Winter food: Like Pot Roast?

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Thursday, February 22. 2024

Winter food: Like Pot Roast?

Boiled meat with onions is of course an ancient food. Now we know how to make it better, especially by adding more interesting flavorings along with the onions. Another thing we know about cooking tough meat (chuck, round, brisket) is that a low simmer is better than boiling.

I like to cook it in our slow-cooker, on low. Yes, it takes hours total but you get plenty of intermission time to get other things done.

My French chef friend learned how to make it in Paris. Yeah. Not all French food is complicated.

Recipe below the fold.

Brown a big hunk of cheap beef in cannola oil. Brown all sides well.

Throw in about three quartered onions, about a lb of big hunks of carrot and a lb of big pieces of celery. Cook that for around 20 minutes to brown the vegetables, then cover it all with any kind of broth - vegetable, beef, or chicken. Then lower heat.

Then let it all simmer covered for around 2 hours. No boil.

Then dump in a can or two of crushed tomatoes, and plenty of salt and pepper. Some crushed or chopped garlic if you want. Then cook on low/simmer for another 2 hrs. You can add a bunch of small potatoes with skin on for the final hour.

(In my slow-cooker, I put it on low for a total of maybe 6 hours)

Next, take out the hunk of meat and vegetables, let the meat rest, and reduce the liquid by almost half. Adding some flour to that makes it gravy.

Sprinkle it all with some fresh thyme or parsley. Some baguette to soak up sauce. Eat, and then take a nap.

Posted by Bird Dog in Food and Drink at 14:59 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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Sounds Great! Occasionally chuck roast goes on sale, but I find that these days, with skyrocketing prices, the 'sale price' is higher than the pre-Biden 'normal' price, and the size of the cuts are smaller. It used to be you could buy a 3½-4 lb chuck roast, no probs. No longer.

I like to brown the meat in Ghee (clarified butter) instead of oil, after seasoning with Worcestershire and Picka Peppa for a day. And I use unsalted beef broth, then salt to taste once it's all together. Lastly, I don't cook the meat much past its initial tender point: It'll still be tender, but it will get dry to the tooth, fibrous, and not as succulent.

This is the kind of meal you do with mashed potatoes, or alternatively, make some nice soft yeast rolls to soak up all those juices. Yum! !

#1 Aggie on 2024-02-22 15:12 (Reply)

Canola oil is bad for you--creates an inflammatory response

#2 peter (Link) on 2024-02-22 15:38 (Reply)

Heck, that's crock-pot chili, with extra vegetables.

Ghee, canola? You can't go wrong with peanut oil.

#3 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2024-02-22 15:55 (Reply)

Whatever oil as long as it doesn;t burn.

#3.1 Bird Dog on 2024-02-22 16:03 (Reply)

We like to brown meat in lard - not the supermarket kind that comes in a big tub, but the really good lard from Fatworks: pasture-raised organic. It's great stuff. They sell excellent tallow too, in case you want to make some French fries the way McDonald's did years ago, before they switched to some sort of seed oil.

#3.2 VT Farmer on 2024-02-22 21:39 (Reply)

Pot Roast is a cold weather favorite. Then I use the left over roast for beef stew.

I generally use a choice grade chuck roast, though an arm roast works too. Some people use a rump roast but I don't find there to be enough fat to enhance the flavor.

Chucks were running over $6/lb at the store this week. I doubt if there is such a thing as a "cheap" cut of beef.

Pork is still a good buy, but it is not as tasty as beef.

#4 feeblemind on 2024-02-22 16:04 (Reply)

Chuck roast heavily seasoned with Montreal Seasoning FTW. Oh, I add cabbage, too.

#5 snopercod on 2024-02-22 16:48 (Reply)

We do a similar recipe. However, we do it in the Instapot. And we add an envelope of Sauerbraten spice mix with red wine. Takes about an hour to cook after browning the meat (in olive oil).

#6 pod hamp on 2024-02-22 17:01 (Reply)

Pot roast was the Sunday dinner during my childhood. Yum, yum.

#7 Gringo on 2024-02-22 20:26 (Reply)

Now you've done it. I have to go buy a lump of beef now.

#8 Codfanglers on 2024-02-23 07:19 (Reply)

Canola is poison. No one should consume canola oil. https://www.verywellhealth.com/canola-oil-8407170

#9 Dennis Sundermeyer on 2024-02-23 21:49 (Reply)

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Thursday, February 22. 2024

Winter food: Like Pot Roast?