Comfort food is just simple, familiar food that makes you comfortable and warm inside. Sweet Daddy D’s Super Tender Pot Roast is just basic beef and simple ingredients...a Chuck Roast braised in wine with seasoning and herbs until it's so tender it falls apart and melts in your mouth. This no-angst recipe puts the comfort in comfort food.
Super Tender Pot Roast
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Here’s What You Need
No angst, right? We’ll keep the ingredient list down to only those that add super flavor. The focus of a Pot Roast is, of course, the beef. We want a cut that will benefit from a low, slow braise and produce a tender, melt in your mouth experience. We need lots of collagen to meltdown and moisten the meat and the best candidate is a Chuck Roast. Go for a 3 ½ to 4 pound USDA Choice graded Chuck Roast. Check out the Hints and Tips for more on the USDA grades and other cuts that are good options.
These vegetable ingredients will cook with and accompany the beef to add a sweet, deep flavor:
- cipollini onions (see Hints and Tips for substitutes)
- whole carrots
- white mushrooms (see Hints and Tips for substitutes)
- whole garlic
Herbs and Aromatics:
- red wine
- fresh rosemary
- whole bay leaves
Don't forget these very important ingredients:
- Kosher Salt
- Ground Black Pepper
- vegetable oil
Here's What You Need
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This is the perfect Dutch oven (and the one I use) for this Pot Roast and lots of other things and some handy wooden probes to have on hand to make sure it's perfectly tender:
Here’s What You Do
First...you have a beer. Like I said, its simple and no-angst, but that doesn’t necessarily happen without the proper preparation, the mise en place, as it were. It starts with the cook...pop a top off a beer or whatever gets you in the proper frame of mind and read the recipe all the way through. If properly prepared, this recipe will go off like clockwork and you’ll be reaping praises before you know it.
Mise En Place
The chuck roast will need a little prep-pretty simple stuff. As with most meats, it only requires a generous sprinkle of kosher salt and some fresh ground black pepper. Apply that and let it sit while you get the rest of the ingredients lined up. Take the outer skin off the cipollini onions, but leave them whole. Peel the carrots, then slice them into about 1-inch pieces. Gently wash the mushrooms with a soft cloth or very soft brush, then slice them in half (or quarters if they are really big) length-wise. The garlic only needs to have the outer, loose skin removed and, leaving them whole, slice off the bottoms so the cloves are exposed and the stem end hold all the cloves together. Now just measure out the wine and get the Herbs together. Use a heavy bottomed Dutch oven that can go from the top of the stove to the oven, that's all you need. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and you’re ready to put this baby together.
Sear the Beef
Place the Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When it's hot, add the vegetable oil. Let it get simmering then sear the meat about 5 minutes on each side until a nice crust begins to form. When you have it nice and browned, remove the roast from the dutch oven and set it aside.
Sear the beef!
Saute the vegetables
Keeping a medium-high to high heat, saute the carrots and mushrooms until they are starting to brown, which will take about 5 minutes. Since we don’t want them to over-cook, we’ll remove them from the Dutch oven and set them aside to be added back later.
Saute carrots and mushroom first, then remove
Now add the onions and garlic and saute until just starting to brown, which will also take 5 to 8 minutes.
Saute onions and garlic next
Everything back in the pot
With the onions and garlic still in the Dutch oven, deglaze the pot with a little of the wine, scraping off all the fond from the bottom. Stir well, then add the remaining wine and bring it to a simmer. Place the chuck roast back in the Dutch oven along with the rosemary and bay leaves and increase the heat to a heavy simmer for a couple of minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the Dutch oven and place it in the 325-degree oven. 
Everything in the pot
Roast until tender!
After 1 ½ hours, add the carrots and mushrooms to the pot, stir to baste the chuck roast and vegetables, then re-cover the pot and return to the oven. Roast it in the oven for another 1 to 1 ½ hours (2 ½ to 3 hours in total), checking for tenderness at about 2 ½ hours total time by probing it with a wooden skewer or a fork. It’s done when it's very tender-meaning the probe or fork goes in with very little or no resistance-and pulls apart easily. Resist the temptation to take it out too early!
Super Tender Pot Roast!
