Ahhh… There’s nothing in the world I love more, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, than a beautiful pot roast supper… It’s a classic culinary metaphor for ‘comfort’. And today’s recipe may be the ultimate plated expression of that object of culinary perfection!
You may say the classic pot roast is passé. If you’re serious about superbly tender, succulently juicy, ultra-flavurful animal protein, you must mean pulled pork. It’s THE long-braised, fork-tender ‘thing’ of the 2020s…
Nonsense!
There are two beef cuts I will still pay the going price for. On special occasions. When I think I de-serve a treat. One is a nice, well-marbled ribeye steak. The other is a classic pot roast.
I remember how my mom made her pot roast. It was simple but effective. She just placed it in the dutch oven, surrounded it with chunky-cut carrots, onions and celery, and poured in a can of Camp-bell’s Beef Broth. A good sprinkle of salt and pepper, and in the oven it went.
After a while, the unmistakable scent of a maturing pot roast began to leak out of the kitchen. And by supper time, I was having trouble keeping my anticipation in check.
Finally
They say 90 percent of the pleasure of getting something you love is actually in the wanting… There’s probably no better illustration of this ancient principle of human nature than the pot roast.
So, when your family or guests have been waiting all afternoon, building mountainous expectations of the treat to come, you have to deliver. Ideally, you want to exceed their wild expectations…
What you do…
… Is follow the directions in the video above. It’s a touch long, but it will engross you, and the 17 minutes yo invest in absorbing it will repay themselves many times over.
But I feel compelled to point out some of the key refinements Chef Vincenzo introduces in his Pot Roast procedure.
Some refinements
The chef first commits a saintly sin of melting about 1/3 lb / 150 g of butter. You know immediately, from that, how the rest of the dish is going to unfold…
To the butter, he adds thyme and oregano to infuse their flavours and aromas into the mix. Then he sears the meat on all sides, until it is a deep, caramelized, umamified brown.
Next, he deglazes that pan with about 6 oz / 175 ml of rich, full-flavoured medium dry red wine. And there’s the central secret to the dish’s eventual, taste bud-boggling flavour!
At this point, chef Vince adds the same chunky-cut veggies Mom used, along with several whole cloves of garlic – a classic Italian touch. The veggies must be cut chunky so they maintain their structural integrity through the coming hours of braising.
After about half an hour of covered braising, Vince turns the meat. It’s already turning an even-deeper brown on the bottom side. Time to anoint the other side similarly.
And after another half hour or so, he removes the meat temporarily and stirs into he braising liquid about 6 oz / 175 ml of tomato sauce. In Italy they use Passata. You can use whatever thick, rich to-mato sauce you prefer.
back into the pan goes the meat – to continue ‘slow-cooking’ for at least another 3 hours. How much longer you let it go after that is up to you. Total cooking time will, of course, depend to a certain extent on how thick your roast is…
My take
Yes, chef Vincenzo’s take on Pot Roast is considerably more fussy than my Mom’s British-heritage version. But I have to admit, the end product, served with simple boiled or mashed potatoes, and the veggies from the pot, is a thing of beauty and a joy to behold…
~ Maggie J.