Pot Roast With Root Vegetables

Who knew foods could be so culturally, even ethnically, charged? When I was growing up, we called beef chuck roast pot roast. It was shoved in the oven with potatoes and carrots while we were at church. Bruce, on the other hand, called beef brisket pot roast. It was long-stewed for a holiday meal with tomatoes and onions. As a Texan, I didn't even know you could stew a brisket. I assumed it came off the cow already smoked.

Thus, Bruce and I endured years of rank confusion, a constant back-and-forth of inter-faith insanity. Like this:

"Do you want pot roast for dinner?"

"What kind of pot roast?"

"Brisket."

"Oh."

"Why?"

"Because when you said pot roast, I though you meant. . . ."

We finally brought peace to the home by naming that stewed brisket Jewish pot roast. So much is solved by adjectives. 

So in that spirit, I suppose we should call this recipe Christian pot roast.

Start out by positioning the rack in the oven so you're big Dutch oven or heavy French casserole can sit on it with a couple inches clearance at the top. Preheat the oven to 325F.

Melt some fat in that oven-safe Dutch oven or French casserole over medium heat. What kind of fat? Depends. Butter would be my bet, but you can't then serve it to your kosher relatives. Walnut oil, too. Or olive oil. About 2 tablespoons worth.

Salt a 2-pound beef chuck roast with about 1/2 teaspoon salt, then add it to the pot. Brown it on all sides. And don't skimp. Brown is flavor. We long ago lost the ability to taste long-chain proteins very well. These days, all of us, Christian and Jew, taste short-chain proteins, the ones snapped apart over the heat. In other words, the browned bits. So let that thing go on all sides, maybe about 10 minutes in all, getting really crusty and delicious.

Transfer the meat to a cutting board, then add 1 chopped, large, yellow onion; 2 diced, large carrots; and 3 minced garlic cloves to the pot. Stir these over the heat until the onion begins to turn soft and translucent.

Next, add some minced fresh herbs (thyme and marjoram would be my choices--maybe one or two small handfuls in toto) as well as a heaping portion of root vegetables, about 3 pounds worth, peeled and seeded as needed. You could buy the already prepped butternut squash at your market, then add a few potatoes. But my favorite? A mess of peeled and chopped rutabagas. They're particularly sweet and delicious this time of year. And without a doubt, they're the most Christian of all root vegetables. Just ask any Norwegian.

Stir the herbs and vegetables around a couple minutes, add 3 tablespoons chopped pitted prunes, and pour in 1 cup beef broth--or 1/2 cup red wine and 1/2 cup beef broth. Bring the liquid to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits on the pot's bottom; then nestle the beef back inside, cover, and shove the whole contraption in the oven.

All that's left is to wait. About 3 hours, until the meat is fork-tender and the broth is absolutely divine. Daunting, those three hours? As Milton, that most Christian of all poets, wrote, "They also serve who stand and wait." Although it does help to have a glass or two of Pinot Noir at the ready.

Comments

[Steve Albert]

When I was a vegetarian I used to say that the only two foods that I actually missed were bacon and fried chicken.

Were I to forsake meat again today, I would have to add pot roast to that list. It's such a perfect encapsulation of the Biblical verse "And the lowly shall be exalted" that I'm surprised priests don't use it in their sermons.

Unfortunately, we didn't get much pot roast in my childhood, or beef stew for that matter, although my mother could kick butt with either one. My father doesn't like them...too reminiscent of his hardscrabble, working-class Irish-Catholic roots. That's a damn shame.

[Jeanette Barrett]

i made a pot roast last weekend, following this recipe - it was the first one i've made as an adult (and i've been an adult for awhile). unlike Steve Albert, above, my mother could NOT kick butt with a pot roast. but... your recipe was phenomenal, and has changed my mind about pot roast. so good! i used a combo of parsnips, turnips, rutabagas and yukon golds. yummy! thank you!

[Mark Scarbrough]

Steve: I swear, we had the photo shoot for the new book at our house a couple months ago and made pot roast. The uber-hip photographer's assistant--he of the flop-in-his-face black hair--almost came undone over the thing. I thought he was going to maul it before Bruce could get it out of the pan.

Jeanette: Thanks for stopping by and dropping a comment. I'm so glad you liked it. It's crazy-good. In fact, we're having a dinner party on Friday night for the first night of Hanukkah--and Bruce is making pot roast just like this to serve over a big, crunchy, potato pancake. And listen, the more root vegetables, the better. I'll leave asparagus to the wimps. Give me parsnips any day! (Oh, holy cow, the asparagus lobby is going to be after me now.)