What’s wrong with my meat?
The weekend was just for us. Me and my Ro.
A nice hike in the snow up by Mt. Baker. Let the dogs romp without worry of MY dog would geting stupid with people. We slept in Sunday. Did some lazy’ing.
BUT..what happened with my pot roast?!
I was sure I’d prepared it perfectly. Veggies. Some onion soup mix. And slow cooked in the crock pot for six+ hours. The roast appeared to be tender when I put it into the cooker. But..dang it all. It was mostly tough and chewy.
I was excited to be a good hubby. Make her a nice meal. Smellin’ up the house after a day of us off trapsin’ around.
What’s the secret? I thought it was supposed to be fool-proof. (Ken proof?!)
November 17th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
OK I heard the sad story of the pot roast on my way home from work so I shall hopefully send you a little help along with a kazillion other listeners But think what fun you will have trying all these recipes!!
First and most important is the cut of meat A chuck eye roast, top blade roast or seven bone pot roast in that order.
3 1/2 pound roast salt and pepper
2 tablespoons oil
1 chopped medium onion
a small chopped carrot
1 small rib of celery chopped
2 or 3 medium cloves of minced garlic or through the press
2 teaspoons sugar
1 c each chicken and beef broth
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 to 11/2 c water
1/4 red wine
Sprinkle the roast with Salt and pepper, heat the oil over med high til shimmering but not smoking. Brown the meat well on all sides, probably about 8 minutes or so, reduce the heat if it begins smoking. Remove the meat to a large plate. Add the garlic and sugar and cook about 30 seconds. Add the broth and thyme and scrape the pan bottom with a wooden spoon to loosen all the brown bits. Put all of this into the crock pot, Now you can put the meat in a crock pot with the accumulated juices, add enough water to come halfway up the sides. Cover with a lid and cook on medium heat about 4 hours. Transfer to a carving board and tent with foil to keep warm. Allow the liquid to settle in the pot and skim the fat off the surface, discard the thyme, boil until reduced to 1 1/2 cups about 8 minutes. Add the wine and cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Pull the meat apart or slice into 1/2 inch slices. Transfer to a warm platter and pour some sauce over the top serving the remaining sauce separately.
If you are home and want to do this in the oven, bake on the middle rack at 300 for the same 3 1/2 to 4 hours in the pan you browned the meat in.
For adding root vegies, after cooking, pour the broth through a strainer into an empty pot, let it settle, skim the fat, return the meat to the broth, add 6 to 8 medium carrots sliced into 1/2 inch chunks,small red potatoes about 1 1/2 inch in diameter, 5 large parsnips peeled and sliced into 1./2 inch chunks like the carrots. Submerge in the liquid and cook about 20 to 30 minutes. Remove the roast and tent with foil to keep warm. Add the wine and boil until the vegies are tender about 10 minutes . Carry on with the cutting of the meat as in the first set of directions. Enjoy!
Angela
Let me kow what other types of recipes you want as I have some really good ones and like to share!!
f you want to make this with root vegies
November 20th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Also, a listener emailed me this recipe - maybe she didn’t want to contribute here on the blog. So, I’ll let her remain anon. FYI - I tried it. AND IT WAS GREAT!! The meat was super tender and falling apart! - Ken
Only buy the cheapest chuck roast. Perfect amount of meat and fat. I usually pick a smaller size, enough for 4. Pour into and mix in your crock pot: I package lipton dry onion soup mix, I large can or two small can’s cream of mushroom soup and one ¾ soup can (3/4 large can or two ¾ can’s small) of water. Mix up well with wisk. Put roast in and cover a bit with juices. Put lid on and set the crockpot for high for 3-4 hours and then low for rest of time: Usually place roast in pot at 9am – place on high until noonish and then put on low until 5-5:30 when I get home from work. Key is not to open the lid at all or you lose 20 minutes of cooking time each time you do.
Do not put veggies in with, cook separately. Makes it’s own great aujus/gravy. Can thicken with flour if you want.
Good luck!