Pot Roast (ATK)

• doses: 6-8
• tempo ativo: 30 minutes
• tempo total: 4 hours 30 minutes

Ingredientes

1 (3½- to 4-pound) boneless beef chuck-eye roast, pulled apart at seams and trimmed

Kosher salt and pepper

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 onions, halved and sliced thin

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2–3 cups beef broth

¾ cup dry red wine

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 bay leaf

1 sprig fresh thyme plus ¼ teaspoon chopped

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Instruções

1. Season pieces of meat with 1 tablespoon salt, place on wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet, and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add carrot and celery; continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in 1 cup broth, ½ cup wine, tomato paste, bay leaf, and thyme sprig; bring to simmer.

3. Pat meat dry with paper towels and season with pepper. Tie 3 pieces of kitchen twine around each piece of meat to create 2 evenly shaped roasts.

4. Nestle meat on top of vegetables. Cover pot tightly with large piece of aluminum foil and cover with lid; transfer pot to oven. Cook meat until fully tender and fork slips easily in and out of meat, 3½ to 4 hours, turning meat halfway through cooking.

5. Transfer roasts to carving board and tent loosely with foil. Strain liquid through fine-mesh strainer into 4-cup liquid measuring cup. Discard bay leaf and thyme sprig. Transfer vegetables to blender. Let liquid settle for 5 minutes, then skim fat; add broth to bring liquid amount to 3 cups. Add liquid to blender and process until smooth, about 2 minutes. Transfer sauce to medium saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat.

6. Meanwhile, remove twine from roasts and slice against grain into ½-inch-thick slices. Transfer meat to serving platter. Stir remaining ¼ cup wine, chopped thyme, and vinegar into gravy and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon half of gravy over meat. Serve, passing remaining gravy separately.

CLASSIC POT ROAST WITH ROOT VEGETABLES

Add 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces; 1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces; and 1½ pounds russet potatoes, peeled and halved lengthwise, each half quartered, to Dutch oven after cooking beef for 3 hours. Continue to cook until meat is fully tender, 30 minutes to 1 hour longer. Transfer large pieces of carrot, parsnip, and potato to serving platter using slotted spoon, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and proceed with recipe as directed.

CLASSIC POT ROAST WITH MUSHROOM AND PRUNE GRAVY

Substitute ½ cup dark beer (porter or stout) for red wine. Add 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed, soaked for 1 hour, and drained, and ½ cup pitted prunes with broth and beer. While roast is resting, sauté 1 pound thinly sliced cremini mushrooms in 2 tablespoons butter until softened and lightly browned and add to finished gravy, along with ¼ cup dark beer instead of balsamic vinegar.

A Better Way to Tie a Roast

Most roasts are unevenly shaped, which leads to uneven cooking. For cylindrical cuts, even out the thickness and make a more uniform shape by tying them with kitchen twine. Butchers often cinch roasts with a single long piece of twine and complicated adjustable loops. We take a much simpler approach (no Boy Scout skills required). If you can tie your shoes, you can tie up a roast.

1. To tie roast, wrap piece of kitchen twine around roast and fasten it with simple double knot. If roast has thinner end, simply fold that end under to create roast of equal thickness from end to end.Use additional pieces of twine to tie roast at even intervals along entire length of roast. Leave about 1½ inches between pieces of twine.

Notas

Split the Roast in Two

Our preferred cut for pot roast is a chuck-eye roast. This boneless roast contains a good amount of fat, which guarantees good flavor. In fact, this roast has a bit too much fat. Pulling the roast apart at its major seams exposes the hard knobs of fat that never melt away. Having two mini roasts increases the surface area that can brown and also cuts back on the cooking time.

Salt Ahead

Salting the meat before cooking draws moisture out of the meat, forming a shallow brine that migrates back into the meat and flavors it throughout. Although brines usually take hours, salting for justan hour makes a big difference here—especially with the amount of exposed surface area. Along with the beef broth and glutamate-rich tomato paste, salting really brings out the meaty flavors in this cut.

Skimp on the Liquid

Many pot roast recipes submerge the meat in broth and wine. But if you cut back on the liquid, the meat can actually brown in the covered pot (the cooking time is so long that the meat above the surface of the liquid browns and becomes more flavorful). In addition, less liquid translates to a concentrated gravy that requires less work at serving time.

Foil the Pot

To create a tight seal and trap liquid inside, cover the pot first with foil, and then with the lid. The roasts cook in the oven at a low simmer for a good 3½ hours until the meat is very well-done—to the point at which the fat and connective tissue are really melting. The meat becomes so tender that a fork poked into its center nearly disappears.

RECIPE DETAILSTimeline• 1¼ hours to trim and salt meat

• 30 minutes to prepare and cook flavor base (do this while salted roasts rest)

• 3½ to 4 hours to cook roasts

• 15 minutes to finish sauce and slice roasts

Essential Tools• Kitchen twine to tie roasts

• Dutch oven with lid

• Aluminum foil to create tight seal on pot

• Blender to puree cooked vegetables for gravy

Substitutions & Variations• To make pot roast in advance, follow recipe through step 4, then transfer cooked roasts to large bowl. Strain and defat liquid and add broth to bring liquid amount to 3 cups; transfer liquid and vegetables to bowl with roasts, let cool for 1 hour, cover with plastic wrap, cut vents in plastic with paring knife, and refrigerate up to 2 days. One hour before serving, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Slice roasts as directed, place pieces in 13 by 9-inch baking dish, cover tightly with foil, and bake until heated through, about 45 minutes. Process liquid and vegetables in blender, bring gravy to simmer, and finish as directed.

• A top blade roast, also known as chuck roastfirst cut, blade roast, or top chuck roast, can be used in this recipe. Note that it will take slightly longer to cook. Do not separate this roast into 2 pieces. Do tie top blade with twine before cooking to promote even cooking.

Chilling the whole cooked pot roast overnight improves its flavor and makes it moister and easier to slice.