chuck roast recipe ??

[expatCanuck]

Hi Folks -

Chuck roast was on sale, so I now have 3.3 lbs. of chuck roast in the fridge.
(Scallops were on sale too, but I can deal with them -- juice of lemon, lime, orange, pineapple, some white wine, on a bed of quinoa ... but I digress ... )

I ain't never cooked a roast before, so suggestions welcome. Slow cooker recipes particularly welcome.

I know that you're supposed to brown it before roasting, but beyond that, precious little.

Thanks.

[thirdeye]

I do mine the classic NE way. I flour, salt and pepper mine, quick brown it in a pot with very little oil, add about 4 cups of water, bring to a boil then reduce to simmer, covered. Add a cup of horseradish (Red Horse) and simmer for three hours. At about an hour left I add two whole large onions, 8 potato's peeled and quartered, 8 carats quartered.

At the end, I remove a cup of broth into a second pan and whisk in some flour to make a light gravy.

You can do the same in a slow cooker, just brown off first then toss all the rest in and slow cook for about 6 hours.

[valmara1971]

I'll have my SWMBO sort you out with our tried and tested one ASAP.

[Abdiel]

Do you want traditional or something a bit different?

Saurbratten-
2 cups red wine
2 cups red wine vinegar
10 Juniper Berries
1 tsp caraway seeds
2 Bay Leaves
Large Pinch of salt
Large Carrot Diced
Large Onion sliced thin
Large garlic clove crushed
15-20 gingersnap cookies, crushed into fine crumbs

Take two ziptop bags and put one inside of the other, two are used in case one springs a leak. Inside of the inner bag place the roast and all ingredients except for the gingersnaps. Seal the bags put into a bowl and put into the fridge for 3 days. Stronger flavor and more tenderizing will be had with a longer soak of up to ten days, start with three and work up from there.

After the soak remove meat from the marinade and pat dry and dredge lightly in flour, make sure to pat off any excess. Brown all sides of the roast in a little butter or oil in a large pot and then add all of the marinade.

Bring to a light simmer and cover loosely, continue to simmer for at least 2-3 hours or until roast is tender.

At this point remove the roast and set aside. Pass the remaining liquid through a strainer to remove the solids and then return to heat. Whisk in the ginger snap crumbs a little at a time and simmer until sauce reaches desired consistency. Add a little butter if desired to round out the sauce. Then just slice and serve.

[garyg]

Originally Posted by thirdeye

I do mine the classic NE way. I flour, salt and pepper mine, quick brown it in a pot with very little oil, add about 4 cups of water, bring to a boil then reduce to simmer, covered. Add a cup of horseradish (Red Horse) and simmer for three hours. At about an hour left I add two whole large onions, 8 potato's peeled and quartered, 8 carats quartered.

At the end, I remove a cup of broth into a second pan and whisk in some flour to make a light gravy.

You can do the same in a slow cooker, just brown off first then toss all the rest in and slow cook for about 6 hours.

Need to add only a Bay Leaf then .. heaven

[stobes21]

I've done pot roast a number of ways, but the best is my own version of Alton Brown's recipe that doesn't even use a pot.

Season the roast with kosher salt and ground cumin. Brown it in a cast iron skillet that is as hot as you can get it. A few minutes on each side. Then pull the roast out and in the same skillet add a bit of oil and sautee an onion, a few stalks of celery, and a couple of carrots (all chopped). Once they are translucent deglaze with 1/2 cup or so of red wine, 1/2 cup of chicken stock (canned broth works fine, but stock is better), and a slug (1/4 cup maybe?) of balsamic vinegar. Bring your veggies and liquid to a boil and then simmer to reduce by 1/3 to 1/2.

Inside your sink take 2 long (~3 feet each) strips of heavy duty foil and place them perpendicular to each other with the middle of each at the bottom of your sink. Pour half your veggies in and then put your roast on top of the veggies. Pour the other half of your veggies on top. Wrap tightly with both layers of foil doing your damndest to make the pouch airtight.

Put your pouch into a 190-200* oven for 3.5 hours. After 3.5 hours pull it out and let it cool, still wrapped, on a rack. Then drain your liquid (reserving it for gravy of course) by punching a hole in one corner of your pouch. Once drained unwrap your roast. Do what you will with the veggies (Alton puts them into the liquid and blends the whole thing with a stick blender to make gravy. That has never worked out for me, so I just eat them separately. They are tasty but don't look very good).

