Pot Roast

[hjshorter]

I have made many pot roats and my favorite is still my mother's recipe, clipped from Ladies Home Journal or some such magazine back in the 60's.

Rub meat with flour, S&P and a little sugar and brown in a TB or so of vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven. Take out meat and add 1 thinly sliced onion to the pot and let soften. Return meat and juices, plus 3 cups of V-8 juice (I use the low salt). Cook for 3 hours or so, until very tender. Remove meat and make gravy: make a paste of 3 TB flour and a little V-8 juice, whisk into juices in pan and add another cup of V-8. Cook until thickened.

You can cook carrots and potatoes with the meat for the last 30-60 minutes, depending on how soft you like them, but I prefer this straight up with a giant mound of mashed potatoes.

I recently got a 5 or 6 quart Le Crueset dutch oven from my grandma and it's perfect for this.

[fifi]

I am in love with my 2 1/2 quart since it is just me. I must use it three or four times a week. It does a half pound of beans (will actually do a whole pound), four chicken thighs, a small roast etc.

My larger oval is the 6 3/4 quart, one size larger than the 5. That comes from measuring a largish chicken or a 4 to 5 pound pork or chuck roast.

[Bella S.F.]

I am itching to braise something and I think that this weekend will be the time. Question... we are staying somewhere where the stove and oven are electric. I have never used an electric oven. Do I need to change anything... temps, time alloted... ???

[snowangel]

I am itching to braise something and I think that this weekend will be the time. Question...  we are staying somewhere where the stove and oven are electric. I have never used an electric oven. Do I need to change anything... temps, time alloted...  ???

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As long as the oven temp runs true to what the dial says (if you're not sure, bring a thermometer), no change. Just remember that the cooktop part of it takes longer to come to temp and stays hot longer.

[Marlene]

No pot yet. So the pot roast will be on Friday. For some stupid reason, the kitchen store I sent hubby to didn't have any Le Cruset, go figure.

I guess I'll have to make chocolate cake instead. Life is full of these little hardships.

[Betts]

My favorite for the LC - I have a white oval one that I got at TJ Maxx for $49.99 :)

Jewish Style Pot Roast

Brown a large chuck roast and mix 1 c red wine, 1/2 c brown sugar, 1/4c red wine vinegar, 1/2 c ketchup, 1 TB soy sauce, 1 smashed clove garlic, 1 tsp grd ginger and a good grind of black pepper. Pour over the browned meat, cover and bake 2+ hours. Serve w/ mashed potatoes and any freshly cooked vegetable or cook a pound of carrots in with the roast the last hour.

[JAZ]

I am itching to braise something . . .

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The new term of the eGullet Culinary Institute is starting in a couple of weeks with a braising lab class taught by Fat Guy. He'll be experimenting with temperatures, amounts (and types) of liquids, stovetop vs. oven and other variables, and if you want to follow along, you'll get your fill of braising.

[hwilson41]

Why not?   What does the little one come in handy for anyway?  I just thought it was cute.

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We have several of the LC ovens, and the 2 Qt round oven is quite handy for making a simple pilaf (rice, butter, homemade chicken stock, S&P). Makes enough to serve 4, and could be stretched to serve 6.

THW

Edited to correct dumb spelling .

Edited February 3, 2005 by hwilson41 (log)

[ruthcooks]

For me, pot roast is all about the gravy. I find the best brown gravy comes from cooking the roast in my ancient electric skillet, and letting the liquid boil away several times. The meat browns more each time, and then I add water. Takes some watching.

I season with rosemary at the beginning and steam whole carrots on top of the roast (the flat cut roasts, I like arm cut best, or chuck) during the last 20 minutes or so, and serve with Yorkshire pudding or mashed potatoes.

I got rid of all my Le Creuset years ago. Too heavy, hard to clean, stuff stuck when browning. Just not right for me.

[Marlene]

I am about to become the proud owner of The Le Cruset Braiser

In reviewing my choices I settled on this since I would only likely use the dutch oven for braising anyway. The one I got is a 5 qt braiser.

Hopefully, this will be the right choice. I'll let you know on Sat when I braise that blade roast!

Now I'll be ready for Fat Guy's braising class!

