# Pot Roast and other Basic Cookery 101 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 16, 2016, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055 "2016-09-16T00:36:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/41 "2016-09-16T19:54:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > [Also note:](http://www.cooksinfo.com/meat-cooking-techniques) This one drove me crazy for _years_! I’d put something in the crock-pot, go to work, come home and find a dried-out piece of boiled leather for dinner. Next time I’d add more liquid, and come home to find wet boiled leather. I gave up on crock-pots for a long time because of that. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/42 "2016-09-16T20:02:33Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > This one drove me crazy for _years_! I’d put something in the crock-pot, go to work, come home and find a dried-out piece of boiled leather for dinner. Next time I’d add more liquid, and come home to find wet boiled leather. I gave up on crock-pots for a long time because of that. Yeah, the main factors are: cut of meat, temperature, length of cook. You can (and boy, my parents have) dry out all sorts of crap in a crockpot if you’re not careful. Meanwhile, I cook a pork shoulder in the oven in dry heat just over a roasting pan for hours and it’s as moist inside as anything you’ve had from a crockpot, _plus_ it’s got that crispy bark on the outside that, to me, is half of what makes pork shoulder so delicious. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/43 "2016-09-16T20:07:16Z")
get the joy cooking cookbook one of the mid 70s editions that you see in every thrift store that has a book section … its the best book that explains things only downside is occasionaly the recipie calls for something exotic but should explain all the basic techniques… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/44 "2016-09-16T20:19:50Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > This one drove me crazy for _years_! I’d put something in the crock-pot, go to work, come home and find a dried-out piece of boiled leather for dinner. Next time I’d add more liquid, and come home to find wet boiled leather. I gave up on crock-pots for a long time because of that. And the other thing is, and why I particularly encourage people to test the meat throughout cooking time, is that you learn how the meat progresses. Start with a chuck roast, as they’re nigh impossible to screw up, and delicious and moist to boot. When you start cooking, the meat will be soft and raw. As it cooks, it will become quite hard. A pot roast braise will take, oh, anywhere from two and a half to four hours-ish, depending on the size of the roast. What happens is, as the roast heats up, the muscle fibers tighten and you have a chunk of well done meat. Normally, this is not good, but in a braise, as long as you use the correct cut with a high collagen content what happens in the next hours is that the collagen begins converting into gelatin. To simplify, the gelatin fibers coat the strands of meat, giving it a moist mouthfeel, and it also causes the meat to “loosen up” and become tender. So, if you test along the way, you start to learn that if your meat is hard as a rock, it’s probably not that you’ve overcooked it (unless you are using the wrong kind of cut, like, say, tenderloin, which has pretty much no collagen to break down). It’s probably just that you’re still in the collagen rendering phase of the cook. Check back in an hour and see how it is. You should feel it starting to loosen up. Keep checking every so often until it’s tender for your tastes. It is still possible to overcook, but if you check, you shouldn’t. An exercise like this will let you learn the “lifecycle” of the cook and how to judge what is going on with your meat. When I was first starting cooking, I screwed up a number of pot roasts and stews because I cooked to the directions of a recipe, not realizing that I was stopping at a point that was well _short_ of cooking time for my particular piece of meat and oven. As soon as I trusted myself and let the cook go longer, I realized the meat will eventually loosen up. So, if the meat is hard as a rock and I’m using the correct cut (let’s stick with chuck here) and I’m using sufficiently low heat (anywhere up to, say 325), then the problem is that the meat still needs more time. If the meat ends up shredding easily, but is dry and stringy, then we have, indeed overcooked. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/45 "2016-09-16T20:24:05Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Stews are by no means pot roasts, which was the subject of the OP. If you open the pot before its time, the pot roast loses a bunch of moisture to the atmosphere (which, in a stew, would instead be lost by the gravy, thickening it slightly and not affecting the meat in the slightest). Not remotely the same thing. My pot roast is reclining in a jacuzzi of beef stock and red wine, so any moisture that escapes is going have a negligible impact on the dryness of the pot roast. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/46 "2016-09-16T20:25:30Z")
For me, the graduation from ‘not really a cook’ to ‘know how to cook’ was when I could survey a bunch of random food of the types I usually get and turn it into some kind of meal. I may not know how to butcher and octopus from scratch, but if I have some stuff that I’d usually have around I can turn it into some kind of coherent cooked meal. Also, discovering canned crushed tomatoes as a base for sauce was a pretty pivotal moment, since it meant that I did actually have a spagetti recipe. > [@nightshadea](#): > > get the joy cooking cookbook one of the mid 70s editions that you see in every thrift store that has a book section Just avoid the 1950s cookbooks, that’s where you got those horrible ‘meat floating in jello garnished with canned asparagus’ dishes. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/47 "2016-09-16T21:11:04Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > My Pot Roast Recipe: > > One beef roast > One packet Lipton Onion Soup Mix > Two cans Campbell’s Beef Mushroom or Golden Mushroom soup, undiluted. > > Dump all into a crockpot and let it cook 6-8 hours. This is basically what I do but with Lipton soup added. Will have to try that. