Braised Pot Roast of Beef

"I have divided this recipe in half for a 3-4 pound roast but, as written here, this delicious pot roast serves 15-20 people. Perfect because it's best when made 1-2 days before serving. It will pick up additional flavor from sitting in its braising juices, will slice more neatly because the meat fibers will have compacted as they cool and will hold together nicely when reheated. Great tasting pot roast for 6 or 20. Prep and cook times include reheating."
 
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Ready In:
3hrs 40mins
Ingredients:
11
Serves:
15-20
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ingredients

  • 10 -12 lbs trimmed whole bottom round beef roast
  • vegetable oil
  • 6 tablespoons flour
  • 4 cups beef stock, about
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 carrots, roughly chopped
  • 2 large onions, roughly chopped
  • 1 large celery rib, roughly chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
  • 1 large bouquet garni, tied in cheesecloth (10 parsley stems,4 bay leaves,1 tsp thyme, 6 allspice berries)
  • 1 bottle healthy young wine, zinfandel,chianti or of like quality
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directions

  • Tie roast firmly with string; brush all sides with oil and set on a jelly roll pan; brown slowly on all sides under the broiler; watch closely and do not burn.
  • In a heavy saucepan, stir 5 T oil with the flour; continue stirring over moderate heat until roux turns a dark nutty brown,about 10 minutes, do not burn;remove from heat, let cool a bit and stir in beef stock; set aside.
  • Preheat the oven to 350°; using 2 tsp (less if using salted bouillon), salt the meat on all sides and set fat side up in a large, covered roaster or roasting pan with 3"-4" high sides.
  • Place the vegetables, garlic and herb bouquet around the roast and pour in the wine and stock/roux mixture; add more stock if necessary to come almost halfway up the meat.
  • Bring to a simmer on top of the stove; cover (use aluminum foil if necessary) and set in the lower third of the oven; bake 1/2 hour or until sauce is bubbling quietly; baste with the gravy and turn heat down to 325°.
  • The gravy should continue bubbling gently throughout the cooking so regulate oven accordingly; baste and check every 1/2 hour for another 2 hours; begin testing for doneness with a meat thermometer; remove pan from oven.
  • Allow roast to rest 1/2 hour, basting every 10 minutes and turning it several times; remove roast from pan; sieve contents of roaster into a saucepan and squeeze juices out of the braised vegetables into the saucepan.
  • Simmer liquid and skim fat from its surface for 1/2 hour; simmer down until the sauce coats a spoon as it will the meat; taste for seasoning and strength; if necessary thin with more stock or thicken with 2T or more of potato flour or cornstarch stirred into several spoons of stock or wine, simmer for 2-3 minutes.
  • (Roast may be carved and served at this point but is better if cooked several hours or a day in advance).
  • If not serving immediately, pour the sauce around the meat, cover with foil and refrigerate; the roast may be reheated whole or sliced and sauced.
  • To reheat whole, cover the meat closely and place in a 300° oven or simmer it over very low heat on top of the stove, turning it every 15 minutes until internal temperature is 120°, about 30-40 minutes; just before serving, cut and discard the trussing string.
  • To reheat sliced and sauced, return the sliced beef and sauce to the roaster or a large baking pan; cover; baste with the sauce every 10 minutes and warm through slowly in a 300° oven.

Questions & Replies

  1. Do you heat the meat, veggies, stock, etc. in the roasting pan over the stove, then tranfer to the oven? Is it better to use a convection feature or not? Also, on the bouquet are there several bundles of herbs placed all around or just one bundle? I'm planning to make this today. Thank you!
     
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Reviews

  1. This was THE BEST pot roast I've ever had. I did use a chuck roast (saw the meat & bought it before choosing a recipe, lol). It came out perfect. The gravy was delicious. THANK YOU. I made this for the revised Bargain Basement game. :)
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I’m a former interior designer and landscape designer. At the moment I get to enjoy being at home and working only when I want to. I like rollerblading, hiking, backpacking and trips to the ocean. I grew up on a farm in the Midwest and moved to the Northwest when I was thirty, over twenty years ago. I’m afraid they’ll have to bury me here in WA. This is God’s country and I’m never leaving. I have a smallish collection of cookbooks, preferring to use the library and a copy machine. Among my favorites though, are: Recipes 1-2-3, by Rozanne Gold, a collection of recipes containing no more than 3 ingredients (excepting water, salt and pepper); A Treasury of Great Recipes, by Mary and Vincent Price, recipes collected from friends and chefs of great restaurants around the world; The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, by Nancy Harmon Jenkins, about a collection of cuisines I’m convinced are the healthiest in the world and The Low-Calorie Gourmet, by Pierre Franey. Currently my passions are our dogs, the garden, cooking, the natural world and of course, Dh. I can now add Zaar to that list of passions (translate: addiction). We have three dogs, two rescued and one adopted. They are Sugarpea, a Golden Retriever, Chickpea, a Llasa Apso and Sweetpea, a Shih Tzu; small, medium and large. We’re quite a sight out on the trail. One of the things I am most fond of about living here is the ability to vegetable garden year ‘round.
 
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