in the oven at 225F for 5.5 hours OR MORE (She was late coming home and I yanked the thing out of the oven and let it merrily keep cooking in its own heat for another hour.) (Cook's Illustrated did me wrong here - they insist, over several pages, that the optimal temperature is 300F. My pot roast in its rosemary, merlot, and dried soup green sauce was just delicious, but also tough and dry. Hers shreds under a fork.)
Make piggie noises while eating. Try not to eat the entire thing in one sitting. Suggested sides include orzo (her), mashed potatoes (me), and green veg with either a strong lemon sauce or a salad with a heavy-handed vinegar dressing to cut through the beefiness.
You have the option of turning the oven up to 350 when you're through with the roast and shoving in an individual apple crisp to cook while you're eating.
1 or two apples, peeled and chopped (depends on size of apple and size of container)
dust with cinnamon
top with:
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons flour
... mixed by hand until it has the texture of wet sand.
Another dusting of cinnamon is optional.
This shortbread crust won't brown in the oven, but it will get stiff and, well, crispy. Cooks in roughly half an hour at 350F It'll collapse a bit as the apples cook down.
NOTE: the pot roast will freeze well after cooking, and the apple crisp will freeze well before cooking. If you freeze 'em in individual oven-safe containers -- thank God for those Rubbermaid pyrex 2-cup thingies with the red lids -- the two will can go straight from freezer to cold oven (set for 350 for half an hour + preheat time) to table.
One of my fantasies is to have a freezer full of self-created TV dinners. Just add crusty bread and veggie salad or steam-in-microwave veg.
(By the way, those brown sugar cookies I gave the recipe for a couple weeks ago also freeze - let them cool *without* dusting them in powdered sugar, cut, store in freezer baggies. Will defrost on a countertop, then coat 'em with the powdered sugar. Which I think is "icing sugar" for the Brits reading this.)
I'm going to have an organized house and an organized freezer by the end of this year if it kills me.
For one thing, forget the crock pot - you need a dutch oven to get the right mix of braising and evaporation
Coat a ~3-lb beef chuck roast with salted flour
Heat the dutch oven to medium/medium-high and sear top and bottom of the roast. Set meat aside.
Deglaze with ~1 cup of merlot or pinot noir. Accuracy in measuring not essential, but you don't want to drown the roast.
When the crunchy bits are scraped up and well distributed and the wine has boiled down a tiny bit, put the meat back in.
NOTE: M went on to the next step; at this point I would put a couple sprigs of rosemary on top of the meat.
Open and dump the entire contents of a 14.5 oz can of crushed or diced tomatoes over the meat. (Yes, I know! But fresh just doesn't entirely work here; even the least processed canned tomatoes have been reduced a tiny bit. But no tomato paste. Tomato paste is an Abomination Unto Nuggan.) Seasoned tomatoes just fine. She used Italian Herbs; I'll use garlic.
NOTE: At this step, M was ready to put it in the oven -- both of us believe a good pot roast needs external vegetables and starch for a flavor blend, not everything in the same pot. I, however, will also throw in a handful of shredded, dried soup greens. (I made those myself from the fresh packages they sell at Giant, and have so far successfully put them on both beef and pork.)
Drop the lid onto the dutch oven and - THIS IS THE KEY PART - shove it in the oven at 225F for 5.5 hours OR MORE (She was late coming home and I yanked the thing out of the oven and let it merrily keep cooking in its own heat for another hour.) (Cook's Illustrated did me wrong here - they insist, over several pages, that the optimal temperature is 300F. My pot roast in its rosemary, merlot, and dried soup green sauce was just delicious, but also tough and dry. Hers shreds under a fork.)
Make piggie noises while eating. Try not to eat the entire thing in one sitting. Suggested sides include orzo (her), mashed potatoes (me), and green veg with either a strong lemon sauce or a salad with a heavy-handed vinegar dressing to cut through the beefiness.
You have the option of turning the oven up to 350 when you're through with the roast and shoving in an individual apple crisp to cook while you're eating.
1 or two apples, peeled and chopped (depends on size of apple and size of container)
dust with cinnamon
top with:
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons flour
... mixed by hand until it has the texture of wet sand.
Another dusting of cinnamon is optional.
This shortbread crust won't brown in the oven, but it will get stiff and, well, crispy. Cooks in roughly half an hour at 350F It'll collapse a bit as the apples cook down.
NOTE: the pot roast will freeze well after cooking, and the apple crisp will freeze well before cooking. If you freeze 'em in individual oven-safe containers -- thank God for those Rubbermaid pyrex 2-cup thingies with the red lids -- the two will can go straight from freezer to cold oven (set for 350 for half an hour + preheat time) to table.
One of my fantasies is to have a freezer full of self-created TV dinners. Just add crusty bread and veggie salad or steam-in-microwave veg.
(By the way, those brown sugar cookies I gave the recipe for a couple weeks ago also freeze - let them cool *without* dusting them in powdered sugar, cut, store in freezer baggies. Will defrost on a countertop, then coat 'em with the powdered sugar. Which I think is "icing sugar" for the Brits reading this.)
I'm going to have an organized house and an organized freezer by the end of this year if it kills me.