It

November 4, 2007 9:22 AM

Help with crock pot roast recipe!

I won't lie, my cooking sucks. Even I have screwed up crock-pot recipes.

I have a nice roast, 2.4 lbs, in the crock pot and have about 6 hours or so to cook. I want to do the basic beef and noodles.

- Should I cook on Hi or Lo (those are my only options) given the time frame?
- Should I turn the roast over during the cooking process?
- If so, when?
- Regarding the amount of liquid- should there be enough to cover the meat?
-When do I add the noodles? I have regular, dry egg noodles, about 3/4 inch wide not the really wide ones).

Any other tips wuld be welcome. Thanks!!

posted by I_Love_Bananas to food & drink (19 comments total)

If you have 6 full hours you could cook it on Low if you get it in there right away. Browning the roast first can help with flavor. Don't add enough liquid to cover, I usually add a cup or so of liquid. You don't need to turn the roast over.

I don't know about the noodles, I've never put them in with a roast before. I also have never used the High setting on my crock pot, so someone else would have to tell you how long you would need on High.
posted by cabingirl at 9:39 AM on November 4, 2007

Oh, and forgot to say, don't peek at all during cooking. Each time you open the crock put it takes 15 min. to come back up to temperature.
posted by cabingirl at 9:40 AM on November 4, 2007

I would put the roast on high for the first hour, only, to bring it more quickly up to cooking temperature. Then turn it down to Low. Slow cookers run on high at about 160º F and low at 140º so you're not gonna get a huge boost except for creating a safer environment more quickly. A cup or two of stock / broth / saline is nice, but half a cup and coarsely chopped carrots, onions, celery, anise ... whatever you have might lend your roast a little bit of complexity.

Like cabingirl, I have no idea about adding the noodles. I would probably cook them first, separately, and add 'em at the end only to warm them up.
posted by mr. remy at 9:44 AM on November 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

If you haven't put the roast in the crock pot yet, brown it well on the stove top first. Just thwap some oil in a pan, turn the heat up, and cook the roast on each side until golden brown. Brown brown brown brown brown brown brown!

Add an onion (chopped into, like 1" pieces) and some garlic (minced) into the crockpot. The liquid doesn't have to be enough to entirely cover the roast; as long as you've got a decent lid on the crockpot. Use beef broth, red wine, water, or some combo thereof. If you check on it and it's drying out, just put some more in.

Use the high marking; maybe cut your roast into a couple of pieces as well, to make sure you get it to the falling apart stage. You can flip if you want, but I wouldn't say you have to.

Don't know what to tell you about the noodles. I'd cook them separately just before serving. Whatever you do, don't leave them in the crock pot the whole time.
posted by Stewriffic at 9:46 AM on November 4, 2007

Oh, and if you want to get really fancy (maybe another time?), make the juice into gravy. People do that lots and lots of different ways. My way is to make a thinnish flour and water mixture (think watery, not batter-like) and pour slowly into the hot liquid while whisking rapidly to avoid lumpiness. Keep whisking the mixture (which should be over a low flame...you'll have taken it out of the crockpot). Do this RIGHT before serving--too long/too much flour/water will make it too thick. The ratio is one that takes practice. Luckily, you can try it out with just a can of broth and some added fat, as a dry run.

Yum. I want some stew. Oh. That's unrelated to my name. Coinkydink.
posted by Stewriffic at 9:54 AM on November 4, 2007

Thanks for the quickness!

It's already in there, so I can't brown/cut up/etc.

It's on high and I'll turn it down in 30 minutes or so.

Still need the noodle scoop though!!
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 9:57 AM on November 4, 2007

I have tried cooking noodles in a crock pot, and it's just a bad idea. They were gummy and hard — you need to boil them or the texture won't come out right. Cook them in a pot on the stove, and add them to the roast at the very last minute before you serve it.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:01 AM on November 4, 2007

On preview: too late for most of my advice, but I'll leave it for future reference.

But PLEASE keep it on HIGH for at least 5 hours. A roast that size (a little smaller than my reference roast) needs about 8-10 hours on a Low setting.

Checking my Judith Finlayson book on slow cooking:

1. Brown the meat first on the stove, then put it in the crockpot. Two pieces might be good rather than one large piece.

2. Pre-cook the veggies in the same pan you browned the roast in. Use a little oil, salt, pepper, whatever spices or herbs you like, and thinly slice onions and celery, while carrots should be cut no thicker than 1/2 inch. Cook veggies until soft, then sprinkle them with about 1 tablespoon of flour, then add up to 1/12 can condensed broth or soup (e.g i can condensed tomato soup plus 1/2 cup condensed beef broth) OR 1 cup of any mixture of stock, wine, beer, tomato juice, etc.

