Pot Roast recipe

 I started with a boneless neck roast (see https://cooking.marcgottlieb.com/charts/meat/, this was a #10). It was not frozen, and about 1.5 kilograms.

Ingredients

  • olive oil
  • a big onion or some small ones
  • three or four carrots
  • some celery stalks
  • some potatoes, cut into quarters.
  • one or more garlic cloves
  • sweet paprika (1 tsp should be enough) 
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp basil or thyme
  • a glop of tomato paste
  • 1 cup of soup stock (or water with onion soup mix or whatever)
  • 1 cup of dry red wine, white in a pinch
  • salt
  • pepper

Prepare the meat

It needs to be at room temperature. Also, pat it dry with paper towels. Sprinkle kosher salt and pepper to taste.

Sear the meat

Tongs are more useful than spatulas here. This is true later too, when you're turning the meat.
 
Get a roasting pan with a lid. Put in some olive oil. Get it up to medium high. Sizzle test (a drop of water should be exciting). Sear for 20 minutes (10 per side). Longer if there's more than two sides, because you want it seared on all sides.
 
Remove the roast and put it off to the side for now.

Sauté the vegetables (cool accent on the 'e' back there, huh?)

Medium heat. More olive oil. Onions, garlic, carrots, celery, around 10 minutes or until soft.
 
Add the basil or thyme, paprika, tomato paste, cook a little more.
 
Add the liquids (stock, wine) and bay leaf. Add more salt and pepper. Stir. Add the meat. Bring it to a simmer.
 
Back to low heat (just simmer, not boil). Cover the pan.
 
Every 30 minutes, turn the meat, cover the pot again. This is gonna take several hours.
 
Eventually, fork test. This should be soft. If it's not getting that way after four hours, maybe cut up the roast into smaller sections and let it go another hour.
 
Chanie T. suggests as an alternative to rub the meat with the spices, wrap it tightly in several layers of foil, and bake for 8 hours at 125° C. Don't bother braising the meat. Regarding sauce: "You actually do not need sauce. I rub it with a mix of spices, and it lets out its own liquid which is the sauce I warm it up in after it cools down and slice it. I usually do this ahead of time. I freeze the roast and the liquid separately.  When I am ready to serve, I defrost it, slice it and warm it up in its liquid. If the recipe has a sauce, just spill it over the meat before you wrap it up and put it in the oven." Maybe I'll try that at some point. I don't make this too often as it is, so that might not happen for a while.


Comments

Vicki said…
Wow. Talk about the tenderest, most flavorful and easiest pot roast ever. Sruli, we all really enjoyed this recipe. It will be my go-to favorite from now on
12:58 PM
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