Pot Roast

[fifi]

I am curious about the turning business. I never do that. I really only lift the lid to check on my temperature setting. I usually find any temperature above 250 to be too high. You want a gentle burble.

[Marlene]

The recipe I'm using, from Cook's Illustrated says to turn it every 30 minutes. I'm very good at doing what I'm told , so I am.

With dinner will be mashed potatoes and oven roasted carrots. No, not a green veg, but a veg nonetheless!

[fifi]

Hmmm. CI usually has a good reason for whatever they do. Maybe I have been missing something. But, my pot roast is a fave of friends and family.

You are absolutely correct to do what the recipe says . . . the first time around. I always forge ahead and do it by the book the first time even if I think something is silly. Nothing bugs me more than for someone to say "This recipe sucks." and then you find out that they didn't have parsnips so they used carrots, they didn't add the garlic because it was a dinner date, and they drank the wine so they used canned chicken broth.

That LC collection looks like Valentines to me. You are a lucky gal.

[Dave the Cook]

I turn it. Partly it makes sense to me, since it's only half-covered, and it seems like the whole roast should be treated more or less the same. Since you've got it out of the oven anyway, you have an opportunity to take its temperature -- a much better indicator for doneness than time.

I'll also lodge a protest against that netting. I've managed to forget to think about where the elastic properties come from (I suppose it could be some sort of knitted cotton). Instead, it irritates me because it makes the butcher's job easier and the cook's harder. Even if you don't buy the propostition that it makes browning more difficult (though that seems apparent to me), it's a pain to remove for service, and it tends to take a good bit of the meat surface with it. I get rid of it and retie the roast before searing.

[Marlene]

Oh. My. God. I'm in pot roast heaven. And I have to tell you, my husband, whom I've never associated with pot roast, not only had seconds, but has asked me to make a soup from the leftovers! Those of you who know me, know that Don does not. eat. leftovers.!

The roast out of the oven:

Now that I'm a Keller school graduate of straining, I strained the liquid from the roast and reduced it until it was a little more than a cup.

The meat was not so much sliceable, as it was shreddible:

And a lousy plating shot. I didn't have any bacon fat to hand, so I melted some lard and roasted the carrots in that:

Amazing. Simply amazing. I can't believe how much my husband raved about this. It was incredible. Thank you all for your hints and helps along the way!

[andiesenji]

Absolutely gorgeous, Marlene.

Your husband is a very wise man to give you the tools with which to prepare a superior meal.

It does make life a little easier to have the right stuff. One can get by with makeshift methods but when you have the perfect cooking vessel things just fall into place beautifully.

Anyway, that is my philosophy.

[andiesenji]

In case anybody is interested. There are several Descoware large Dutch ovens on ebay and so far they are at pretty reasonable prices.

I have a bunch of nearly 40-year-old Descoware which is still in excellent condition - before Le Cruset was readily available here in the US, this Belgium product sold well.

There is even a lidded braising pan in the autum leaf design available.

Descoware on ebay.

I posted this also on the brasin thread.

[CindyG111]

Wow what a fabulous pot roast... I hope Costco here in the States has similar sale on LC!!!

[Varmint]

Oh. My. God.  I'm in pot roast heaven.  And I have to tell you, my husband, whom I've never associated with pot roast, not only had seconds, but has asked me to make a soup from the leftovers!  Those of you who know me, know that Don does not. eat. leftovers.!

Marlene, Don may not eat "regular" leftovers, but when it comes to braised meat, if refrigerated in the braising liquid, this stuff is truly better after a day or two. I think much of the richness of the pot roast would be lost in a soup. Using it in soft tacos is a good use, and sandwiches are to die for. Even a pot pie would work great.

Welcome to the land of the braisers!

[Marlene]

Soup wasn't the right word I think. It appears what he's looking for is more like a stew. Since I'm going to be out of town for a few days next week, he can just heat this up for himself.

Although pot pie sounds intriguing!

[hwilson41]

Beautiful job, milady. Your husband is a lucky man, even if it did cost him a few bucks for cookware . Very, very nicely done. And you even managed to change his mind about leftovers. How much better could it get?

