Cooking Roasts

[cherokee]

How, step by freaking step, do I make a roast? Pork or Beef.

Each time I've ever made one-whether the crock pot or in the oven, they suck. They're dry dry dry and TOUGH.

I don't get it.

[ExLibris]

Oooh, girl, first of all, you gotta gitcher self into town here & get a roast from Inboden's. Their beef is SO GOOD, you really can't go wrong. SO GOOD. Just sayin. Anyway, roll your roast in a bit of flour & salt & pepper (just a teeny bit of salt, though), & then brown it in a wee bit of oil in the bottom of a dutch oven on the stove. When all the sides are nice & browned, glurk in a good portion of red wine (I prefer a nice dry merlot, myself...Inboden's can help you out there, too ;D), some beef stock, and a bay leaf or two. I also sprinkle on a bit of thyme & garlic & basil, and whatever else strikes me at the time. Amounts are pretty vague here...I usually do about a cup of wine, a can or two of beef stock, and if it's not deep enough to my taste, I'll add a wee bit of water. It's a personal preference thing, though. Let that cook at a nice simmer with the lid on for a few hours (I usually start it at two or so in the afternoon, to be ready by 6 for dinner). About an hour before you wanna eat, pop in a bag of baby carrots (or chunked up normal ones), an onion that's been sliced into wedges, a few potatoes (washed & cut into big honkin chunks), and whatever else suits your fancy, veggie-wise. Half an hour before you wanna eat, make up some good biscuits. By the time the biscuits come out of the oven, the veggies are cooked, your roast is an acceptable temp, and Life Is Good. If you are my son, you'll drown the whole bloody thing in ketchup, but if you're a normal adult, you won't really need to. The drippy stuff in the bottom of the pot makes an excellent gravy, if you're so inclined, or just drizzled over the slices of roast is fab too. Biscuits with fresh strawberry jam & butter afterwards just really make the meal perfect. Total comfort food, imo.

[Sheryl]

So, my sister makes the very best pot roasts.... fall apart tender and moist. She starts with a chuck roast.... frozen. She seasons it and cooks it in the crockpot all day with a tad bit of beef brother. It is marvelous, but I have since heard that we could all die by eating food that started out frozen and cooked in the crockpot so maybe you want to use somebody else's recipe!

[MJ]

Sheryl, I have cooked mine from frozen many times. I brown it in a skillet, then put potatoes and carrots on the bottom, plunk the roast on top add some garlic and onions to the top put on some seasonings and cook it all day. Oh, I also add liquid to it.

I love roast, I think I need to make one soon. This thread is making me hungry.

MJ

[Mary Ann]

I make my pot roasts pretty much like what Heather said. That's for pot roasts. A standing rib roast would be different, but that's usually a big $$$ deal.

She's right about Inboden's. It's a tiny little meat market in DeKalb, but they do meats that are only grade Prime and Top Choice. The quality is exceptional, well beyond anything in the grocery stores.

If your roasts are coming out dry and tough, you lack moisture and/or fats. Good marbled meat helps (there's fat distributed throughout the muscle, and fat give meat, especially beef, much of it's distinctive flavor), and having your roast in a pot with adequate liquid and a tight fitting lid is necessary. When I make a four or five pound roast, I probably have four or five cups of liquid (or more) in with it. It steams it, and slow heat (long hours in the crock pot or oven at cooler temps) helps to break down the fibers so you get really tender meat that sort of strings. Marinades also help to break down tougher roasts; that's usually acid based vinegar or worchestershire/soy/teriaki type mixtures.

I think the big concern with frozen meats in crock pots is if the innermost part of the meat will reach a high enough temperature during the cooking time, or long enough to kill any bacteria there. I've slapped many a frozen steak on the grill, and that works fine. But a big dense roast at low temperatures may have troubles.

[Mary Ann]

Oh, and by cooler temps I mean 300 or so in the oven if it's going to be there for 5-6 hours, or 200 if you start it in the morning. This correlates to the temps of crock pots at high and low. If you do it on top of the stove in a Dutch oven like Heather does, it's easier to watch, add liquids as necessary, and keep to a very low simmer.

I know with roasts the way Heather makes them you don't have to use a knife to cut them. It's a big challenge to get the roast out of the pot without it breaking apart, so we generally just serve ourselves from the pot by forking out serving sized chunks.

[cherokee]

Yummmmmm....

Well I don't think a trip to Dekalb is in order-we processed our first beef and mmm mmm MMM...the steaks we've eaten so far were FABULOUS. The guy who chopped it up said that all the meat from that animal graded choice...maybe even prime We just got a deep freezer yesterday, per grandma and grandpa's early bday gift for M, so all of our meat that is at his dad's will be coming home probably today. We have several roasts in there

I LOFF meat. I'm such a carnivore. I LOFF beef...yum yum yum.

[Mary Ann]

I LOFF meat. I'm such a carnivore. I LOFF beef...yum yum yum.

