I love pot roast and I've noticed that it can vary in flavor and tenderness quite a bit depending on who makes it.

I can't describe the flavor I think is best but I know it when I taste it.

A chef at a small diner in our hometown used to make the best pot roast I've ever had. It was very tender and the flavor was incredible. I would describe it as "gourmet" pot roast compared to some others I've had.

Does anybody know what I'm describing and how to make a pot roast seriously delicious?

Place in an over proof pot with lid. Cover with beef broth, add a pod of red cayenne pepper, and a few onions and potatoes. Salt to taste.

Place in oven and cook at 260* for 5 hours. Low and slow is the only way.

Cut it with a fork.

I'm with Crow, low & slow.

Once upon a time, it was how everything was done !

Sure miss those times.

I like them browned a little before adding the rest of the stuff. miles

I also brown my pot roasts in a my ancient cast iron pot. I put in a can of beef stock, some freshly ground black pepper, cover, and place in the oven at 250° F.

I do not add the vegetables -- some carrots in addition to onions, potatoes, and a couple cloves of crushed, minced garlic -- until after the meat has cooked for a couple hours.

Careful with the salt as the beef stock has a bunch in it.

Mighty good eats with fresh biscuits and a fresh green salad.

L.W.

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I might brown a roast in the morning and throw in the crock pot on low to simmer all day.

Has anybody tried the packet seasoning for pot roast?

Actually, this looks like a pretty good recipe too

http://www.daringgourmet.com/2013/10/24/classic-slow-cooker-pot-roast/

Negative on the crock pot.

Crock pot. Using the roast as your guide, fill with water half-3/4 way to the top of the roast. Two beef bouillon cubes. Quartered onion. Pack of Liptons French Onion soup.

Put it on low when you leave. Eat 8 hours later. If it's not as tender as you want it, leave it on low longer.

If you want the absolute best motharfugking pot roast in the world, remove the pot roast from the broth when you're done and make a beef gravy. Serve with fried eggs for breakfast.

Try to resist the urge to jam your dick into it. It's that good.

We use the Lipton French Onion Soup mix for pot roast too, but no other broth. Soup mix, water (3/4 covered like you said), and meat. Cook slow, at least 4 hours.

Do not add potatoes or carrots until it's mostly cooked, if you add them at all. Potatoes suck the salt out of the broth and make pot roast tasteless. I prefer garlic mashed potatoes with my pot roast anyway.

Worst pot roast ever - meat, potatoes, and carrots in water, with no seasonings. Blah.

My dear old Mom made a real tasty roast by browning the roast in Crisco after a light dredge in flour. and then placing the contents of a package of Liptons onion soup mix on top and covering the roasting dish. Baking at 325 for a few hours. She never made a bad one. The flavor was excellent.-Mike

Yep, sear/brown that sucker on both sides first.

Ditto on adding the vegies half way through and easy on the carrots as they can make it overly sweet.

In addition, throwing in can of cola (made with cane sugar) at the onset, really helps break down the meat fibers and gives a nice sticky consistency to the finished product.

While I like onions in mine, I do not want any onion soup mix, or onion soup anything in mine. miles.

My mom made great pot roast.
Cooked it in a smaller version of those blue speckled turkey roasters.
She added turnips as well as onion, carrots and potatoes and cooked it until it fell apart..
I have no idea what spices she used but I didn't even know what onion soup mix was until I left home.

The voice of reason crying out in the wilderness.

I get my enamel coated roaster hot on the stove top and add garlic infused olive oil. Season and brown the chuck roast on all sides and then remove. Deglaze the pan with a little red wine, which gives a great depth of flavor to the gravy. Place the roast back in the pan and add beef broth half way up the side of the roast along with some sliced sweet onion on top of the roast. Cover and roast for two hours at 325*. After two hours turn the roast and add more onion slices on top. After one more hour add carrots and parsnips to the roaster. Wait one more hour, remove the roast, carrots and parsnips. Strain the liquid and make your gravy adjusting seasonings as needed (separate recipe). Serve with goat cheese mashed potatoes and some fresh baked bread.

Mike

Cast iron Dutch oven and a chuck roast. Preheat oven to 500* F. Put salt, pepper and a bit of garlic (if you like garlic) in the bottom of the Dutch oven, add the roast and season the top side of the roast as you did on the bottom of the Dutch. Put in oven for 15 to 20 minutes or more as desired, uncovered. If you like onion, cut a whole onion into thick slices (1/2" +/-) but don't separate them (like for onion rings) and toothpick them on top of the roast after the 500* treatment. Reduce oven temp to 235* and add a 1/2 cup of warm water to the Dutch (hot CI and cold water is trouble), put on the lid and return to the oven. About 1 1/2 to 2 hours before you want to eat, add carrots and celery then add potatoes about 1/2 hour later. Total time for the roast to be fall apart tender should be minimum of 4 hours and 5 hours wouldn't be a bad thing (just don't put the carrots, celery and taters in too soon). Make gravy with what is in the bottom of the Dutch and have a good meal . . . BTW - don't under season the roast, that is what makes the gravy great instead of just good.