THW

[Safran]

Marlene, two questions -

Have you used the All-Clad yet for the second potroast? And what size is your Le Creuset braiser?

[Marlene]

I haven't yet. That's on the list for next week's dinner! The Le Crueset pan is 5 1/2 quarts.

[Huevos del Toro]

For this cut of meat I like to do the wrap in aluminum foil and cook for a very long time at a low temperature in the oven.

I don't use the onion soup mix, but do season the meat well.  I place it on a layer of carrots and celery, then cover the meat with a mound of sliced onions, thinly sliced garlic, sliced mushrooms and drizzle with a little olive oil.

I wrap it tightly in heavy foil, then wrap it a second time, place it in a shallow baking dish or sheet pan and put it in the oven at 225 for at least 3 hours, if it goes longer, no problem.

Usually at this point is is litterly falling apart and I simply boil new potatoes, split them in half and slide the entire contents of the foil, including the juices, on top of the potatoes on a platter.

←

That sounds very much like Alton Brown's method as shown on his A Chuck for Chuck episode.

Yumm!

[TongoRad]

I recently cooked what is probably technically a pot roast (although I used the meat and sauce for enchiladas). I had a lovely piece of chuck roast with the bone still in it, and a whole bag full of incredible almost fruity guajillos that I recently acquired from a local Mexican market so I turned it into:

Pot Roast with Guajillo/Apricot Sauce. That is how it looked prior to going in the oven. And this is what it looked like after 2 hours at 275F:

So what's there, besides the beef?

Season beef with salt, pepper, paprika and cumin. Dust with flour immediately before using.

9 Guajillo chiles- roasted over an open flame, seeds and stems removed, refreshed in hot water.

3/4 cup dried apricots- rough chop

1 1/2 tsp. chipotle paste

1 medium onion- chopped

1 clove garlic- sliced

6 oz. beer

1 bay leaf

1/2 stick cinnamon

5 cloves

1 tbsp ground cumin

6 canned plum tomatoes- rough chop

4 oz water from chiles (if not bitter)

salt- to taste

I made it the way I would norally do a braised dish:

Brown the beef and remove from pan. Sweat the onions and garlic for a bit, add the spices to bloom and then deglaze and add everything else. Bring to a simmer and then put it in the oven, covered, until tender, turning once or twice along the way.

Remove the meat to the side and run the remainder through a food mill to make the sauce. In this case it was very rich, perhaps a bit rustic, but didn't need any further altering aside from a bit of salt. It had a nice sweet and savory fruity/spicy quality to it. I opted to pull the meat instead of slice it, although that would work quite well also.

Here are the enchiladas:

The radishes worked incredibly well as a foil for the sauce. This was a first attempt and I enjoyed it well enough to plan on making it a regular thing.

[ewindels]

My personal favorite, essentially based on Mario Batali's all-purpose slow braise methods:

- Brown the beef in olive oil in a dutch oven, remove

- Briefly brown a tablespoon or two of tomato paste till dark and fragrant

- Add chopped onions, celery, garlic and carrots, brown long and thoroughly (with fresh or dried thyme if you have it, also parsley)

- Mound the vegetables, place the meat on top, add enough full-bodied red wine to come nearly to the top of the meat, salt and pepper.

- Cover, braise in a low temperature oven for as long as you want (at least two hours).

- Remove the meat, let the remaining material cool to warm, then blender the whole mixture until smooth. Best. Gravy. Ever.

- Serve with lots and lots and lots of mashed potatoes.

As mentioned above, it only gets better in the ensuing days.

Has anyone tried brining the roast? Does it make a difference?

Edited May 22, 2006 by ewindels (log)

[jefferyc]

The new ATK does somthing very similar to this but uses cheap Barollo wine. I've found two keys to success. The most important is the cut. For long cooking you need lots of connective tissue to ensure the cut is not dry. I've tried a buch of cuts and found that my favorites are from the chuck. The second is a good (not great) quality very hearty red wine. More that 20 bucks is a waste, but less than 10 will often dissapoint you. I keep 7-10 dollar wines on hand for cooking most of the time but for this dish I'll go out and get better quality.

[ewindels]

Couldn't agree more about the wine: makes or breaks the dish.