Ingredients
3 pound beef chuck roast, nicely marbled
3 TBSP butter
1 medium white onion, quartered
5 whole cloves garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons dried thyme
6 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
Eighteen small red potatoes
salt and fresh ground pepeper
Preheat oven to 225 degrees. In a large dutch oven, melt the butter. Season the roast on both sides with thyme, salt and pepper. Place meat in the dutch oven and brown on each side. Turn off heat and add onion and garlic cloves to pan. Cover, then put in oven. When meat has been cooking for four hours, throw in the potatoes and carrots. Cook the roast for a minimum of seven hours. Because ovens vary in temperature so much, check at this point to see if the meat is tender and easily pulled apart. It may require another hour or two. If you aren't able to add the vegetables at the four hour mark, feel free to throw them in the roaster with the meat and let them cook all day withe the roast. They'll be very tender and will have absorbed a lot of the juices. Ideally, I throw the meat into the oven at 8 in the morning, return home for lunch, add the vegetables and at 5 PM, the kids turn off the oven, set the table and we eat at 5:15.
This roast will create a lot of juice. You can serve it on the side as an au jus, or add flour water to thicken and create an abundance of gravy. No matter how you serve it, the aroma of this roast cooking all day will fill your home with a fragrance that will have the neighbors' stomachs growling. The secret is the garlic-the low heat and long cooking time allow it to mellow and deepen the flavor.
The pot roast is best accompanied by a green salad and hearty wheat rolls. For a variation, omit the garlic, spices and vegetables. Cook until very tender. Pull meat apart and add to a crock pot with your favorite barbecue sauce. I love Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy, but local tastes will certainly dominate. Barbecue can stand alone or eaten on a bun. Perfect with corn on the cob and baked beans.
