So, let’s say you have this friend. And this friend is a not experienced cook. Adventurous, likes flavor, hates bland, but as I say inexperienced. Doesn’t know what herbs go with what, what exotic root vegetables she’s never tried (like parsnips or rutabaga) taste like, but is desireous of making a pot roast in her crock pot that uses parsnips and some flavor beyond salt and pepper. But, what to use? Thyme? Oregano? Rosemary? Garlic?
What other vegetables should I (I mean she!) use in addition to the parsnips?
How about liquid. Beef broth? Water? Burgundy wine?
Dust the roast with flour before browning? Or just rub with herbs and spices?
Let’s say the pot roast with parsnips is awesome, but next time she wants to try turnips or rutabaga instead. Would this change the herb/spice recommendations?
If you like, any tips you could share on how one figures out what herb/spices go with what would surely be appreciated by me. I mean my friend. She thanks you and welcomes you over anytime for pot roast.
We usually do more or less the following, with variations:
Flour the meat with flour mixed with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and maybe some herbs (sage and rosemary and thyme ar eall good)
Brown in olive oil (butter works too)
Ad a ton of choped onions and sautee a bit (we’re talking at least half the volume of chopped onions to meat)
Carrots and celery are also good; garlic is a must. Bay leaf, for sure.
For liquid: we usually use some tomato product or another, and some red wine
Garlic is also good - I think the yummiest pot roast I ever made involved adding an entire head’s worth of roasted garlic toward the end
Mushrooms added toward the end are also good, or even a few dried mushrooms added at the beginning
All of the above are highly flexible. The only things that never change, in our house, are beef, lots of onions, carrots, some kind of liquid besides water, and low-and-slow cooking. (Unless we’re using the pressure cooker, which is also good.)
Potatoes, carrots and onions would work very well with the parsnips.
The carrots and onions will help with a bit of added sweetness so as to balance out
the slight tang (and some may say bitterness) of any added root veggies.
I say yes to the dusting with seasoned flour before browning and adding to the pot.
Beef broth would be yummy as well as a couple of dashes of worcestershire sauce added into the mix.
A splash or two of a nice hearty wine would help with depth of flavor on a cool autumn night.
You could add some to the slow cooker too.
The seasoned flour used for browning the pot roast will also help thicken the juices and develop into a tasty gravy as your roast cooks.
Thyme goes really well with turnip/rutabaga when added to the roast recipe.
I love to include white pepper as well. It adds a certain peppery oomph I don’t seem to get (as much) from black pepper.
Herbs de Provence also goes very, very well with beef roasts and stews.
Don’t forget some garlic if you’re so inclined. I find it tends to develop a bit of bitterness (if slow-cooked) when using fresh, so I use granulated and it works out just fine.
That’s all I’ve got for now but I hope it helps.
Can’t give away all my yummy secrets in one post you know.
My mom was not a great cook, but her pot roast ruled.
Liquid: Tomato sauce (a big can)
Spice: Ginger (three or four shakes)
Veggies: Potatoes and other root veggies (carrots, parsnips, turnips) in 2" chunks; whole smallish onions; whole mushrooms
Get your “friend” a copy of a good basic cookbook like “The Joy of Cooking” or “How to Cook Everything” - which (in addition to of course providing tried and true recipes for dishes like Pot Roast to work from) will serve as a basic reference for unfamiliar (as well as familiar) ingredients - telling you things like how to select them at the store, how to store them at home, basic preparations, what other flavors/ingredients they work with, other recipes they can be substitued into, etc.
In addition to other advice, I recommend summer savory. It’s one ingredient in the herbes de Provence deedee suggested, but I prefer to use it separately. (I don’t much care for fennel in my pot roast, though I like it in other dishes.)
Seconding “Joy.” Get either one of the older editions or one of the newest. Avoid at all costs the editions put out in the 70s. “The Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook” is a great addition to your friend’s library as well.
I like to mix root veggies with my pot roasts. Turnips and parsnips play well together, especially with some Yukon Gold potatoes added in. Rutabaga can sub for either the turnips or the parsnips. I also like to hit mine with a goodly dose of Crystal hot sauce. Not enough to be pronounced. Just enough to brighten up the flavors. Add a bay leave or two and you’re good to go.
