I still remember asking my mom to make pot roast for my birthday. I couldn’t remember what it was called, so I asked her to make the “meat that looks like mulch”. That certainly doesn’t sound like a commendable description, but when a good chuck roast is dealt with skillfully, its tender shreds are certainly worthy of a birthday dinner. Regardless of whether it calls to mind the image of mulch.
We usually use chuck roast for this recipe, since the marbling of fat in chuck keeps the roast tender and moist as it cooks.
Now, for the recipe:
Preheat oven to 300°F and allow the roast to come to room temperature. We usually use a 2-3 lb bone-in chuck roast.
Put a skillet or dutch oven on the stovetop over very high heat. Pat off excess moisture from the roast as well as possible. Salt as desired.
Sear the roast in lard or another heat-tolerant fat for a few minutes on each side, or until well-browned and crusty.
Put the roast in a pan/pot that can be covered and put in the oven – if you used a dutch oven or cast-iron skillet, lucky you! It will be a one-pot dinner!
Add vegetables – potatoes, carrots, and onions work well. Don’t chop them up too small, because they’ll have to cook for a while. Add herbs – I prefer thyme and rosemary.
Pour a cup or two of wine of the roast, cover, and put in the oven for 4+ hours. If you need dinner sooner, you can turn up the temperature a little, although this won’t turn out quite so lusciously tender. On the other hand, the roast will also happily continue cooking for longer if it must. It just gets more tender as it cooks.
When serving, don’t forget to include the lovely juices in the bottom of the roast!
