How to Make a Pot Roast Like Mama Used to Make
Her secret was using a crock pot.
Sunday wasn't Sunday without a pot roast for dinner. For years my Mother worried if the preacher went too long with his sermon her pot roast at home in the oven would be the Sabbath's burnt sacrifice by the time her family got home.
Those fears were banished forever with the invention of the crock pot. The longer the roast slowly cooked, the better it turned out. The test for a great roast was whether or not it fell apart when you cut it for serving.
I don't know of a more delicious way to cook vegetables (especially carrots) than in the pot along with the roast. They simply absorb the flavors of the beef and spices as the hours go by.
Homemade rolls, crescent rolls, or plain old sliced white bread and butter are the perfect complement to the meal. (It also comes in handy for sopping up the extra gravy.)
Don't get discouraged if the gravy doesn't turn out exactly right the first time you try to make it. Gravy-making is not an exact science and takes a fair amount of trial and error to master. Even old hands at it mess it up from time to time, usually because a phone call, a crying child, or an unexpected visitor right at mealtime distracts her attention. Never walk away from gravy in the process of being made. It doesn't take long for it to turn out right and takes even less time for it to turn out wrong.
I always make more of this dish than I know will be eaten at one meal. The leftovers make absolutely the best soup in the world.
Thanks, Grandma, for another great meal!
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 1/4 pound per serving Chuck Roast, for Pot Roast
- 2 Tablespoons Butter, for browning meat
- To taste Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Celery Salt
- 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoning
- 1 large Onion, Cut in quarters
- 4 large Potatoes, Cut in quarters
- 4 large Carrots, Cut into bite-size
- Brown the roast in butter on all sides, good and crispy
- Peel and cut onion and carrots and potatoes. (Potatoes may be used unpeeled.)
- Put all ingredients in a crock pot with spices.
- Cover and set crock pot on low setting
- Roast should fall apart when cut
- Use roast drippings for flour-based gravy.
- Make a rue with 1 Tablespoon drippings, 1 Tablespoon four for each person. Combine on medium heat in frying pan. Reduce heat and add drippings to make amount of gravy desired. Taste with a piece of bread to test flavor and thickness. Use water or milk instead of additional drippings to reduce the grease in the gravy.
- Correction for step 7: 1 Tablespoon drippings, 1 Tablespoon flour for each person.
