Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Recipe for My Famous Chuck Roast

I have had so many requests for this recipe (I had remarked about it on "Twitter" last weekend) that I decided to put it here. It's my recipe for chuck roast in a crockpot---and start early in the day:

Ingredients:

A two-to-four lb chuck roast (and it can be a fatty one)

flour to cover both sides of roast before browning

One package of Lipton Soup Mix, "Mushroom Onion" flavor

beef bouillon cubes, 4 or 5

salt & pepper

potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

carrots, peeled, cut into chunks

a large onion cut into large pieces

Method:

First (after you flour both sides of the roast), brown & sizzle your roast in oil until both sides are a deep brown and it smells delicious. Put it in the crockpot. Dump in all of the above ingredients into the crockpot around the sides of the roast. Then pour in water until the water rises to about 2/3 high (or higher if you want more gravy) on your roast. Then simmer it all day. I have a crockpot which gives me low-med-high. So I start out with an hour on low, 3-4 hours on med, then 4 hours on high. It just depends on what your crockpot has. But you want it simmered for practically all day until the roast is so fork-tender that it falls off your fork when you check it for doneness.

Gravy: Then, finally, thicken the juice with either flour or corn starch.

Hope you like it.

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14 comments:

Bo... said...

To people who try to leave rude and obnoxious comments: I will only print them if they are totally clever and make me laugh like a hyena.

Donna said...

This is almost exactly how I do mine & you're right -delicious every single time!!! Instead of the beef cubes I use Worcestershire (or however it's spelled) sauce. I also add tons of pepper to the flour that I roll the roast in because Big Daddy likes it really peppery.

Do you have a good biscuit recipe to go with this? The only time mine don't come out like rocks is when I make them out of the can :-(

Anonymous said...

Not totally clever, and I don't care if you delete: your pot roast recipe is way overloaded with sodium! Mercy! Lipton soup mix and bouillon cubes and salt - are you sure?

Bo... said...

Hi Donna! Thank you very much! For my biscuits, I pour Bisquik into a bowl and then add milk until it's the consistency that I can do "drop" biscuits on the pan. (Sticky, medium thick) Or I might actually roll the dough out to about a 1/2" thickness (using Bisquik as the "flour" to keep it from sticking to the rolling pin)and cut them out with a drinking glass. Then I bake them slightly less than the baking time on the box as I don't like too brown of bottoms. Hope this helps!

Bo... said...

To Anonymous: As Paula Deen would say, I'm your cook---not your doctor.

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous: As Paula Deen would say, I'm your cook---not your doctor.

lol - I'm glad you're not my cook OR my doctor! Just saying that would make an awfully salty gravy.

Bo... said...

But Anonymous, it really isn't that salty to me. That's why I use a little extra salt. I don't know if it's just that I use a lot of liquid because I want a lot of gravy (and so the salt is diluted a lot) or what. I am also known for making enough to feed a small country. (I have one of those huge crockpots.) So it takes a little more boullion--and maybe a little extra salt. I'm talking a pinch or so. Try it! Then tell me what you think! :)

Anonymous said...

Bo,
tell your Donna that if she's always getting concrete biscuits, she's probably over-working her dough. I use a standard baking powder biscuit recipe and cut my butter in until it's the size of small peas. When you mix in the milk, only stir as much as needed to hold it together, and just knead it a few times before rolling out. Mine are always fluffy and light
Buttermilk helps with that too...

Lora

Bo... said...

Thanks, Lora!

Donna said...

I think Lora's right - I think I am kneading them too much. I will try and not bake them too much either like you said Bo ...they always come out too dark because I follow the directions on the box. I am definitely cooking them for too long! Or I could just do what I've been doing...opening the can or begging my sister to make them for me :-)

As for the comment regarding salt ... a cheap cut of fatty meat like a chuck roast NEEDS a lot of salt not only for seasoning but also for the chemical reaction it provides to break down the muscle tissue. Braising it in liquid like in a crockpot helps this process but it needs the salt in some form to help break this meat down. Besides, I'm with Bo on the whole lotsa gravy thing. What else are you gonna eat yer biscuits with?????

Bo... said...

Oh Donna! Now I've got biscuits and gravy on my mind!

Bo... said...

Thank you, QSC85213!!!

Meg said...

Wow, that sounds really yummy. I do my roasts in a very similar way, but I've never cooked one in the crockpot. I'll have to try it.

Meg


P.S. I agree about the salt as well. Between the liquid you add for the gravy and the inclusion of the potatoes, it stands to reason that you're going to have to add more salt than you would for an oven-cooked roast. What is it about potatoes that they just soak up all the salt you could throw at them, anyhow? It's like kitchen alchemy.

Bo... said...

Thank you, Meg! And you're right about the salt. I've never had anybody complain about the salt content whenever I've made it for company.