Meat . . . it's so . . . so . . . primal . . . so . . . meaty!
Can your believe I grew up never experiencing the joys of pot roast?
I'm still recovering. Part of my recovery is making pot roast almost every time an appropriate piece of meat comes into my possession.
Oh my precious . . .
My pretty . . .
I happened to have this gorgeous bit o' beef brisket waiting for me in my freezer. Here in Mizzou brisket is always available and frankly it's usually a great deal. It has a great deal of lean meat in it for a reasonable price. I like to buy a whole one and cut it in half for twice the family happiness!
I'm betting the butcher would slice it for me though. He slices my pork loins. He wraps them up into little individual packages. It warms my heart. But I've never asked him to cut my brisket. I should. It's job security. I don't know what I'd do without a butcher behind the meat case. I've lived that way before and I've put those evil days behind me. Have you told your butcher you love him lately? What? You don't even speak to him? You buy everything out of the meat case? Nothing from the meat counter? Be brave, be bold. He will lead you in all ways good and meaty. But be polite. He has knives . . .
You need to season the meat a little. I put a teaspoon of salt and fresh ground pepper in a bowl all ready to go.
I put it in the bowl so I could just grab,rub and flip the meat around and not have to worry about getting meat juice on my shaker and grinder. I seriously should of doubled both amounts but it doesn't matter. I just added a little extra salt to the cooking liquid.
Put a nice Dutch Oven on some high heat. My dutch oven broke . . . it was a sad, sad, day for me. So I'm just using a nice super heavy stockpot I own. I put a little bit of oil in the bottom so I could judge how hot the pan was. When it starts to emit a tad bit of smoke it's ready.
I put the fatty side down first. Within 30 seconds smoke alarms were going off all over the house. It's how the family knows I'm cooking. I appreciate the benefits of high heat and searing you see.
Three minutes later I flipped it and got a new explosion of smoke. Mmmm, that's pure flavor! Brown that side to crusty golden deliciousness and start your flavor hunt.
We've already got umami(meatiness) taken care of in spades with that brisket. I added salt already so we're really looking to add some sour, some sweet and some bitter.
I give you bitterness. I added a nicely sliced onion, some whole parsley stems, some garlic, bay leaf, and . . .
. . . a teaspoon of thyme leaves.
Tuck them all in, safe and sound. Ready for their bath/sauna!
Now for a cup of nice red wine. It was an unfamiliar wine so I had to make sure it was nice dry and tasty, didn't I? There's no sacrifice I won't make for pot roast.
Hmm, the sweet? Well I couldn't find a sweet that floated my boat today. If I had sauteed my onions first they would of added sweetness. One of my favorite ways to add sweetness to a pot roast is with PRUNES! Can you imagine? I don't even like prunes and I tried a recipe once with saurkraut and prunes in it and it was MAGNIFICENT! It's not my recipe to share though so you'll just have to come over and I'll make it for you sometime! Okey dokey? Okey dokey!
So, I decided I'd serve my pot roast with some nice sweet carrots! The balance doesn't have to be within just one portion of the meal. It can be spread out on the plate after all is said and done. So we proceed without adding any sweet to the roast.
One cup of wine isn't enough liquid for a good pot roast so . . .
Then I added enough water to almost cover the roast. I want it in a nice steamy environment. My roast filled the pan up almost entirely so I was worried about having enough gravy at the end you see. If I had a pot with more room surrounding the roast I might of only filled it to half way up the meat. Turn up the heat now. You want to get things heated up.
Bring all the goodness to a boil. Then stick a lid on it and turn the heat to simmer. You can cook your roast this way for the rest of the way but there's other options. You could transfer this whole boiling mass to a crockpot and cook it at this point. If you did I would recommend only add the water to the half way point though. You get so little evaporation in crockpots you see. The other option is the oven.
Preheat your oven to a toasty 300 deg F. Then you stick the whole pot in the oven! This is what I prefer to do. So after putting the lid on I stuck it in the oven and checked it every hour.
An hour later the roast was cooked through and had become a giant somewhat shrunken glob of tough meat. This is what brisket and other meats like it do. They have a ton of "collagen" and it seizes up around the fibers. The secret is to just close it up again and let it cook for another hour. An hour at the boiling point, 212 deg F, causes the collagen to melt and make a roast become all fabulous and gelatinous.
Ahh! The fork slides in and out like butter now! It's done! But we're not ready to eat. If I want to make nice slices in this brisket it's gotta rest. If I tried to cut into it right now it would shred up into it's natural fibers and you'd have a tender beef spaghetti! Besides it's only 3:00 in the afternoon. So I let it cool down for a couple of hours. You could put it in the fridge if you're the safe sort. But I live on the edge. So I just sat it on the stove top with the lid on. (We do have a cat!) I knew when it was cool enough because I could handle it with tongs and it didn't break apart.
It's a beauty isn't it?
I strained all the aromatics from the gravy. There was very little grease. Brisket's fat is so visible, yet it seems to want to stay on the meat. You'll want to taste this gravy and add salt or pepper or a teaspoon of cider vinegar or a dollop of ketchup to it. Whatever it needs. If it's a little bland you can put it back in the pot and boil it down to strengthen the flavor. You could even cook some carrots in it!
Now for the brisket. It should be cool enough that you can peel any visible fat off of it. Mine was the "point cut." So it had a layer of fat on top and a layer of fat in the middle. I just scraped it all off and threw it in the trash. Though the little birdies probably would of appreciated it. Maybe next time I'll throw it in the freezer and make them a suet pack?
It's super tender yet I can slice it if I stick to big slices. If I had refridgerated it I could of made little, neater slices. Take all your slices and . . .
Put them back in your gravy. You could put these in a nice freezable serving dish and throw it in the freezer for a dinner party you're having next week if you wanted! Or you could just put it in the fridge for the dinner you're having after a busy day tomorrow. Regardless you will have to reheat the meat gently. Either in the oven or on a stove top depending on what your pan likes.
Plain Pot Roast
4 lb beef brisket
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
8 stems of parsley, washed
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 cup dry red wine
1 can low sodium broth, beef, chicken or vegetable
Season roast with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 300 deg F. Heat large dutch oven over high heat and put oil in it. When oil starts to smoke place roast in pan and brown for approximately 3 minutes. Turn heat down if it smokes too much. Brown other side of roast and then turn heat off until other ingredients are ready to go in. Put remaining ingredients in pot. Add water until roast is almost covered. Turn up heat again and bring to a good simmer. Cover pot and place into oven. Check roast every hour. Flipping it at that time. If it looks like it's boiling rather than simmering in there turn the heat down. You can add a little more water if necessary. Roast should be done in approximately 3-4 hours. A meat fork should slide into the meat easily. Allow roast to cool in it's juices, usually at least 2 hours. Strain sauce. Taste the sauce and add salt if necessary. Slice roast and reheat in the sauce.
OH MY!
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