Oh, man. I have no idea why I don’t do this more often.
Crappy cell phone picture, but you get the idea. This beef pot roast was melt-in-your-mouth tender, juicy, flavorful…amazing. And it was ready to eat when I walked in the door.
I’m not 100% on the cut. I bought a “club pack” of two roasts a few weeks ago and cooked the smaller one that night. This one went in the freezer in a big Ziploc, so no label. I believe it was top round, but I could be mistaken. The smaller roast was done in the crock pot on high, as I only had a couple of hours before dinnertime. Today’s, though, had all the time it could ask for. I prepped it in the morning before I left for work and it cooked in the crock pot on low for almost 11 hours.
I love my crock pot, but I really haven’t gotten that much use out of it. Maybe it’s because I’m not a morning person, I don’t know. I’ve made a few batches of chili and some beef stews in it, and a couple of pork roasts with potatoes and carrots. I think beef pot roast is the quintessential slow-cooker meal.
You want to grab a piece of beef with good marbling, including some solid sections of fat. It’ll all melt away, I promise. This one was about two inches thick and fit in the crock pot with just a little bit of space on all sides.
I cut two carrots into rounds and dumped half in the bottom of the crock pot. I prefer not to have my meat sitting directly on the bottom – I think it encourages uneven heating. Eventually the roast will probably float a bit, but at the start I put a little bed under it. I also cut up half an onion that I had left in the fridge and put some of that on the bottom.
I placed the roast in the crock pot and sprinkled the rest of the carrot and onion on top. Then I unwrapped four 1-cup beef bouillon cubes and placed them away from the roast so they would have room to moved around and dissolve. I like beer in my beef braise, so I cracked a tall can of Guinness and dumped it in, then added water until the roast was just covered.
Once the lid was tightly in place, I set the crock pot to its Low cook setting and walked out the door.
I’d say my total labor time on tonight’s dinner was less than ten minutes. That includes the mashed potatoes (instant, and nothing like the bland crap you got in the high school cafeteria) and salad (boxed mix).
This is one of those foods I wish I could somehow give a taste of to everyone who reads this. You really can’t appreciate the comforting, satisfying nature of a really good pot roast until you’ve had one. It is flavorful and unctuous, and eating it may result in a few moments of your eyes rolling back in your head.
I’ve had a lot of dry, chewy, flavorless beef roasts. I’ve even produced a few myself by using the wrong cuts of meat. If you’ve only ever had the lackluster sort, I heartily recommend you try a braised roast like this, using a nicely marbled piece of beef and a good cooking liquid. It may change your life.
