Roast for my wife

October 15, 2007 1:44 PM

Bring me your finest roast recipes, either in the oven or Crock-Pot-esque type equipment.

Mrs. Writer has been hankering for a slow-cooked roast, and I want to surprise her with one for being such a great wife and mom.

So, looking for a good, lip-smacking roast recipe I can do in the oven or even in a slow cooker, but it's not terribly large. And any hints for the process are greatly welcome - and what makes a good roast great? What are the best cuts of meat, veggies to use, etc.?

Note: my wife is a sorta picky eater, so leave out roast covered in truffle oil and foie gras, OK?

posted by fijiwriter to food & drink (21 comments total)

This is a Southern style pot roast, not a Yankee pot roast with carrots and potatoes and all that nonsense. My mom would serve it with rice to soak up all the gravy and a vegetable (or possibly her famous squash casserole). You might want to get a loaf of white bread so you can make sandwiches the next day.

Please don't use brisket. Rump roast is the only way to go. Oh, and you can certainly cook this in a slow cooker on low.

3 pound rump roast
salt to taste
pepper to taste
flour for dredging
2 tablespoons olive oil
small onion
5 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. powdered beef bouillon
1 cup of water
clove of garlic

Directions:

Dredge roast in flour and salt and pepper all sides well. Slowly brown roast on all sides in olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.

Turn heat to low. Add about 1 inch of water to pot. Mix together beef bouillon and 1 cup of water. Add to pot. Add bay leaf, cloves, chopped onion and one clove of garlic. Cook covered on low for 2 hours or until tender, adding more water if needed.
posted by Evangeline at 1:51 PM on October 15, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Here is what makes a great roast great: one 8 oz. cup of black coffee.

Sear the meat, salt and pepper it generously, then put it in a crock pot on slow cook. Cut slits in the meat with a knife and insert whole cloves of garlic. Throw in 3-4 sticks of rosemary right in the pot. Add: chopped yellow onion, carrot, red or white potatoes (they are a better texture than baking potatoes), a yellow bell pepper, celery and two bay leaves. after all the ingredients are in, (don't forget to season the veggies lightly with salt and pepper as you add them in layers!), throw in a few dashes of worcestershire, a few dashes of tamari (more flavorful than soy), and finally, dump the black coffee over the whole lot. Cook for 6 hours. Die when you eat it.

The coffee serves to tenderize the meat and gives the veggies a wonderful, dark flavor. If you cook it right it should just about be stew when you open the pot... I promise you, this recipe has never failed to impress boyfriends, in-laws, you name it. If you prefer different vegetables, then go for it, but this one is easy to make (literally, chopping vegetables is the hardest part) and once the prep is done you can walk away for 4-6 hours.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 1:52 PM on October 15, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

Cook a whole chicken in the crockpot. Cut slits in the skin on the breast and legs and stuff with garlic, basil and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper.

Put the chicken in the crockpot breast side down. Put the lid on. Cook on low to medium heat for about six hours.

When it's cooked, turn it over and allow it to stand for about 20 minutes before carving. The juices will all run back into the breast and it'll be unbelievably succulent and gorgeously garlicky.

********************

Best ever barbecue pork.

1 joint of pork, shoulder is best.

1 can of coke (not diet, you need the sugar)

1 bottle of barbecue sauce.


Mix the cola with the barbecue sauce, pour it over the pork roast, cook it for 12 hours on low heat.

Take the roast out, shred it, serve on buns. This is great for a party and you can also freeze it.
posted by essexjan at 2:03 PM on October 15, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

As the main beneficiary of Evangeline's pot roasts, I can attest to their high Jesus factor! I force her to make me a pot roast every year for my birthday.
posted by grumblebee at 2:06 PM on October 15, 2007

Coat the roast in flour and a little salt and pepper and sear in oil in a dutch oven. Then set the roast to the side. Loosen whatever little chunks that are stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add a cup or so of dry red wine. Cook it for a few minutes until you have significantly less wine than you did before. Pour the wine out into a cup or whater. Now add a layer of veggies (carrots, potatoes, onions) to the bottom of the pot, stick the meat back in and shove as many more veggies as you can down the sides. Throw a bay leaf and some garlic on top. Now pour three or so cups of beef stock (or some water and a couple of bouillon cubes) and the reduces wine over the top. Lid it and put the whole thing a 325 degree oven until it's falling apart (2-4 hours depending on the size of the roast). I made one last week and am already thinking about the next one!
posted by wallaby at 2:14 PM on October 15, 2007

You need Aromatic shoulder of pork ‘Donnie Brasco’, so called because you can “fugeddaboutit” while it cooks for 16-24 hours. This is serious wooing pork. Mrs Writer will swoon with delight.
posted by roofus at 3:23 PM on October 15, 2007

Easy Peasy Pot Roast For Two

-8 oz cubed "beef for stew"
-large handful carrots (baby carrots or regular ones, peeled and chunked)
-one medium onion, quartered

Throw all into a crock pot. Cover with water. Throw in some soy sauce, about twice around the pot. Also a few teaspoons of Better Than Bouillon (beef). Add a drop or two of Liquid Smoke. Throw in a clove or two of garlic, chopped or minced.