When it is tender, take it out of the oven and let the roast rest, covered, for about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and rosemary stems and serve by placing the Pot Roast on a platter and pulling the meat apart gently. Place the carrots, mushrooms and onions alongside!
That’s it, all there is to it.
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Hints and Tips
- A Chuck Roast is cut from the front shoulder of the cow. That's a muscle that gets lots of work, so it contains lots of collagen, which is connective muscle tissue. Cooked too quickly, a Chuck Roast will be pretty tough, but when subjected to a slow braise, the collagen breaks down and the beef becomes very tender. Similarly, the back legs of a cow will yield bottom round roasts with a nice amount of collagen and also works well for a Pot Roast, but you may need to cook it a bit longer. Remember, it's done when it’s tender, and it's tender when it feels very tender to the probe.
- Whichever cut you decide on, I recommend getting a USDA Choice grade roast. Of the eight USDA grades for beef, Prime and Choice are the top two due to the amount of marbling. If you happen to have a USDA Prime roast, it will be fabulous, but due to the scarcity of Prime cuts, the extra expense is not worth it in my opinion. Choice is excellent, stay away from Select which only does in a pinch-it’s good but won’t be a juicy and tender as Choice. If you ever cook a steak or a roast and it didn’t turn out as tender as you hoped, check the USDA Grade-I’m betting you didn't have Prime or Choice.
- Chipoline onions are sweet, but if you can’t find them in the market, you can substitute Pearl onions or just about any other “Sweet” onion.
- White mushrooms are mild and fortify the flavor of the dish, but substituting Baby Bellas, or even Portabellas works well. Try a mixture of your favorite varieties and let me know what you think.
Delicious!
Do you know what goes great with this Super Tender Pot Roast? Try some of these:
And don't forget just good ol' mashed potatoes, mac and cheese or cheese grit!
This is the Dutch oven I use and I always keep a bunch 0f these skewers on hand:
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Yeah You Right!
Sweet Daddy D's Super Tender Pot Roast
Here's What You Need
- 3 ½ to 4 pound chuck roast optional-bottom round roast; see Recipe Notes
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 whole carrots 1" slices
- 8 ounces white mushrooms whole or sliced in half
- 12 whole cipollini onions peeled but left whole
- 1 head garlic sliced in half cross ways
- 2 cups red wine
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 whole bay leaves
- to taste Kosher Salt and Ground Black Pepper
Here's What You Do
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
- Sprinkle salt and pepper liberally over the roast and set aside for about 15 minutes.
- Place a dutch oven over medium high heat. Add vegetable oil and sear the meat about 5 minutes on each side until a nice crust begins too form. Remove the roast from the dutch oven and set aside.
- Keeping a medium-high to high heat, saute the carrots and mushrooms until they are starting to brown-about 5 minutes. Remove from the Dutch oven and set aside.
- Add the onions and garlic and saute until just starting to brown.
- Deglaze the pot with a little of the wine, scraping off all the fond from the bottom. Stir well, then add the remaining wine and bring to a simmer.
- Add the roast back to the dutch oven along with the rosemary and bay leaves and bring to a heavy simmer.
- Cover the Dutch oven and place in the 325-degree oven.
- After 1 ½ hours, add the carrots and mushrooms to the pot, stir to baste the roast and vegetables, cover the pot and return to the oven.
- Roast in the oven for another hour to an hour and a half (2 ½ to 3 hours in total), checking for tenderness at about 2 ½ hours total time. The pot roast is ready when it probes tender with a fork or a wooden skewer and pulls apart easily.
- Let the roast rest off the heat, remove the bay leaves and rosemary stems and serve!
Whitney
I've tried several of your recipes (smothered green beans, stewed okra and tomatoes) trying this one today. I'm up in Shreveport and you're one of the few folks I trust. I'll have to let you how it turns out. I've been exceedingly happy for your help thus far though.
Sweet Daddy D
Good to hear from you, Whitney. Thanks for trying my recipes, I hope this one is up to your standards. Enjoy!
Marian
Let me guess why you chose to post this after the weekend. Looks delicious. Will it cure a headache?
Sweet Daddy D
Like a charm!