I grew up eating pot roast. Sunday dinners would often be pot roast with potatoes and carrots cooked right along side them in a big dutch oven. A few weeks ago my Grandma Joyce emailed me a story about how she learned to cook the perfect pot roast. “I never could get a roast just right. One time Grandpa was working and driving someplace, and he got a cooking program on the radio. They told how to do the roast, so he stopped by the road and wrote it down!” Grandma’s much adored recipe calls for long slow cooking, adding liquid and vegetables mid-way through.
I used this as my base recipe and also refered to Pioneer Woman’s cooking section for her recipe for pot roast. I liked her addition of stock and red wine as well as searing the meat before throwing it in. Finally, let me give a little shout out to my favorite local butcher shop: Lincoln Quality Meat Market. I purchased this 4 pound farm raised chuck roast from them and will go back to them when I decided to cook a hunk of meat again. 
- 4 pound boneless beef chuck roast
- olive oil
- 2 onions – halved
- 4-5 large carrots – cleaned and cut into 1 inch pieces
- salt & pepper
- red wine – (about half cup)
- 1 can beef broth
- rosemary & thyme
(For more details and pictures, check out Pioneer Woman’s recipe) In a large, oven safe pot, heat a little oil and brown the four onion pieces. Take them out and toss in the carrots to brown for a few minutes. Take those out as well. Salt and pepper both sides of the roast liberally. Sear one side of the roast before flipping and searing the other side. Remove from pot and use the wine to deglaze the pan (pour in and scrap up the dark, yummy bits that have cooked onto the bottom.) Place the roast back into the pan and pour in about a can of beef broth (2ish cups). Add back in the onions and carrots as well. Toss in either fresh or dried thyme and rosemary. Heat oven to 275 and roast for about 4 hours for a 4 pound roast. When finished, the meat should fall apart. Serve with garlic mashed potatoes*. Pour a little of the cooked broth and liquid over the top of the meat and vegetables and enjoy with a glass of red wine.
Notes: Amazing! I think the main key is just low and slow cooking with liquid until it just falls apart. These made great sandwiches the next night as well.
Servings: 6-8 servings
* Garlic Mashed Potoatoes:
- 6-8 medium sized red new potatoes
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 C. milk
- 2 + T. butter
- salt/pepper
Chop potatoes into quarters, leaving skin on. Boil until very tender. Drain. In a separate pot, slowly heat up the milk with the smashed garlic cloves until nice and warm. Start mashing the potatoes and add in the milk/garlic and salt and pepper. Add in as much butter as you’d like. Mash until a consistency you like and eat!
Cooking Hussy 