Cook on low about 10 hours.

Make up some mashed potatoes from flakes (shh, we won't tell), adding in some butter, garlic powder, and cream cheese and sour cream.

Assemble thusly on each plate:

-layer of mashed potatoes
-hearty sprinkling of shredded cheese (cheddar)
-layer of pot roast beef and carrots
-spoonful of gravy
-sprinkling of french fried onions from the can, micro'd for crispiness.

DELISH.
posted by orangemiles at 3:39 PM on October 15, 2007

this is essentially a jamie oliver recipe.

get a chicken, stuff garlic butter under the skin, grate lemon, and shove it up inside the chicken too. rub olive oil, salt and pepper and paprika on the outside - then slow cook the chicken in the oven - just over 110 degree C - for several hours. Add potatoes, carrots, sweet potato, pumpkin whatever you like best roasted - add these into the same tray as the chicken so they soak up the yummy garlic butter/chicken juices. crank the heat up a bit higher so the veges and chicken crispen up a bit.

delish.

slow cook anything for awesomeness.
posted by robotot at 4:01 PM on October 15, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

A good roast absolutely needs some sort of alcohol, red wine being my personal favorite.

I think very highly of this recipe, and now that the weather has turned I will probably be making it in a weekend or two: Beef Roast Braised in Zinfandel.
posted by AwkwardPause at 4:07 PM on October 15, 2007

Here's how I did a roast over the weekend:

You will need
2-4 pound roast (I used chuck because I'm a cheap-ass bastard, but you can use better cuts)
1 quart beef stock (low sodium, please)
a bunch of carrots
a bundle of leeks
3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled
a handful of fresh herbage (I used a mix that had thyme, oregano, savory and some others)
2-3 bay leaves
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 250.

Trim excess fat and salt and pepper the roast. In a heavy pot with a lid, brown the mean on medium-high heat on each side. Meanwhile, cut up the carrots into large pieces (2 inches or so, peel if you care). Cut and rinse leeks. Dump in stock, add vegetables, garlic, and herbs. Cover and pop into the oven for a minimum of 3 hours. More if possible - it is not possible to overcook as far as I can tell.

Options: I like to pull out the carrots and leeks and serve as is. You can also strain everything and put into some liquid (say, 2 C) with the veg into a blender to make a simple sauce. You can vary the veg a lot. I've used a couple of potatoes (Yukon gold are find, red potatoes are great), cut up into chunks. I've used parsnip. I've added canned tomatoes. All manner of goodness.

Save some liquid for storing leftovers in - it will keep the meat moist and tender.

Over the weekend, an hour before dinner, I kicked up the oven temperature and put in a small pan with butternut squash that was cut into coarse chunks, sprayed with butter flavored cooking spray, salted and lightly dusted with cinnamon, put into a pan and covered with foil.
posted by plinth at 4:37 PM on October 15, 2007

I tried the pot roast at The Hancock Inn (NH's oldest Inn) recently and it was amazing. Might be a little on the complex side, but here's the recipe.

I'm sure you could simplify it by using some type of canned broth instead of the veal stock.
posted by bondcliff at 4:38 PM on October 15, 2007

A lot of us in the South make this. It's so good.

1 chuck roast
1 envelope dried onion soup mix
1 can cream of X soup (I like mushroom)

Put it all in the slow cooker. No need to stir. Cook until done. Serve over/with noodles, rice or mashed potatoes. Delish!
posted by FergieBelle at 5:12 PM on October 15, 2007

My mother would sometimes use FergieBelle's recipe instead of her usual one. It's really good too, and it makes a nice creamy gravy that's really good for dipping Sunbeam dinner rolls in. Or Sister Schubert's yeast rolls.
posted by Evangeline at 5:20 PM on October 15, 2007

I did a roast yesterday, we had leftovers today...it's still great..

a 3 lb rolled rump roast

a dutch oven.

put some oil in the dutch oven (this is the key ingredient...spend a few bucks on a good, cast iron, dutch oven, it will last for generations! Mine was my grandmothers!), heat on the range, sear all sides of the roast.

heat the oven to 350 degrees... put in a cup or so of water, pepper to taste, a bit of salt, some french provincial seasoning... three or four small yellow onions...

Check the water ever hour or so, don't let it dry out..

