A little earlier, I asked Mrs. L.A. what she wanted for dinner. ‘shrug I don’t know.’ (That’s her typical reply.) I said, ‘If I go to the market now, I can make pot roast.’ ‘OK.’
So I’m making ‘dad’s pot roast’. Only, I didn’t get it into the oven (275ºF) until four o’clock. I’m hoping it will be done by seven.
Yum! When should we be there? 
Aha! That’s the question! Seven? Eight?
If it’s a smaller roast, like 3 pounds, you should be okay.
Hope you added potatoes and carrots into the pot.
I love the vegetables that have cooked with the roast.
Now I’m hungry. 
It’s 3.23 pounds, so I’m thinking 7:15 to 7:30.
Time to invest in a pressure cooker?
Dad’s Pot Roast
(with slight modifications)
Chuck roast
Lipton Onion Soup Mix
Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup
Yukon Gold potatoes, quartered
Carrots, 2-inch pieces
Onion, quartered
Green bell peppers, cut into quarters or sixths
Mushrooms
Slight modifications: Dad never seared the meat first. I do. He always used russet potatoes, but I think Yukon Gold hold up better. He used canned button mushrooms. I use fresh.
Preheat the oven to 275ºF. I got a nicely marbled Angus chuck roast this time. I always look for nice marbling, but this is the first Angus beef roast I’ve tried. Sear the meat, and put it into the roasting pan. Sprinkle the onion soup mix over the top of it. Put the CoM soup on top of that. Arrange the veg around the meat. Segregate them so that it’s easy to get what you want. Cover, and put into the oven. Cook until it’s done.
I wasn’t sure how long it would take, and usually I start earlier. Just before my previous post, I checked the label that was on the meat. Now I know. Still rather sudden, though.
I’m worried enough about the moka pots! :eek:
Gad-ZOOKS.
Alice Waters dropped over for spearmint tea and homemade toffee, we read your post together, and we both say “Gad-ZOOKS.”
Green bell peppers? Sorry, I don’t eat them and they contaminate every thing they are cooked with, so I guess I won’t be there for dinner…oh wait, it’s after 8 so probably it’s all gone anyway. Never mind.
When it came to cooking, dad was a product of his times, and so was my mom. You know, and I know, that pot roast should not use ‘convenience foods’, but the way dad made it is ‘comfort food’.
It’s 6:18.
My dad was a product of the Great Depression, and his comfort-food pot roast avoided those ingredients. But that’s because he would rather spend an extra hour cooking than pay a nickel more for prepared ingredients. By Og, that man was…
frugal. Let’s go with frugal.
I’ve been thinking about pot roast and beef stew lately. You made me hungry, Johnny!
Yes! I made a four pound pot roast yesterday in my pressure cooker. It was fantastic.
I can’t remember the last time I cooked a roast beef in the oven. I mostly cook roasts in my sous vide cooker or a pressure cooker, depending on time, cut, and preference.
I do a pretty similar version, only I:
1.) Flour the roast - all purpose flour, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper dusted liberally over the roast before searing it.
2.) I add a shit-ton of white wine. Not a full bottle, but maybe a third to start ( mixed with the soup mix and campbell’s soup before dumping that ugly mixture on top ). Maybe another third to top off when I add in the vegetables about an hour before the roast is done. This plus that seared flour make for tons of delicious gravy and gravy is all important to a pot roast IMHO.
3.) I cook at 325 and I won’t use anything but chuck roast - all other cuts are a fail for this application, again IMHO.
4.) No bell peppers, rarely mushrooms, but I do experiment with other root vegetables from time to time.
I find ~hour a ~pound generally works fine.
Follow Gracie Allen’s advice: Put a 10lb and a 5lb roast in the oven at the same time. When the 5lb roast is burnt to a crisp, the 10lb roast will be perfect. :smack:
And don’t forget the parsnips.
Too many ingredients, and you don’t need soupy things if you put the right basic things in the pot to start with.
Never white wine. Use a cheap pinot and reduce it before adding it to the pot. No winey-flavor.
Make a roux after searing the meat (and never cook beef without browning/searing it - that’s where half the flavor comes from!) The flour will turn the gravy thicker without the cream soup stuff.
A pot roast that sits (mostly) above the liquids will still brown. Food doesn’t need to be immersed to braise. There are many ways to cook good pot roast - I’ve had luck with at least 1/2 dozen. My current favorite doesn’t brown the meat beforehand, doesn’t include a roux, uses very little liquid, and finishes with gelatin. But I’ve made great pot roasts with more liquid and a roux. I’ve made ‘winey’ pot roasts (like a beef burgundy pot roasts), I’ve made them with beer…the list goes on and on. Once one understands the basics, one can play with flavors and never make the same pot roast twice.