Pot Roast

Photo: Frank Fariello

Ingredients

2 pounds well trimmed boneless beef rump roast or chunk shoulder pot roast

6 pieces carrots, pared and cut into 2 inch pieces

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 packs 17 oz. instant vegetable broth mix

Salt and pepper

1 piece 12 oz. Spanish onion, sliced

2 pounds potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces

Preparation

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Coat roast with flour. In nonstick Dutch oven, brown roast in oil; remove. Add water, vinegar and broth mix to pot, and cook 1 minute stirring.

Return roast to pot; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place vegetables around roast. Cover. Bake 2 3/4 hours or until tender, turning once. Remove roast and slice. Remove vegetables to platter. Return beef to pan and simmer 5 minutes. Yield: 6 servings.

Tools

Comments

Permalink Anonymous
December 17, 2008

The Science of Pot Roast.

There are two critical parts of what makes pot roast a pot roast.

The first is the browning or char of the meat. This creates a delicious taste that also gets mixed into the liquid that you are braising the meat in. Many recipes also recommend flouring the meat before charing. The major purpose of this, is that it both thickens the stock, and more readily passes the charred flavor to the liquid.

The second, and most important part. The connective tissue. The standard pot roast is the chuck roast. Other roasts will simply not stand up to a long braising, and because of their lack of connective tissue, can become, ironically, dry.

Connective tissue, at a temperature slightly below boiling (208 degrees I believe), for about 3-4 hours, will convert from a long, tough, and extremely difficult to cut fiber (its what keeps us together while we are alive) into gelatin. Yes, that Cosby'esque bit of juicy wiggliness.

Two things will let you know this has happened. First is that the meat just falls apart. That is because the connective tissue, is no longer connecting. The second thing, is that it is packed with "juice" this is the gelatin expressing itself into the meat.

This is why you cook in a liquid. If you didn't the magic wouldn't happen.

Once the magic has happened, you want to stop "cooking" the food as you do not want the gelatin to escape from the roast into the liquid. You can plate and serve at anytime.

If the dish has gone cold, simply reheat. As a matter of fact, reheated pot roast is even extra-delicious because the gelatin is usually just melted and slightly coagulated, which is really tasty. MMMM.... Leftover pot roast!

This is NOT the same kind of moisture that comes from melted fat, which makes your prime meats and grilled steaks so good. The gelatin is NOT fat, is instead a nice delicious protein.

Enjoy your holiday pot roast!

Place your ad here
Loading...