Low and slow - the way to go .

I roll my own. However, if you've not made pot roast much, I'd suggest checking Paula Deen's recipe, then make your own party. It's not too far from what I do, which comes out great.

Like everyone's saying, low and slow gets it done the right way.

Here's one I made with no vegetables, just onions. I was planning different sides than usual.



And this is the result I usually shoot for. This roast had carrots, onions, mushrooms, celery cooked in the Corningware with it.

Any left over roast makes great hash. I like hash better than the roast, and I like both. miles

Have you tried it?




Travis

Flave,
For some reason your pics and even your avatar show up as x's lately. Am I on double top secret probation?

Thanks everyone for the replies! I'm going to try a lot of these suggestions. Good thing I just spent $635.00 on a 1/4 of beef!

For the onion soup mix haters ...try this one use dry Beefy
Onion Soup Mix and a can of cream of mushroom soup Undiluted ...
I throw the roast, veggies, a little pepper & Worcestershire and the above ingredients in the crock pot. It makes the house smell great. The best thing is the gravy is perfect every time .

Welcome to the Fire AKBunny!

You're on the right track with the cream of mushroom soup. You can also get the same result by doing a bechamel sauce, add mushrooms, herbs, and red wine. Either method will produce a really nice gravy.

The bechamel is the real "from scratch" method.

"Simple perfect pot roast",on food.com ..…is the same one they use/made in
cooks illustrated ! 5 out 5 stars /35reviews…..

Thanks for the welcome Rooster7!

Hot enameled cast Dutch Oven, sear your seasoned chuck. Remove, saute garlic and onions, deglaze with red wine, add back roast and mushrooms. Broth or water, whatever you have and covered into the oven 300 or a little lower and roast till tender. Add some carrots at the end. I too prefer mashed potatoes and gravy better.

And remove the lid and roast for last half hour or so.

Sean, that's definitely also a good way to do it.

I made a pot roast using the recipe in the above link. While good, it was not GREAT. One of the spices in the rub over powered everything and gave it little bit of a sour taste. I will not be using that recipe again.

Oh well...I'll keep trying you fellas recipes/methods until I find that one I'm looking for.

Flavor? You want flavor? Make the following. You'll never make it any other way, believe me.

Yankee Pot Roast

4-5 lb beef pot roast
1 jar (5-6 oz) grated horseradish (not cream style)
8 small potatoes, chunked
8 medium carrots, chunked
8 small onions
1 tbs olive oil
1 cup water
Salt, pepper to taste

Heat oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven. Brown roast well on all sides. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread the entire jar of horseradish evenly on top of the roast – about a quarter-inch thick is right. Add water, being careful to not rinse off any horseradish. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cover (or put pot into a 325-degree oven) for 2 ½ hours.
Add vegetables around roast edges, cover and cook for one more hour or until vegetables are tender.

Remove roast and vegetables to warmed platter and allow to rest for 15 minutes before slicing. Serves 8 – 10.

wow thats a lot of horse radish

Ahh, but it cooks down into a sweetness, much like onions do. The meat is not pungent.

I cook low and slow, adding veggies last hour or so just like many others. But, I use a cup or so of coffee it helps make the richest flavor ever especially the gravy. Try it thank me later.

Interesting. Sounds disgusting but I think I will try it. Thanks.

the 'best way' always is dependent on what end result you like, and want. That means that there is no universal best way.
It's not rocket science. Folks have been making pot roast for thousands of years.

Sooooo, have you tried any of the above methods yet?

I just put a 3lb shoulder roast in the slow cooker. Bed of onions on bottom, liberal dose of McCormick Montreal Steak on roast, onions on top. Simple but will be good come morning. I'll add carrots and potatoes at the end.

Just finished a pot roast done as per the recipe I posted above. Warmed up the last few slices and had it with eggs this morning. Damn, that was good.

I'm excavating this thread due to tonight's experiment: I made my pot roast like always, but I added a Sazón Goya seasoning packet.

I had gotten the idea from Bart's Chili recipe. I had made it with and without the Sazón Goya, and there was no comparison - it really brought the flavors together. And it did the same for the pot roast tonight. Best one evah.

Sure, the stuff is nothing but MSG with some food coloring, but it worked wonders.

Give it a shot, & post your results.

FC