Thread: Chuck Roast Suggestions?

Hi there!

We have a 2 1/2lb Chuck roast and i was thinking of popping it in the slow cooker. I havent had a chance to use it and i have been dying to. Thing is i've never done one of these before.

Looking through my recipes books i see a list of ingredients that i would be willing to use.

this leads me to 2 questions.

1 (most importantly) Do you have any suggestions or advice?

2) 1 recipe i saw contains instant coffee. How would that differ from the folgers i sometimes drink?

Thanks

We do chuck roast quite a bit for the Lord's Day. Here is what we do:

Saturday night:
1. Sear the roast in a VERY hot pan with a touch of olive oil. Blacken all the ends and sides to lock in some of the flavor.
2. Put in crock pot and add the following:
-3 or 4 cloves of garlic
-oregano covering the whole roast
-black pepper
-cover heavily with any 'italian herb' combo (parsley, oregano, rosemary, etc)
-add fresh mushrooms
-one packet of onion soup mix to cover the top

Then you put it in the fridge.

Sunday AM:

I get up and plug in the slow cooker at 5AM. I let this cook until about 1:30 on the Lord's Day. People love it and it is a great way to host a number of people without too much hassle. You can also add your potatoes to the crock if you have one large enough.

You will love it. I got the recipe from Linda Lanning (Grand Rapids, MI pastor's wife) and we call it Dutch Roast. The people of LA love it too now that it frequently appears at fellowship meals.

YUMMY!

Mrs. Welch's Cookbook, the first chapter of which resounds with eschatological significance under the title, 'The Coming Cook', advises firstly, that 'chuck' is a better cut for boiling, stewing, or beef a la mode. Secondly, that when roasting one should not season the meat until it is seared at a higher heat, and the juices locked in, as salt draws out the juices. Then one should season and turn down the oven (or, I would gather, transfer to crock pot), basting often.

I think the instant coffee would be different from the Folgers because instant dissolves and the grounds wouldn't need to be strained out?

I definitely agree with the browning; not so sure I'd go as far as blackening. Also after that, moist, slow heat is important, or things will get tough on you -- that makes the crockpot fairly ideal.

The other day, I browned a similar roast and threw it in the crockpot with some barbecue sauce. (I'm losing some serious southern cred here!) You can also saute a little bacon and onion and throw that in the crockpot with the meat and some red wine. The classic potroast involves onions, carrots and other winter veggies along with the meat and something to help form a sauce (often onion soup mix).

We don't pay more than $2 a pound for meat, so I've had to learn to use this cut!

Oh, and coffee is sometimes added to make a sauce richer; something like using Worcestershire sauce. Use a little brewed coffee or a small amount of instant (I keep instant espresso on hand just for this purpose in baking).

Hmmmm.... Not to disparage what my lovely and talented wife has said (she is an excellent cook) but one thing that I love is turn it into taco meat and make taco salad.

Anything where it is already cut into very small pieces would probably do just as well as anything else (very small to me is 1/4 inch to a side cross section).

(Just a note that by quoting Mrs. Welch I certainly don't mean to be a cut of meat legalist. I checked Mrs. Welch out of the library because she writes like B. B. Warfield, only on the fullness of the time when we shall all eat food convenient for us.)

If you have a favorite rub mix, that is good. When I don't use a prepared rub, I have a standard combo of black pepper, garlic, onion, and seasoned salt. Which ever seasoning I use, I like to use a can of cola (doesn't matter which kind, infact, cheap no name is great) for liquid.

rat brains!

BTW, I meant browning, not blackening.

Originally Posted by Joshua

rat brains!

Great big gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts!!!

My shepherding elder's name is Chuck. His wife always suggests that we find other words to describe our dinner or the action of throwing something out ('chucking' something), because we are taking his name in vain. It would be funny, except that she's not joking.

She has me so well-trained that I took one look at this thread, and the first thought that went' through my head was. "Uh oh. Chuck's wife is gonna be maaaaaaaad ...."

PS For the record, Chuck himself is a very nice person, and normally his wife is too. Why she is fixated on ridding the English language of her husband's name, I'm really not sure, but I suppose there are worse faults...

suggests that we find other words to describe our dinner or the action of throwing something out ('chucking'

Oh my, she must love the vernacular for reintroducing one's dinner ....

But back to Chuck roast; I'd love to know other ideas too. I just hope this cut of meat never becomes chic, like wings or ribs, which started out as something for po folk ...

Ok folks! I made it and i want to share the recipe and the results with pics! I did take them from a camera phone but i wanted to spice up the thread a bit

Warning!

End of the Trail Chuck Wagon Beef

2.6lb Chuck Roast
1 tsp Garlic Salt (i eyeball)
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 Tsp oil
6-8 Garlic Cloves (i used minced)
1 Large Onion sliced
1 Celery Stalk chopped small
2 large potatoes chopped
1 cup water
1 Beef Bouillon cube
2-3 tbsp instant coffee
1 tbsp mixed Italian herbs
some cornstarch

1) Coat that roast with the garlic salt and pepper. This is where i dont measure. I know by looking so i feel safer that way. Brown on a pan big enough to hold this sucker!



2) Chop Potato, onion and celery and place at the bottom of slowcooker. Then take the meat out of the pan and place on top of it.



My potatoes were cubed/rectangular

3) With the drippings and such in the pan add some of the onions, garlic. I had some left over on the chopping board. Get that going and when they look good add the water, bouillon cube and coffee. Cook as everything incorporates. Pour over ingredients in the slowcooker



4) Cover. Cook on low for 9 hours or until extremely tender

5) Remove the meat and put into a container. Then use one of those spoons with the holes to scoop out the potatos, onions and whatnot to the best of your ability and pile that on top the meat.



For the side i made grands. They took 14-17 minutes according to the package.


The final step while you are letting everything set is to put the corn starch and mix it with some water. Then add that to the juices to make a gravy for everything. The directions had stated 3tbsp cold water and 2 tbsp corn starch. Yeah whatever. Not thick enough. So i just added more cornstarch right to the mix in the slow cooker.

So you have a little station in the kitchen set up. 1 holding meat, potato, onion, celery. 1 tray of grands and the slow cooker with gravy.

Go ahead and load up and eat! Add salt and pepper to taste.

Always remember to brown meat that you slow cook. It makes a vast difference in the flavour.

Simply brown the roast & put it in the crock-pot with a can of cream of mushroom soup & a sachet of onion soup mix.