Geez, you sound just like Heather. Roast beast grilled beast fried beast boiled beast sauteed beast grilled beast beast beast beast.

Sounds like you got a rockin' birthday gift there! And how nice to have your own home raised beef! You know everything that went into it!

So are you planning to do things like standing rib roasts? That's definitely Christmas or equally elevated fare. Or are you sticking with pot roasts, chuck roasts, beef roll roasts, etc? How'd your butcher cut it?

Oh, and I forgot to say that the wine Chickie suggests is also acid, and helps to tenderize the meat.

[snaffle]

I like to 'sear' (I think that is how ya spell it) my roast in the black cast iron skillet until it looks Like I left it in there a bit too long.
then I put it in a large pan in the oven..
and I always put in an inch or more of water in the bottom of the pan.

maybe it is the water that keeps it moist..
not sure.. but it sure helps make great gravy!!

I sprinkle a ton of salt over it.

[wildfire]

of how to make a roast tender, moist and EASY . . . here’s my suggestion:

Take a chuck roast (I try to NEVER use the word “Roast” in the store, because SOME stores when you say “roast” it automatically adds 1-3 dollars per pound to the SAME cut of meat when it goes through the meat department scanner. Personally, I like to use the “WHOLE sirloin TIP”.)

Take a 5-8 pound “piece of the boneless beef” of your choice.
Dust the whole roast with chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and course black pepper then top with TWP packets of onion soup mix.
Put the roast in a cast iron (or any oven safe pot WITH lid) Dutch oven, pour enough wine (I like a Raspberry Zinfandel) AROUND the roast (NOT over the roast) to cover ½ -2/3 up the sides of the roast. (About ½ a bottle).

Put it in the oven at 200 degrees in the morning, then about an hour before you’re ready to eat; stir in a family size can of cream of mushroom (you can use cream of celery or chicken) soup to the wine. This makes fine gravy.

When you place the meat on the cutting board, DO NOT CUT THE ROAST FOR 15 MINUTES.
This allows the meat to “relax” and helps prevent the roast from “drying out”.

Enjoy!


GLHR!

[KrisAK]

Yep, 200 degrees is the magic number.

Also, get yourself one of those techno-thermometers. They have a probe with a long line that goes out over the top of the oven door and plugs into a digial reader. You set the reader for what temperature you want and when it reaches it, it starts beeping. I generally set mine for medium temperature because I always make a roast larger than what we will eat in one sitting. Then, when it is done cooking, I carve the outer parts because they will be more done than the middle. Then later when I do the middle part for a second meal, it is still pink so reheating it doesn't turn it into shoe leather.

My steps for a roast are to warm the oven to 200 degrees. Season the outside of the roast and sear in the same pan it is going to roast in. I have a mid-size copper bottom sauce pan that works great for me. Remove the roast when it is seared on all sides and ends. Put some wine, beef broth, whatever you'd like in the bottom of the pan & scrape up all those good bits of roast that stuck to the bottom. Slice an onion but don't pop out the "rings" and place across the bottom of the pan. Put roast on onions. This helps keep the roast from sitting directly on the bottom which gives it air flow for more even cooking. Place a couple more onion slices on top of roast. Roast until thermometer reads the temperature you prefer. DO NOT forget, food keeps cooking even after it is removed from the heat. If you don't let it sit 15 minutes you will lose all the juices when you slice into it.

For the leftovers I like to take one of those long serrated edge bread knives and cut it SUPER thin. Then throw it in a frying pan for a few moments just to warm it up. Also flip the remaining onions too and put the works on some toast with mild horseradish spread. Mmmm...

Hope this helps.

KrisAK

[susan cole]

cook them slow on 300 degrees until done also make sure there is moisture, I put a can of cream of mushroom soup over roast and put just a little water in the bottom of the pan.

[Newfygirl]

I am such a carnivore too...We put our pork roasts into the crock pot (while still frozen) and cook them all day long. We'll put in some Hog Heaven BBQ sauce (from North Carolina - we order it by the case) and it is so moist and flavorful when it comes out. Just falls off the bones.

[AmberC]

I do mine pretty simple and easy. Always in the crock pot. I start it around 10 or 11 in the morning. I use jarred gravy (yeah yeah jar gravy! we like it! LOL!) for the liquid. I put some chopped potatoes (about 1-inch thick) and baby or chopped carrots in the bottom. Then I pour in a jar or two of gravy and stir it around with the carrots and potatoes. Throw the roast on top of it. I don't brown it or anything first. It still turns brown while cooking in the crock pot. And then I put the cliced onion on top. Put the lid on it and put it on high until it starts to bubble, then down to low. Around 4pm I turn it over. Carefully. It's still holding together at this point, but will fall apart if I'm not careful. Then we have dinner around 6pm. It totally falls apart. I can cut it with a big plastic serving spoon. Hubby thinks it's the best thing he's ever had.

Oh, and I only buy roast when it's buy one get one free. Cook one, freeze the other.

[snaffle]

Pork roast in the crock pot!!

Yum!!!