Here’s the thing about parsnips: they are insanely tasty. They’re my favorite vegetable because they have such a strong and delicious flavor. But that flavor can be a bit locked up inside the bulk of the vegetable. Just roasting them in a pot and they will be ok, but not amazing. The way to get it out to the intensity that will change them from “that’s quite nice” to “OMG this is amazing, why have I never eaten these before?!” is to cause the sugars in the vegetable to caramelize.
I suggest, therefore, that you pre-treat the parsnips before adding them to the pot roast. Peel them, chop them into 2" long spears and put them in a bag, shake them with oil and herbs, then pour them into a roasting tin and roast at about 275F for 30-40 minutes before adding to the pot roast just before you serve it. You won’t regret the extra effort, they’re divine.
I add a cup of coffee to my pot roast, plus red wine if I have it. I’ve also just chucked in a packet of dried onion soup along with the bay leaf if I don’t want to fuss with seasoning.
I cook mine in a pressure cooker which is fantastic. It tastes like it’s been cooking for hours yet you can get it on the table within a hour.
After all is said and done with your ingredient and spices selection, (Oh, I agree with wonder9 just above… add a cup of coffee, or a tablespoon of instant coffee to any beef based dish), the absolute best pot roast I’ve ever done, I’ve done in my pressure cooker. It comes out fantastic, much better then from the dutch oven or even the crock pot.
I was born in New England but left as a baby & have spent most of my life in Texas. Occasionally, Mom would find parsnips at the store & cook them for us; one of the foods she learned about when living with my late father’s family. Also, New England Boiled Dinner. And, occasionally, B&M baked beans & brown bread from a can.
When dusting my roast joint, I like to do so with a mixture of plain flour, mustard flour, salt and pepper. I like to then sear it in an insanely hot cast iron crock and remove the meat when browned on all sides. I then brown Onions, Celery, Carrots and Turnips or Parsnips in the same crock - adding 2-4 cloves of garlic (depends on how much garlic flavour I’m craving) in the last minute. I splash in some red wine (a glass) to deglaze and some stock (varies with what meat I’m roasting). Adding Red wine will nicely flavour any meat or fowl. But I have succesfully subsitituted this with both dry white wine and cider while pot roasting Pork. Chuck the joint back in add a bouquet garni and more seasoning. Seal up with doubled foil plus the lid. And slowly and gently cook on either hob or oven (I prefer the oven personally). Serve with mashed potato. Yum.
Strangely enough I made a pot roast just this past Sunday. Some of the most important things you do in preparing this dish take place in the supermarket. Get a good cut of meat. One that has a good amount of fat marbled through the cut. I like one that is as square shaped as possible, and without any major pieces of connective tissue.
I also tried something this time that worked out very well too: Take the meat out of the plastic cover and place in a bowl in the refridg for a day. The drying action of the fridge will cause the surface of the meat to be very dry and thus will brown beautifully! Immediately before browning the meat, I sprayed it with Pam and dusted with salt and pepper. After cooking for four hours it was like beef flavored candy.
If you put chopped veggies in at the beginning remove them prior to making gravy with the braising liquid, or hit the whole works with an immersion blender as you add the flour thickener.
If your friend has access to any sort of big box store she should head over to the “Oriental Foods” aisle and review the selection of flavoring sauces and pastes. Personally I am fond of (Chinese) chili bean paste aka toban djan . A dollop of that in a beef stew livens things up. In that case the best vegetables would be peeled chunks of potato, onion, and especially turnip, added half an hour before the stew is finished. Best leave out the tomatoes and red wine in this case, the flavors would not go together.
I love that book. It has “About X” sections, X being anything you could imagine like: onions, or eggs, or types of sugar and flour and dairy products, that I was sure I was the only one who read. Useful for demystifying ingredients.
I have to recommend Not Your Mothers Slow Cooker Cookbook for a whole lotta great slow-cooker recipes, including several for pot roast. Unfortunately I’m at work and can’t post the recipes – however
this site has a handful of recipes from the book on-line, including one for “Beef With Guinness”, which sounds real yummy, if not exactly a “pot roast” recipe. Could adapt it to a pot roast, though (I think).
How much liquid should I use? The pot roast I made was awesome (thanks to you all), but I used too much liquid. Is the amount a matter of eyeballing it, or is there a standard amount that is best?
