How to Cook Pot Roast, Without a Recipe
Ingredients
- • Either 1 lb of beef stew, or 1 2-3 lb piece of beef chuck.
- • Optional: A slice or two of ham or bacon, if you have any left
- • A box of chicken stock
- • Veggies like: carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms
- • Herbs like: thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, or whatever you have around except something like mint!
Instructions
- Whether using beef stew or one 2-3 lb chuck roast, salt the pieces liberally on all sides, and I let them sit while you cut up some vegetables.
- One onion (or a few small onions), three or four carrots, a handful of smashed garlic cloves, a handful of parsley, if you have it, or thyme. Don’t bother peeling any of them because you will discard the vegetables before serving.
- Pile all this stuff into your Le Creuset braiser or heaviest pot, and fill it half way with boxed chicken stock. Put the top on and pop it into the oven at about 300 degrees.
- Around three hours—and a couple glasses of red wine—later, take the pot from the oven. Removed the fork-tender meat to a plate, and strain the deep-amber braising liquid through a colander into a mixing bowl. At this point, the veg has given up all its goodness, so get rid of it.
- Put the meat back in the pot, add the strained liquid, and then tuck in a new batch of (peeled) vegetables to serve with the meat: pretty little carrots, split (and thoroughly rinsed) leeks, sliced mushrooms, baby onions, or sliced turnips. On goes the top, and back into the oven it all went, for about another 20 minutes until the vegetables were al-dente tender.
- Done.
Notes
- Set out some horseradish, Dijon mustard, and flaky sea salt—just like the French do when serving pot au feu. Serve the fall-apart-tender meat and bright, colorful vegetables on plates, and ladle the steaming broth into bowls.