[maggiethecat]

What a great thread -- I'll be checking out sales at the meat counter this weekend. And the depth and variety of recipes and ideas is exciting. I think I'll do the Jewish Pot Roast -- what amazing flavours. But then, there's the Mediterranean version with fennel... And I love a straight-up Yankee Pot Roast.

I got a 5 qt LC as a wedding present and the knob snapped off within two years. I beleive this is a Known Problem with older Le Creuset, but it prevents me from buying any "covered casserole" from LC, although their cuteness breaks my heart. Marlene, I hope they have the knob problem fixed. (On the other hand, you could just dispatch Don to pick up a replacememt in a couple of years.)

I have never made pot roast successfully in a slow cooker, and I don't really know why; it always seems fibrous and dry and the sauce thin. But electric frying pans! Now you're talking. I've never owned one, but my mother, in the 60s, made amazing braises, fron pot roast to pork chops in her handy dandy Sunbeam. Onion soup mix was a featured ingredient, as I remember.

Now I use the Mark Bittman trick: take a bottle of cheap and cheery red, and boil it down to a half its original volume. If you have a good mirepoix happening, and a deeply browned beast, toss the reduced wine in the pan and work from there. Pop it in the oven (in whatever vessel you own) at 300, add a little water every hour or so if it seems to be cooking too fast. Make sure you have your bouquet garnie nestling somewhere. As dinnertime approaches, toss in your veggies. If the sauce seems thin (which is less likely if you've floured the meat before browning) mix up your liason and toss it in, remembering that your finger is the best tool for combinng flour and water or cornstarch and water. A beurre manie is even better if you have soft butter lolling about.

I love dumpling. Noodles. Rice. Grits. But a potroast requires a divan of mashed potatoes on its first night out. What you make of it in its second apprearance is quite another thing. Potroast sandwiches: that's heaven.

[Marlene]

So this is what the braiser looks like.

There was some concern on the part of the sales clerk that this is too shallow for what I want even though it's called a braiser. On the other hand, the smallest dutch oven they had was 6 3/4 qts and I thought that was just too big. So, what do you all think? Will this do the job?

[winesonoma]

It all depends on the height of what's braising and the amount of liquid. Look's a little shallow to me. My chuck roasts are usually 2" thick, as are lamb shanks and turkey legs.

[maggiethecat]

Cool. Beautiful. No knobs.

[Dave the Cook]

I have one of these, and it is among my favorite pans. It does seem shallow, but the pan itself is pretty close to two inches deep. Since you don't add liquid to cover more than half the meat, it's actually perfectly adequate for most braises. It's also shallow enough to serve as a frittatta pan, wide enough for paella (if you aren't too extravagant), and, with a strong wrist and a good glove, a back-up saute. The lid is high enough to collect steam and condense it, for good convection action in the braising liquid.

Sorry, Maggie, it does have a phenolic handle on the lid. It's just as breakable as the rest of them (mine is missing a third).

P.S. You can fry chicken in it, too.

[forever_young_ca]

I use the LC 4.5 qt round casserole for my pot roasts. This gives me lots of room for the dumplings at the end. However the roasts that I do tend to be higher rather than shallow and wide.

I think it depends on the height of the roast that you are doing. I am sure this will work. If it doesn't work for all sizes/shapes it just gives you an excuse to get another one

[fifi]

Back in the olden days when I was a latchkey kid and started dinner, pot roast was my first real kitchen triumph. Dad demanded it about twice a month. Beef chuck was his favorite but pork would occasionally creep in. That electric skillet (yep, I think it was a sunbeam) was my weapon of choice. I had forgotten all about that.

[Fat Guy]

As far as I can tell, the product that Williams-Sonoma has labeled the "braiser" (most likely in order to be able to charge $50 more for it) is what Le Creuset and every other store call a "buffet casserole." Everybody I know who has one sings the praises of its versatility. And I think in that third shot Marlene's lens exaggerates the curvature of the item -- if you look at the photo above it, that's more true-to-life in terms of the way the sides slope and the expanse of the flat part of the bottom.

