Pot Roast. Pot Roast. Check your buds, they’re tingling aren’t they? You know damn well they are. There is some time in your past when you layed yourself into a gargantuan portion of Pot Roast and you can’t shake it. And you know? If you spend any time on the internet reading about home chef’s attempts at Pot Roast you’ll find that rarely can anyone make it, or make it well. At least make it well enough to want to eat it again.
As near as I can tell there are two problems people have. They don’t know what type of meat to buy and how long to cook it. Look up there, that is a top round portion of a cow. This tends to be a more popular cut for Pot Roast, mostly because it’s lean. Or lean like. Which I suppose is good if you are attempting to cut back on your animal fat intake. But what in the HELL are you doing making Pot Roast of you’re on a diet? I got this glistening hunk from Prather Ranch.
Listen, if you can just lend me a few minutes we can make something worth eating at least a few times a month. When you get to the meat section of your grocer or butcher, ASK them which cut they recommend for a Pot Roast. Is it THAT tough? No, it isn’t. You can use a brisket as well, just make sure there is enough meat for you, enough fat and cheap enough. Don’t buy a porterhouse steak for Pot Roast, nor should you choose a standing rib roast. Talk to the Butcher, they are your friend.
And as far as time goes? I cook mine until it is done. Usually about 5 hours. Sometimes less, sometimes more. Deal with it, plan for it and do it, FOO. If you can’t ask a Butcher a question and/or can’t simmer something in your oven for at least 4 hours, you are unable to make Pot Roast. Go to Burger King, Rick Bayliss’ new hangout.
Get your meat home, wash it under cold water (no soap, no scrubbies). Dry it well. Rub on some fresh ground black pepper and any kind of dry rub you might like.
Set it aside while you get a 6 qt dutch oven, enamel coated or not. Put enough peanut oil in the bottom to give you a decent shallow fry. Put it on Medium High or so. Get it hot.
Whip out your rubbed meat and roll it around in flour until nicely coated. You don’t want too much flour, just enough to coat evenly.
Carefully lower the sucker into the sizzlin’ fat.
While the meat is browning you’ll need some ingredients. The ones you see here are NON traditional. What you should be putting in there are maybe 5 carrots, two stalks of celery, a wedged onion and I like about 6 cloves of garlic. You can leave out the garlic though. For herbs you need one large or two medium bay leaves (I enjoy the Turkish ones, but you use what you have).
I didn’t have any red wine, this time. So I used two bottles of good amber ale and a handful of garden fresh tomatoes. And while I was at it, in went a handful of rehydrated Morel & Shitake mushrooms.
Either way you go, here is the liquid ratio I love the best. 1 part hearty red wine, 1 part natural beef broth, 1 part water. Since this last time I used an Ale, I didn’t add water. It usually comes out to be 2 cups of each.
Preheat the oven to 325.
Here is what we mean for Browning the Meat.
Once it is browned add all your veggies and make damn sure you have enough liquid to cover the meat. You want it all barely swimming, don’t worry the juice will reduce.
Leave the pot on the stove and bring it up to temperature, it gives you a jump start on your 5 hour ordeal. Once it starts to bubble on the surface pop the sucker into your 325 oven on the bottom rack.
I’m sure some of you right now are wondering where your potatoes are. Well, the star of the show here is the sauce and meat. So, we’re going for MAX meat and MAX sauce. You can’t do that with a bunch of starchy tubers in there. You can cook taters or rice later. Trust me, you have the time.
Right now we’re about 1.5 hours in. I usually start out with the lid on, or maybe off to one side about an inch.
Bend in and click on this image. Your Pot Roast is done when the meat does this, today it happened to be about 5 hours.
Sit back and check this out. Notice the juice has reduced considerably. I believe I simmered it for maybe 2.5 hours or so without the lid. There is NO SET time limit for this. It’s all about how much sauce/juice/gravy you want. I want plenty of juice, but I want it RICH and tasty. This one was just that, you bet.
Once you run through this a few times you’ll laugh at how easy it is to make a Pot Roast that everyone will envy.
Yup, I’m a badass.
Fini.
I want MORE!
Ok, you were there, you must remember it. The most embarrassing moment of my short cooking life. The first (and only) time the family was invited to MY house for dinner and I made pot roast. EXCEPT THE DAMN BUTCHER GAVE ME THE WRONG ROAST WHEN I AKSED HIM “Please Mr. Butcher, what roast is best for Pot Roast?”
