Dutch Oven Pot Roast

I do see the irony in backing up a post about vegan banana chocolate chip muffins with a pot roast recipe.
We don't do vegan in this house and it's usually rare that we do beef because my husband hunts, but we are out of venison roasts in the freezer and we are not likely to get any this year for various reasons I don't want to get in to on here. 

Anyway. Apparently the price of beef now requires you selling all that you have to buy it so when I see it on mark down or really good sale, I snag it.  And before the last three days, it had been well over 2 months since we'd had anything with red meat in it at the house.  Just not in the budget and no one was putting it on sale for a price I could afford for the beef I was willing to buy. We had been eating a lot of ground turkey, pork chops, and chicken, and as much as I love those things, at some point I just crave red meat.  So this weekend when I went to IGA and Kroger, they had steaks, extra lean ground beef, and pot roast on either mark down or sale where I was comfortable paying for it. 

So the roast.  It was a nice piece of marbled meaty goodness. I love it. Makes for an extra tender roast. Did I trim it? No. But that's another post for another day.

For the roast I used:
1 roast (der)
1 TBS of canola oil
Generous amounts of Kosher salt and black pepper for the meat
1/2 of a large Vidalia onion (yellow will work fine too)
2 TBS of Red wine vinegar to deglaze
 And 1 whole container of low sodium chicken stock. I usually use low sodium beef stock, but chicken is what I had in the pantry and we're at the end of the month, so we have to make it to next Monday on what we've got.

And the most important ingredient:



My cast iron, ceramic plated, Lodge 6qt dutch oven.
I love this thing. Saving up right now to buy another one. I've had this one for 2 years and it has served me well. I named her Bessy, cause she's a hoss. I keep her on the stove top all of the time because she is pretty heavy and Mari likes to get into my cabinets and I don't need her trying to pick this puppy up.

I just rubbed some bacon fat in her a couple days before I made the roast to make sure she stays nice and seasoned.  Only the best for my Bessy.

She can go from stove top to oven to grill if need be. Shes made for outdoor camping use too, because she's a Lodge and thats what they do. 

ANyway.

Put the oil in the dutch oven. Let it get nice and hot. But don't turn the heat above 5. You don't want to fry the roast, you want to sear it.

While you're waiting for it to heat up, pat the roast dry on top to make sure you get a good sear and then rub it down with the salt and pepper. As much as you are comfortable with.  I like Kosher because it sticks to the meat better.

Test the oil with a drop of water and see if it sizzles, if it doesn't, wait another minute or two, and then add the roast.

I don't add any more than 1TBS of oil because, 1) I season my dutch oven with bacon fat and 2) The fat starts rendering down on the roast.

Turn it over when it has a good golden brown on the edges and sear on the other side.

  Remove the roast from the pot, deglaze with the red wine vinegar and add the sliced onions. I used sliced because they break down better.  I also let them get nice and golden brown to get that really good toasted flavor without having to use onion soup mix. 

As an aside, red wine vinegar helps break down the fibers of the meat making it more tender. I use it on my venison roasts to and it works really well. 

Put the roast back in the dutch oven with the onions and cover with the beef or chicken broth or stock.  And you can either leave it on low on the top of the stove or turn the oven to 250 and leave it in there for as long as you want really.

An hour before I served it I put baby carrots in with it. Leaves them a little crisp in the middle still, retaining some of their nutritional value :)

The roast will be falling apart when you take it out of the dutch oven. Try not to eat it all before your family gets any!
Also baked some potatoes in the microwave and made a little bit of gravy from the broth because thats how my husband likes it. 

It got an "awesome!" from my husband and a "dewicious!" from my 2 year old.  I even stuck a piece in Wills mouth for him to gum on while I held it and he seemed to like it!


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Well there it is. I know its lack luster, but it's roast. Its not supposed to be complicated and hard. Simple seasonings, fix it and forget it for your stove top or oven.
Don't get me wrong, I love my crock pot, but dutch ovens changed the way I do one pot meals. I use crock pots on Sundays when I'm going to be gone, but I use the dutch ovens I have for every day use in the fall and winter.  Soups, roasts, you name it. 

Love cast iron. Love. It.