I love the slow cooker, but I often feel it is misused when a piece of beautiful meat is tossed inside, and then smothered with a half gallon of cooking liquid. In my opinion, the liquid dilutes the flavor and dries the meat by drawing the best the cut has to offer out of it. That said, braising cuts are rich in collagen, and moisture is required in order to break it down. But over the years, I’ve learned that moisture can be found in the form of humidity, or in a few carefully chosen vegetables with high water content, or even in the fat of the meat itself. Here is a recipe I cooked up last week using these principles. I filled my slow cooker half full with sliced onions, set my chuck roast inside, and let the cooker do all the work of caramelizing the onions, and they, in turn, did all the work of braising the meat. I think this was the richest, juiciest and most flavorful pot roast I’ve had in a long while. And the broth that ensued, combined with the leftover onions, made an amazing batch of onion soup….without me having to go to the effort of caramelizing the onions separately in a skillet!
Serves 6
1 large chuck roast, 4-5 pounds
Salt and Pepper to taste
6 large white onions, sliced into 1/4 inch rings
Pat the meat dry, then rub it all over with the salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet* until you can see a little smoke rising off the pan. Grease it with butter or tallow, then sear the meat for 4 minutes per side. Place the onions in the slow cooker, set the meat on top, and cook on low for 7-9 hours, until the meat is fork-tender. Serve the beef with some onions spooned on top, and don’t forget to make onion soup with the leftovers!
*Selecting the right size skillet for searing is very important. To ensure evening browning, it should be big enough so that when you set the roast inside, there is at least one inch of space surrounding the meat on all sides.
Oh, the dilemma of further education! I am on yours and Bob’s side, Shannon. My parents couldn’t afford college for us. So right out of high school, with her public education in business, my older sister got an excellent job as a corporate secretary in a local business, and did very well. She put herself through college, getting degrees in business management. To this day, she has done very well in her chosen field. I, on the other hand am an artist, w/ no business savvy whatsoever, and so during high school, also went to vocational tech and got a three year education in the advertising and printing fields. My first job, also out of high school, was in a small advertisement publisher, where I designed the ads, set the type, and pasted-up (oh yeah, drawing board, t-square and rubber cement back in those days) the mechanicals that went to the printer. In later years, I learned the “art” of doing it on the computer. I am a big fan of vo-tech school. As a student, if I made an appointment, on Friday afternoon, I could go to the beauty culture class to have my favorite student do my hair! We could buy and take home goodies from the culinary arts class. If a minor injury happened, down to nursing class one could go. That was the best thing ever happened, all part of public education.
My parents were not rich by any imagination. But our parents were thrifty and others thought we were rich because we had a late-model car in the driveway and our house was neat and well-gardened, by Mom, the homemaker/landscaper.
After 41 years of single, never-married living, a wonderful man came along and married this old maid. Now I’m retired, and we live in an old, single wide trailer that looks new because the former owners took great care of it. It’s the biggest place I’ve ever lived in! We’re pretty frugal, and greatly depend upon meat farmers such as yourself as well as the local produce farmers around here. I am not happy about this disappearing culture, and pray always for the farmers. What in the world do people think they’re gonna eat, as orchards give way to shopping centers?
I would be curious, in case I missed it, about the outcome of “Charlie” in the musical you went to see…
Now this is in re: the chuck roast w/caramelized onions, Shannon! Never even heard of caramelized onions before your cookbook. So the first time, the pan may have gotten caramelized, the onions got burnt, and I have no appetite for a caramelized iron psn, besides othervthings that perished in it. We ate out that night.
But the next time… oh, my, what a delight! I may or may not have a chuck roast in oour freezer; will have to greusch arpund in the freezer, but would a London broil do? What a yummy recipe – thank you!
Hi Nancy! NO! NO LONDON BROIL FOR THIS RECIPE!
Too lean. Get something from the shoulder.