Pot Roast Wars: Julia vs Kay

Second Wednesdays this month was Julia's Pot Roast. As usual her recipe was majorly fussy requiring a whopping 5 pounds of bottom round, trussing, an herb bouquet and an entire bottle of 'a good red jug'. I didn't mind that last part, but the rest seemed like a lot of extra work.

The first hitch came when I asked the butcher for 5 pounds of bottom round, which was more than anyone had ever ordered before, so he had to go cut it especially for me. I foolishly didn't specify that it needed 1/8 inch of fat, so it came with only the lean. I didn't want to complain, and originally I thought that maybe it would be okay, but eventually I was back at the butcher seeing if I could buy some fat. I couldn't, but they dug some out of I know not where and gave it to me for free. So now there was a reason for the trussing, to tie on the fat.

Then the meat needs to be dried and painted with oil. Then it needs to be broiled so that it is nicely browned all over. Then the onion and carrots have to be chopped and sauted and added to the meat along with that jug of red and an equal amount of beef broth, a cup and a half of tomatoes the herb bouquet which included interestingly, peppercorn, allspice berries, cloves, thyme, garlic, parsley and bay leaf. Finally the entire pot is brought to a boil on the top of the stove and then put in the oven to braise for 2.5 to 3.5 hours with a sheet of aluminum foil over the roast plus a lid on the pan. Begin the braise at 400 degrees and then after 15 minutes reduce the temperature to 325. And even now you are not allowed to sit back on your laurels, now you need to turn that monster every half hour so that a different part of him is exposed and out of the liquid.

And for all of this extra effort do you actually get a superior product? I didn't think so. The end result seemed to me to be a bit dry. That could have been at least in part remedied if there had been plenty of gravy, but there was only 3 cups of gravy, which is a meager amount to serve with 5 pounds of meat.

But Kay's Pot Roast, which I have adapted from a recipe given to me by my good friend Joy McManus, begins with a 2-3 pound chuck roast and does its braising in the slow cooker, so once it is in and the lid is on, you can go on your merry way for the next ten hours. First roughly chop 1 onion and throw it in the cooker and plop the roast on top of it. Then cut up a 14 oz. can of cajun style stewed tomatoes (another type would work just find, but I think these add a little pizzaz) and spread them around the outside of the meat. Next add 2 peeled carrots and 1 peeled and chopped potato. Of course, I wanted to include the 'good red jug', but I only needed 2 cups of it and a half cup of beef broth. Then the secret ingredient, 2 packets of onion soup mix, one sprinkled on the meat and one on the broth. I get Lipton's but I am sure others would work fine too. (Each box includes two packets, so use the whole box.)

At the end of the 10 hours remove the meat from the pan and keep warm. Separate the vegetables from the broth and degrease using one of those pitchers with the spout that comes out of the bottom. Pour the remaining liquid (without the fat) and all the vegetables into a blender and puree for several minutes until totally liquified. Then pour it through a large mesh sieve (to catch any surviving chunks of vegetable) and you have 4 to 6 cups of nutritious and delicious gravy without having to make gravy! And the winner of the Pot Roast Wars-definitely Kay.

The Bottom Line:
Julia's Pot Roast-Thumbs Down
Kay's Pot Roast-Thumbs Up