Stir the veggie, flour and liquid until thickened, then put pour over the roast in your crockpot.

==> You don't want more than a cup of thin liquid because the meat and veg will throw off a lot of juice on their own.

3. COOK IT ON HIGH. A 3-4 pound pot roast requires about 10-12 hours to cook through on low, but can be done in 5-6 hours on High. You want the meat to be fork-tender in 6 hours, so don't take it too easy on the heat. If you're wary, give it a quick check at the 5 hour point and turn down to Low only if it's already shredding.

I've never put noodles in with my meat in a crock pot, and I haven't been able to Google any decent recipes that do that at all. Cook the noodles separately at the end.
posted by maudlin at 10:02 AM on November 4, 2007

Don't cook the noodles with the roast. The noodles will absorb the liquid in the pot. Also, they'll be gluey and mushy. Cook them separately. Also, if you are planning to have leftovers, you'd be better off adding the noodles to each portion and storing the roast and noodles separately.
posted by necessitas at 9:12 AM on November 4, 2007

THANKS!

I have to leave soon so my plan is to leave it on high, check it in 5 hours or so, if it's shredded turn it to low, cook noodles separately.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 9:14 AM on November 4, 2007

For future reference this is a really good meal to go with your pot roast:

Take your pot roast and situate it in the bottom of the pot along with potatoes and carrots (frozen will do, fresh is good as well. If you prefer harder carrots put them in a few hours before you're planning to eat). Take a packet of dried onion soup and sprinkle it on top-- then add two cans of Campbell's soup-- one cream (cream of celery is what I usually use but cream of mushroom also works) and one can of french onion soup. You don't even have to mix them. Close the lid, set on low, then leave it on all day (8-10 hours I think works well). The meat doesn't even need a knife it's so tender.

Noodles are best separate agreed!
posted by actionpact at 9:42 AM on November 4, 2007

A 3-4 pound pot roast requires about 10-12 hours to cook through on low

I think this totally depends on your crock pot. If I put a 3-lb roast in my Rival crock-pot, it's way overcooked at even 10 hours on low. Yes, it's "fork tender" but seriously dry and mealy. That's why I gave the advice that you could do it on Low if you had 6 hours - mine are done, and tender, in 6-8. I should have put the caveat in that it depends on your particular slow cooker, and whether it tends to cook fast or not.
posted by cabingirl at 9:52 AM on November 4, 2007

For super, super easy and delicious use the Martha Stewart slow cooker roast recipe. You basically put the roast in on top of the vegetables and pour a can of Campbell's tomato soup on top. It is so easy and so delicious. There are times given for Hi and Low cooking.
posted by krikany at 9:55 AM on November 4, 2007

Wow, cabingirl, does your Rival have an internal nuke powering it? I'm due to replace my current cooker soon, so I'm interested in anything that efficient. What model is it?
posted by maudlin at 10:24 AM on November 4, 2007

It's an old model from the 80s...the classic round 4-quart size type, with a light blue interior. AFAIK they don't sell them anymore. It doesn't have a removable crock, though, so we don't use it as much as I would like. On high it's almost boiling, bubbling and all.
posted by cabingirl at 10:55 AM on November 4, 2007

My fairly new Rival cooks like that too, fwiw.
posted by konolia at 11:02 AM on November 4, 2007

For future reference as well...a really tasty way to cook a roast in a crock pot is to put in the roast (no browning needed) pour a bottle of Italian dressing over it, put on the lid and cook for 6-8 hours on high. You can add potatoes and carrots if you like. I've tried it with diet dressing and it comes out OK, but it's much better with the real thing.

Sometime I will just put in the roast, tomatoes, and carrots and pour tomato sauce over everything and a little season-all and cook for 6-8 hours too.
posted by tamitang at 11:48 AM on November 4, 2007

FWIW, I recently read that older slow cookers tended to have a lower low cooking temperature than today's models, and consequently you shouldn't assume that a given retro/vintage crock pot recipe will work properly in your modern crock pot.

Browning your meat first makes it awesome, by the way. If you can find the ten minutes or so to sear your roast on all sides next time, you'll appreciate it. How'd it turn out this time?
posted by mumkin at 4:58 PM on November 4, 2007

Our family likes pot roast with some bite or zing, so when I'm making CrockPot roast, I add a dash or 20 of Worcestershire sauce, a healthy dose of black pepper, couple cloves of garlic, maybe some chile powder (not in spring or summer, don't know why!) and just a shake of Liquid Smoke. Put the roast atop potatoes, carrots and onions in the pot and cook it all day on low. Holymoly, it's good! And the house smells delicious, too.
posted by Smalltown Girl at 8:23 PM on November 4, 2007