My Ultimate Wintertime Meal

As we approach the middle of January, My Ultimate Winter Meal has to be resurrected.   And that would be Beef Chuck Pot Roast and Vegetables.    Back in the old days, a chuck roast was a very inexpensive meal...but NOT today!   Seems like they are 4 bucks minimum a pound and up from there!  So, I am very conscious of all the sales of good Angus Beef.   

As a child, my mother always made Pot Roast and I couldn't abide cooked onions.   Now, I find myself buying three pounds of onions a week and they are always a staple on my grocery list.   I love onions.   Now that I think about it all, just about everything I didn't like as a child, I now love as an adult.   Possible, I have become my parents?.....

Here is my version of "dressed up" pot roast.   

@@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format

Charles Roast

Comfort Food, Crockpot, Meats

3 lb chuck roast
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 pkg Lipton onion soup mix
2 tablespoon garlic
1 can beer
1  salt and pepper to taste
1 lg onion   (see note); quarter inch slice, keeping rings intact

Preheat oven to 325F.       I use sliced onion for my "rack" to place roast on.  This allows liquids to circulate under roast...then cook and collapse during cooking.

Heat olive oil in non-stick saute pan but not smoking. Add Chuck Roast and brown on both sides. Spray covered roasting pan with Pam and place roast in pan.    Also, I find my covered Lodge Cast Iron Dutch oven works very well.

Continue heating saute pan and add Lipton Onion Soup mix, garlic and saute for a few minutes. Remember, the heat is on high and you must keep close watch. Add beer. Heat until foaming subsides. Pour over roast and cover pan.

Roast beef for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Variations: During last hour of roasting, add potatoes, celery, and carrots. Root vegetables are particularly good cooked this way. Roast until done. Also, you could add large mushrooms.

Crockpot Version:   I do not brown beef, add to crockpot and keep covered on high for six hours.  Add vegetables during last hour.

Notes:  ©W. H. Stoneman

Yield: 4 servings


** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.87 **


And on to the GOOD GRAVY!   When the roast is falling apart, I remove all the vegetables, cover and keep warm in the oven along with the covered beef.   Now it is time to make the gravy.  


I leave all the cooking liquid in the pan and bring to a boil on the stove-top.   In a shaker jar, I add a quarter cup of flour and usually a half cup Madeira.   If out of Madeira, any liquid will work including milk.   Combine the flour and liquid and blend well.  


While using my stick blender to chop all leftover onion bits, etc, I add the flour slurry blending well.   Boil until thickened.   Adjust seasonings, and I always add a teaspoon of Tabasco sauce.   Usually salt is not needed since we used the Lipton Onion soup mix which has plenty.  

Plated with a nice glass of 

Cabernet Souvignon....Bon Appetit!