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/48 "2016-09-16T21:15:04Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > I was pretty sure I knew what you meant, but again it’s not clear. “Spaghetti sauce” is not specific. Is it a tomato-based sauce? A cream-based sauce? An olive oil-based sauce? Or do you mean that one should have any one sauce used to top a bowl of pasta? I’m aware that in large swaths of the U.S., spaghetti sauce is shorthand for a basic tomato sauce. But it really does no justice to the versatility and breadth of sauces to top pasta. Spaghetti sauce means whatever you put on the pasta. It’s not restricted to tomato-based sauces, although that’s what most people think of when you say ‘spaghetti sauce’. Common sauces like marinara, bolognese, and Sunday gravy are all tomato-based. Some have meat, some don’t. Sauces like Alfredo, _quattro formaggi_ (four cheese), and carbonara are all cream-based. Then there sauces like _aglio y olio_ (oil and garlic), which are basically just oil-based, and white clam sauce, which is basically oil and white wine and herbs. I like pasta just with butter, salt and pepper. Is that a sauce? It coats the pasta, so yes. ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/49 "2016-09-17T03:00:34Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > Rice. On the stove. Sounds easy but I still mess it up sometimes. I can cook a lot of things, but it’s only recently that I got rice to start working for me. Not to jinx myself but it’s been pretty good lately. > [@pulykamell](#): > > There is a strong relation between price and type of roast best suited for pot roasting, but it’s better just to know your cuts. You want to pot roast something like chuck (the easiest not to screw up–anybody, and I mean anybody, can make a decent pot roast with this cut) or brisket. Rump roast or bottom round work okay, too, but have a different texture and can get a bit stringy/dry if you’re not careful. I would, at all costs, avoid the (usually) cheap eye of round. You basically want a well-exercised cut of beef that has a good bit of intramuscular fat but, more importantly, connective tissue, which contains collagen, which renders down into gelatin, which is what give you that falling apart texture and moist mouthfeel. I usually go with chuck for just this reason. Chuck can almost never turn out bad in a long-cooking recipe like pot roast or beef stew. Whether you do the can of soup + envelope of soup, or a homemade sauce with red wine and roasted carrots, get the right meats and cooking techniques, and you’re good to go. This is a great reference for home cooks who are comfortable working without recipes: [https://www.amazon.com/Ratio-Simple-Behind-Everyday-Cooking/dp/1416566112/ref=tmm\_hrd\_swatch\_0?\_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=](https://www.amazon.com/Ratio-Simple-Behind-Everyday-Cooking/dp/1416566112/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/50 "2016-09-17T03:38:23Z")
Good trick for raising dough. Many dryers come with a plastic insert made to allow you put shoes in the dryer without having them tumble. Put your dough, covered in plastic wrap, on the platform and turn on the dryer. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/51 "2016-09-17T18:09:30Z")
Re: dough rising, I’ve always found that rushing the rise by raising the ambient temperature just results in bland bread. A slow rise, at room temp or even over a few days in the fridge, results in much tastier, nuanced yeasty flavors. You do have to plan ahead and embrace the inherent slowness of the yeast action, especially if you’re baking a big loaf! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/52 "2016-09-17T18:41:13Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Re: dough rising, I’ve always found that rushing the rise by raising the ambient temperature just results in bland bread. A slow rise, at room temp or even over a few days in the fridge, results in much tastier, nuanced yeasty flavors. You do have to plan ahead and embrace the inherent slowness of the yeast action, especially if you’re baking a big loaf! Absolutely agreed. Letting it rise in the fridge for a few days and then doing a second rise at room temp is much better. Even with pizza dough, I like at least an overnight stint in the fridge, more like 18 hours. More is better. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/53 "2016-09-18T23:37:42Z")
Pot roast was good… not quite as falling apart tender as I would have liked, but still tender & not dried out… the seasoning needs a bit of tweaking… it was delicious, but didn’t have that “pot - roast-y” flavor I was going for… also put too many peppercorns in! Still it was a success, all in all & certainly not bad for a first try! Thanks for all the tips & tricks! ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/54 "2016-09-19T00:56:39Z")
> [@janis\_and\_c0](#): > > Pot roast was good… not quite as falling apart tender as I would have liked, but still tender & not dried out… the seasoning needs a bit of tweaking… it was delicious, but didn’t have that “pot - roast-y” flavor I was going for… also put too many peppercorns in! > > Still it was a success, all in all & certainly not bad for a first try! Thanks for all the tips & tricks! You need “umami” bombs to up the meat flavor. I like using tomato paste and anchovy paste (even though I never actually eat anchovies on purpose). Also Worcestershire sauce can help beef up the beefiness. Last one, small white mushrooms, very finely chopped in the food processor. They’ll all but disappear during the stewing process but will provide the glutimates responsible for the umami flavor. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/55 "2016-09-19T01:00:15Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > You need “umami” bombs to up the meat flavor. I like using tomato paste and anchovy paste (even though I never actually eat anchovies on purpose). Also Worcestershire sauce can help beef up the beefiness. Last one, small white mushrooms, very finely chopped in the food processor. They’ll all but disappear during the stewing process but will provide the glutimates responsible for the umami flavor. Fish sauce, as well. Used sparingly, you won’t taste it. There’s also that “Bragg liquid aminos” product, or Maggi (which has hydrolyzed vegetable protein). Or a beef stock cube. Or just cut out the middle man and hit it with straight-up MSG via Accent or a generic MSG product. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055/56 "2016-09-19T01:20:15Z")
Best way to make a pot roast: See John Egerton’s classic SOUTHERN FOOD. It’s a go-to for many things, but his chuck roast pot roast will snap your stix. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-roast-and-other-basic-cookery-101/766055.md?page=2)