A few years ago friend, mentor and sometimes fly fishing | hunting | general debachery compadre Ed called urgently after a trip he’d taken back East (for Ed meaning anything east of a line draw running north and south and passing through Denver).
He said that he’d had the ‘best frackin’ pot roast’ at an upscale eatery somewhere out on Cape Cod and must have the recipe; neither he nor I can remember the name of the restaurant that he pestered me to call and beg them to give up their secret.
I do remember calling them and: a) explaining that Ed was somewhat demented, and b) he thought their pot roast was the best he’d ever eaten, and c) that Ed didn’t have long to live (we’ve been guessing that for over a decade now actually).
The manager I spoke to unbelievably took pity on us (demented and dying old man stories do carry a certain amount of oomph) and sent out a recipe that Ed (and we) have fiddled with a few times over the years, morphing to its current configuration below. (The original recipe called for a healthy dose of either potatoes or parsnips too, though Ed and I felt they were just too plain and upped the mushrooms in their place.)
We’ve packed this one hot and eaten it on chilly days on the river (crazy good river lunch) and out of cold, wet duck blinds (once even prompting a two hour nap for Ed, in the blind, with two of us shooting away at several flights) and it’s upscale enough for company too.
This ain’t your mama’s pot roast.
1 large onion, chopped medium
4 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 lb. carrots, 3/4-inch slices
1/2 lb. turnips, peeled, 3/4-inch wedges
1/2 lb. mushrooms, 1/2-inch slices
1/4 cup fresh minced gingerroot3-3.5 lb. boneless chuck roast
2 tbsp. olive oil28 oz. can stewed tomatoes
1.5 cups dry red wine
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
4 tsp. packed brown sugar
4 bay leaves
1.5 tsp. dried thyme
1.5 tsp. dried oregano
Prep work. Chop the onion, mince the garlic, cut the carrots on the diagonal into roughly 1 inch slices. Peel the turnips and cut into 3/4-inch thick wedges. Slice the mushrooms and peel and mince the gingerroot.
Preheat the oven to 300.
Brown and sauté. Season the roast with salt and pepper; in your trusty dutch oven heat the oil over moderately high heat and brown the roast on all sides. Remove all but 1 tbsp. fat and add the onion, stirring often, until soft and beginning to caramelize. Add the garlic and cook for a minute.
Now add the red wine and simmer for 5 minutes, taking care to scrape up as many of the tasty brown bits you can off the bottom. Next add the broth, gingerroot, tomatoes, Worcestershire, brown sugar, bay leaves, thyme and oregano.
Braise it. Now add the roast, cover and place in the oven for three hours.
Vegetable time. Kick the oven up to 350, turn the roast over, and add the carrots, turnips and mushrooms. Cover and back into the oven for another 1.5 hours. Add more wine or chicken stock if you need a touch more liquid.
Sauce time. Remove the roast from the dutch oven and let it rest covered for 10 minutes or so. Skim the visible fat and simmer the sauce for 10 1-15 minutes; thicken (cornstarch and water) if you need to – we usually don’t.
Serve it up. Slice the roast into half inch or better slices and spoon the vegetables and sauce over the meat. I’m seeing this served with a simple green salad and creamy, buttery garlic or scallion mashed potatoes.
Enjoy.