Slice your roast and serve with mashed potatoes and your gravy. Good stuff.

[stobes21]

If you do want to use a slow cooker or do something super simple then do some variation on the following:

Brown your roast as described above. Put it into your slow cooker and cover it with 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup and 1/2 a can of beef or chicken broth (you may need to double the soup and broth to fully cover your roast). Add a packet of onion soup mix. Stir everything, put the lid on, set the cooker to low, and cook all day.

[Emmett]

This can work either with chuck or with leftover brisket. If with brisket, just pick up the recipe after the braising.

Brown meat on all sides, then braise in stock and red wine with a bay leaf.

Remove meat and stock; reserve.

In same pot, saute onions, carrots, and potatoes (chopped fine; chunky potatoes ruin this)

Add back stock and simmer while you shred the meat. Add the meat.

Add salt, pepper, parsley and thyme. Simmer until vegetables are done.

Enjoy.

[Emmett]

Originally Posted by Abdiel

Do you want traditional or something a bit different?

Saurbratten-
2 cups red wine
2 cups red wine vinegar
10 Juniper Berries
1 tsp caraway seeds
2 Bay Leaves
Large Pinch of salt
Large Carrot Diced
Large Onion sliced thin
Large garlic clove crushed
15-20 gingersnap cookies, crushed into fine crumbs

Take two ziptop bags and put one inside of the other, two are used in case one springs a leak. Inside of the inner bag place the roast and all ingredients except for the gingersnaps. Seal the bags put into a bowl and put into the fridge for 3 days. Stronger flavor and more tenderizing will be had with a longer soak of up to ten days, start with three and work up from there.

After the soak remove meat from the marinade and pat dry and dredge lightly in flour, make sure to pat off any excess. Brown all sides of the roast in a little butter or oil in a large pot and then add all of the marinade.

Bring to a light simmer and cover loosely, continue to simmer for at least 2-3 hours or until roast is tender.

At this point remove the roast and set aside. Pass the remaining liquid through a strainer to remove the solids and then return to heat. Whisk in the ginger snap crumbs a little at a time and simmer until sauce reaches desired consistency. Add a little butter if desired to round out the sauce. Then just slice and serve.

Mmm, I even have some carroway kicking around the cupboard. Thanks; I'm going to try this.

[Abdiel]

Good deal Emmet. Just about any lean roast works well; bottom or top round, eye, chuck, etc.

Whip up some spaetzle fried in butter with onions and sauerkraut is a good side dish for the saurbratten

[ratcheer]

Dern, now I am hungry.

Tim

[BobS]

I like the idea of the Saurbratten and Alton Brown's pot roast. Thanks for posting.

I am going to adapt them to my grill to get some extra flavor during the sear and then finish in a dutch oven.

[Kouros]

A good and simple recipe is on a box of Lipton onion soup mix.

[texbilly]

Originally Posted by thirdeye

I do mine the classic NE way. I flour, salt and pepper mine, quick brown it in a pot with very little oil, add about 4 cups of water, bring to a boil then reduce to simmer, covered. Add a cup of horseradish (Red Horse) and simmer for three hours. At about an hour left I add two whole large onions, 8 potato's peeled and quartered, 8 carats quartered.

At the end, I remove a cup of broth into a second pan and whisk in some flour to make a light gravy.

I also bought some chuck roast (also on sale!) and wanted to keep it simple. So Ray, your version is cooking as I write this. Sometimes old school is the only way to go - even if it's Yankee old school!

UPDATE: Heaven! Brings back memories of home - my Mom, cooking for six kids. Thanks, Ray.

[ratcheer]

I made a pot roast, yesterday, using a slightly modified recipe from cooks.com. I used a bottom round roast and floured it before browning in a cast iron Dutch oven. (Deviation #1 was flouring it). Added 2 cups water, a little salt (deviation #2 - I can't believe their recipe called for no salt), a pack of Lipton onion soup mix, and about 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic. Cooked for two hours, covered.

Then added quartered potatoes, quartered onions, and carrots. Added a bay leaf (deviation #3). Plus about a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Cooked for another hour, covered.

Plated the roast and put the vegetables into a serving bowl. Mixed about 2 tbs flour with hot water, added to the juices. Cooked & stirred for about 5 minutes to make gravy.

It was absolutely delicious! The flavors were exactly what I was looking for and the meat was tender and juicy. It is easy to cook when you start with a good, solid recipe.

Tim