Not Just a Man's World

I finally got pot roast to work this weekend.  It was amazing. 

The brisket (one of the cheapest beef cuts available) dissolved in a buttery way on the tongue.  The pumpkin pieces in the pot actually tasted of something (a miracle!).  The sauce from the pot made an excellent gravy.  The leftover brisket, which was put into our lunch salads for the week, is as moist and tender cold as it was when first cooked.

My previous attempts at this have been hindered by problems like the lid not fitting tightly enough on the pan (we ended up with a small lump of carbon welded onto the bottom of the pan).  Here’s how to get it right.

1. Find a good pot to cook it in which has a close-fitting lid and can be placed on a direct heat source as well as in the oven.  I use a Le Creuset casserole pot.
2. Heat some oil in the bottom of the pot and then add your joint of meat, turning it so that it is sealed and browned over the whole surface (you may need help with this to keep moving it about since it might stick at times).
3. Remove the meat and place to one side for a moment.
4. Place the vegetables that you want to cook with the joint into the pot and brown them.  I used shallots, carrots (each cut into 6 big pieces), and some big chunks of pumpkin.
5. Once the vegetables are browned, return the meat to the pot and arrange the vegetables around it.
6. Add 10 fl oz (275ml) of hot stock (I use an Oxo Beef stock cube, which isn’t very paleo but some things are worth cheating on) and some fresh herbs (a few sprigs of fresh oregano or thyme are good).  You’ll want to scale up of down the quantity of stock slightly if necessary – the liquid should be about halfway up the meat and vegetables.
7. Cover the pot with foil (this is the crucial step I missed when it burnt dry – the foil is a good way to ensure your pot is resistant to steam escaping) and then fit the lid over the foil. 
8. Leave the pot over a gentle heat until you can hear the liquid simmering.  Ok, I cheated.  I watched it until it simmered and then put the foil and lid on the pan.
9. Place the pot into an oven pre-heated to 140C and leave until tender.  Some people put it in overnight on a very low oven setting, but what use is a roast dinner that is just cooked in the morning?  Actually, that would make a lovely breakfast… I worked on a timing of 3 hours for 1.1 kg (2.5 lb) that I got from a recipe book, so my joint ended up in the oven for nearly 4 hours.
10. When tender, place the joint and vegetables on a warmed serving dish.  The sauce in the pot can then be turned into gravy.  I cheated again and did this with a teaspoon of Bisto, though I suspect that you could use arrowroot or, if left long enough, you could probably thicken it by reducing it (though your joint may get cold in the meantime.  Mark Sisson provides good advice on thickening sauces the paleo way.

If you want to roast some less-robust vegetables then general advice seems to be to add them to the pot a couple of hours before it is ready, rather than leaving them in for the whole cooking time.  The pumpkin was certainly falling apart by the end of 4 hours!

Apparently silverside is also good for pot roasting, but it is a fraction more expensive here.

Armed with this successful experience I am now planning a follow up pot roast for the weekend we get back from our holiday.  Delicious!

Related posts:

1. Paleo kitchen experiments – roast pork and a tomato sauce
2. Paleo kitchen experiments – meatballs and roasted veg
3. Paleo recipes: roast pork with crackling
4. Paleo recipes: slow-cooker pot roast beef