And this was at one of SF’s finest, now defunct, butchers.
Never again. I check the internet before I cook anything these days. The internet never lies.
I feel like I’ve never been able to live down that damn boiled roast beef. Like every time I bring something tastey to eat everyone is so surprised it’s good.
But I tell you, I make a mighty fine pot roast, dammint.
Not too sure about them tomatoes there, bro. That’s kinda weird.
Hugs!
Did I mention that Pot Roast is the best food in the universe?
It is.
I love pot roast! My grandmother used to make pot roast and I marvelled at the way she cooked it. She started the thing before I went to school in the morning and the thing was still cooking away when I came home from school, and after going to a game or somewhere first!
And, she was a great fan of Old European spices and things, like bay leaves and those giant really juicy but crybaby onions and rosemary. The house always smelled wonderful when pot roast was cooking.
I tried pot roast once and it was like eating shoe leather. Blachhhh!
But, your recipe sounds good and it sounds easy for dummies. I like the idea of cooking the meat in red wine, or some kind of schnapps! My grandmother used home made beer, or homemade beet wine.
Yup, I guess the secret is the long cooking time, huh. Glad you reminded us dimwits about that!
Mrs. MeatHead,
Well, as I stated, those ‘maters were NON traditional. And I didn’t have the necessary red wine so I used Ale and Tomatoes (the tomatoes were for acid and nothing else). In NO WAY did that pot roast resemble a spaghetti sauce. It was delightful and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. Although, next time I think I’ll get the red wine. I made this last Pot Roast on the spur of the moment and then got lazy. As you can see it came out just fine. Very tasty indeed!
I was actually trying to read the comment above mine for a minute, then I realized it was spam. Pain in the neck, eh?
That roast looks good. The last pot roast I did wasn’t as big, and it was pretty thin, at least compared to its width and height. The result was that it cooked in around 3 hours total. I use the same techniques you do, by the way. And the really cool thing is that the leftovers are just as good as the day you cooked the roast. At least, if you heat them up gently, and don’t try and use the microwave.
I’VE BEEN SPAMMED !!!! I guess I’ve truly made it to the big time. OH goody.
Yeah, sounds like a brisket. Which I will be using next time. More fatty flavors, that roast was outstanding, but too damn lean.
Yeah, it’s odd how microwaves when used to reheat meat can completely ruin a nice tender juicy cut.
My favorite cut for pot roast is a chuck roast. Whenever the supermarket has it I buy extra and freeze one. Top round is too lean, even though they label it for pot roast. With chuck, you might need to skim off some fat in the end, but the meat will be meltingly tender and delicious.
Thanks for taking the time to talking to us novices at our level. I’m gonna try it right now!
You have the best site for basic pot roast! This is a MAN’s place…..
Of course your recipe is great, since that is pretty much how to exactly make a great pot roast.
This will be my first time cooking a Pot Roast…so wish me luck…..And Ill let you know how it whent….
Hey Ana,
Excellent !!! Take your time, don’t rush. If you rush pot roast it’ll either suck or not be as good as it could be. It’s done when it’s done and never sooner. This is usually 4 to 5 hours out and is worth every minute of anticipation.
Biggles
This recipe is seriously badass. I woke up this morning dreaming of it, I’m making it tomorrow *salivates*
Hey Alex,
Just so you know? You’re right. I’ve been thinking about this recipe for the last week and will probably end up doing it soon as well. You can vary an awful lot with pot roast. However, the one thing you simply cannot do is make it in an hour or two. It needs that 5 hour simmer to get the flavors you’re looking for.
And, checked out your bug resto. My first thought, while checking out some of the pictures was, “What the hell are you doing?” I say go for it man, damn. That’s one hell of a project and I have to say, thank you for choosing a decent year. I truly don’t want to hear about someone restoring a 75 bug, ick.
Cheers
I like to know how long can I freez pot roast???? Please email me and let me know.
Thank you
Tonie M. Rodgers
Did I miss something? So what is the best cut of meat to use?? Sorry, I don’t have a butcher. And didn’t Mz. Meathead say the butcher gave her the wrong cut of meat anyway?
Hey Tracy,
Yeah, you missed something. Under the first image of the raw meat, 3rd row down, top round roast. But a huge chunk of chuck steak or even brisket will do just fine.
Mz. Meathead’s comment was just that, a comment about a meal she had. It has nothing to do with my post.
Biggles
Excellent pot roast! Thank you!