I would say that while this item is no doubt as good as any other Le Creuset piece for braising short ribs, lamb shanks and other short-ish items, it may get maxed out by a significant pot roast. Two inches is the minimum thickness for something even to be considered a roast, most roasts are at least three inches thick, and a bottom round roast or round tip roast is likely to be in the four-inch range or more if it's a big one. Even with that dome lid, you may get to the point where a pot roast exceeds the vertical capacity of that unit. Whereas, on a 6-3/4 quart oval Le Creuset French oven, you get a full five inches of height edge to edge, which is enough to hold just about any roast you can buy retail.

[Marlene]

Just to give it a little more perspective, I put the roast into the pot to give an idea of what i'll be cooking. I can't imagine doing a bigger pot roast than this as it's just the three of us, and pot roast isn't usually on my entertaining menu:

The question is, do I need the sides to be higher than the roast itself? The paper towel underneath may interfere a bit with the perspective, but the roast was leaking and I didn't want it to get all over a pot I may have to take back.

[fifi]

Now that I think about it, the regular oval oven is a lot more versatile in that it is more practical and doubles for a big pot of stew, chili, beans etc. as well as a good sized roast. I opted for the 6 3/4 quart as FG says. The 5 quart size is a little tight for a good sized bird or pork butt. Even though it is just lil ole me, I still do a good sized hunk-o-meat to put some in the freezer. When I am doing a recipe just for me, I will often half the recipe and use the 2 1/2 quart oval.

I am beginning to think that this one borders on a one trick pony.

[Marlene]

Fair enough. I normally do my stews and chillis in my All Clad Dutch Oven which looks more like this:

Plus I have a crockpot.

I hadn't thought about using this for braising since the expanse of the bottom of the pan isn't that flat, and it's not that heavy, but what do I know.

And since we don't do left overs in this house (it's not my fault, no one will eat them), I'm not going to be buying larger cuts. I can see me doing fried chicken in the Le Crueset, and my favourite ribs and saurkraut.

However, I may be just trying to talk myself into keeping a cute pan that isn't really going to be serviceable. But my question above still stands. Do I need to have the sides of the pot higher than the roast itself for good braising?

[Fat Guy]

Not at all. So long as there's about an inch of breathing room -- and you could probably get away with half an inch -- between the top of the meat and the inside surface of the lid, the steam will circulate and the meat will braise. The pan's sides themselves need only be about an inch higher than the level of the braising liquid -- you don't want to push too close on that because otherwise it may bubble over, or spill when you carry the pot.

So, you can make it work. But I would always opt for that All-Clad Dutch oven as a pot-roast pot over the Le Creuset buffet casserole. That All-Clad Dutch oven has been waiting all its life to cook a pot roast. If Williams-Sonoma ever has to give it a new name in order to charge $50 more for it, they should call it a "pot roast pot."

[fifi]

Well, that All-Clad certainly fill the bill for pots of stuff.

On the depth of the braising pan, as long as you have enough depth to get the liquid 1/2 to 1/3 the way up you are good to go. The trick is to have the whole thing surrounded by all that cast iron. The domed lid takes care of that. Yes, you could braise in the AC. You can braise in a foil disposable pan with an aluminum foil seal. It is just that the more massive pans give better results by keeping the heat gentle and even all around. The only other problem I can think of is if you want to do the parchment paper insert like Paula Wolfert swears by, it might be harder to do because you won't have the taller sides to contain the rumpled parchment. (I am guessing here since I don't do that, yet.)

Heck, if you think it is cute, I say keep it. Sometimes I pick a pot for a particular recipe based on the fact that I like how it looks and that just adds to my enjoyment of the process.

[hwilson41]

However, I may be just trying to talk myself into keeping a cute pan that isn't really going to be serviceable.  But my question above still stands.  Do I need to have the sides of the pot higher than the roast itself for good braising?

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Marlene, there's some personal taste involved, but for me at least the short answer would be "yes" (higher sides). We have two of the 4 1/2 Qt LC and one of the 5 1/2 Qt (all round), and the 4 1/2ers get used more than any other single piece with the possible exception of the 12" cast iron skillet. They are great for braises, chili, pork or sausage with sauerkraut, boeuf bourguignon, red or black beans (with rice)...the list goes on and on. So I'd recommend either a round or oval oven with the higher sides. This one just looks like it will lead to frustration.

THW

[snowangel]

I would swear that on the Le Creuset thread, there were at least a couple of people who said the buffet casserole was indispensible in their kitchens. I'm thinking you could use yours, Marlene, for tons of stuff.