Cook for about 3.5 or 4 hours...throw in some potatoes and carrots an hour or so before you want to serve it...

make gravy with the juice left in the dutch oven.

it should melt in your mouth....

time for a sandwich... :)
posted by HuronBob at 5:48 PM on October 15, 2007

My totally improvised, super easy ass-kicking pork roast recipe:

Ingredients
2 lb. pork loin
Two tart-ish apples (I used Cortlands), sliced into eighths
1 large yellow onion, sliced into thin rounds
2 medium carrots, sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
Apple juice (approximately 2 cups)
1 medium ginger root, finely diced
2 tbs. honey
1 tsp. Better than Bullion vegetable bullion
Salt and pepper


Preparation

Dust the loin with salt and pepper and sear it in a hot pan with a minimal amount of oil, until browned and the faintest bit crispy on all sides. In the center of a large baking pan, arrange the onion medallions into a bed for the pork loin. Place the loin on the onion bed, then surround with the remaining fruits and vegetables. Pour in approximate 1 inch of apple juice; of your veggies are floating, you've added too much. Mix the ginger and honey into a paste; slather the majority onto the top of the roast, and add the remainder to the pan, along with the bullion. Pop into a 375 degree oven for approximately 1 hour (use a meat thermometer to determine when it's done), flipping the roast over at the halfway point.

Serve with mashed potatoes and a Trappist ale. Sensational.
posted by saladin at 5:55 PM on October 15, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

If you're feeling a bit exotic, you might like to try Dong Po pork (which is essentially slow-cooked pork belly in a soy/ginger sauce). My recipe is here and there's no reason this wouldn't work in an oven or a crock-pot. Last one I did took about 3 hours - it was so tender I had trouble cutting it as it kept falling to pieces.
posted by ninazer0 at 6:10 PM on October 15, 2007

First, sear the meat, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic salt, and any other seasoning you like, either on a grill (which is what we do) or in a dutch oven with a bit of olive oil. When the meat is seared on all sides place it in dutch oven or aluminum pan, and add the vegetables that you enjoy. I've discovered that you just cook with the things you like on a layer of bacon. We like onions, green peppers, mushrooms, and potatoes. Add red wine vinegrette dressing, worcheshire sauce, teriyaki sauce, to taste and let it simmer for hours, about 3 - 4. When it starts smelling really good, take it off the flame and let it sit until all the flavors blend together and it cools off. It tastes better the next day. Really, just put all the things you like into it and it will be fine. You don't need to measure.
posted by wv kay in ga at 6:48 PM on October 15, 2007

as a slight variation on using coke:

1 roast
1-2 cans regular coke (dr pepper is good too)
1 packet of onion soup mix
2-4 potatoes, chopped into biggish pieces (optional)
2-4 carrots, chopped into biggish pieces (optional)

rub soup mix onto roast
put in crock pot on low
walk away for ~6 hours

say mmmmmmmm

depending on the size of your roast, you might want to flip it over about halfway through, but it's not required.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 7:05 PM on October 15, 2007

This is from my own cheap ass college student cook book (I made my parents get me a 5 quart crock pot for Christmas one year), that works out really well.


-2-3 large onions
-Whole Bay Leafs
-Garlic (lots)
-Beer (lagers usually, whatever I had laying around, one or one half depending on if I kept drinking them before adding them) Sometimes some whiskey if I had some laying around.
-Chuck Roast
-Salt
-Pepper

French the onions (i believe, so they are long thing slices), put them in the bottom, layer everything in order as listed (keep meat on top), put on high.

After about 2 hours you will have a nice layer of juices from the onions which are starting the carmelize, so take some tongs and stir up the pot, and try to nestle the meat in the middle. Set it on low, and cook for as long as you can hold out. It would create an amazing broth, which was great as a french dip sandwich.

If you want you can reduce the onions and liquid a bit, and add some potatoes and carrots closer to the finish time (I just winged it each time) so they keep their firmness. I didn't do any fancy browning with the roast most of the time, and it came out good. Not browning also meant one less pan to take care and less chance of setting off my smoke detector.
posted by mrzarquon at 10:36 PM on October 15, 2007

NEVER FAIL ROAST BEEF

roast beef 4 1/2 to 12 lbs. (2-5.5 kg)
Flour
Salt
Pepper

Remove roast from refrigerator 2 1/2 to 4 hours before cooking. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260C). Place roast in shallow open pan, fat side up. Sprinkle and rub in a little flour, salt and pepper.

Put roast in oven and roast 6 minutes per pound (2.5 minutes per kg), timing exactly to the minute. When cooking time is finished, turn off the oven. DO NOT OPEN OVEN DOOR AT ANY TIME.

Allow the roast to remain in oven for two hours and again, DO NOT OPEN DOOR. Beef will be medium rare. It will be perfect.

Gravy: The drippings will be lovely and dark and stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add water and use cornstarch (corn flour) to thicken. Salt and pepper to taste.
posted by reflecked at 11:06 AM on October 16, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

ps... this works just fine for smaller roasts. I've used this method with roasts in the 1 pound/0.5 kg size range with .. again..perfect results.
posted by reflecked at 1:03 PM on October 16, 2007