Melt-in-your-mouth Pot Roast and Gravy – Catherine Johnston
Your pot is probably the most important part of cooking a good roast – Le Cruset or a knock off brand is what you need. A dutch oven will work too. It must be heavy to hold a good temperature.
Now to start- buy a Cross Rib Roast- I find this cut of meat has the best flavor and comes out perfectly. YOu may buy at least a 5-6 pound cut of meat. Place meat in pot, cover and cook at 325 de3grees for about 4-5 hours. STart checking about 3 and a half hours into the cooking process to see how it is coming. Your meat should start to separate when fork is stuck into meat and bottom of pot is nice and dark. It’s done not burnt! Do NOT at the beginning of your roasting process add brothk water or other spices or your gravy will NOT come out dark and rich. I dry roast the meat. Don’t be afraid to do this, it comes out perfect! When meat is finished, remove the pot from the oven and let it rest for about 15 minutes to half hour. Take meat from pot and put on a platter, cover with a strip of foil to keep heat in a nd meat moist.
GRAVY- Take pot and place on burner. Add 2-3 cups of Swanson’s Beef Broth or more and whisk until you blend nall the drippings and they come away from bottom and sides of pot. This will make a rich dark gravy au jus. Now taste and adjust flavor – I use Wyler’s beef ganules to boost flavor and salt. Add some white pepper sparingly, it tends to be a bit hotter than black pepper and is extremely fine so a couple of dashes will work. It should always be to your taste and liking. Now add watered down cornstarch (not too watered down) tho thicken gravy and voila! YOu will have a nice lightly thickened gravy to add your sliced meat to. I always put the sliced pot roast back into the pot with the gravy to boost the flavaor and let it sit or simmer for a bit. It tends to blend and become perfect.