26 September 2011

The most difficult thing I've ever made

is pot roast.  I don't know why I just cannot master that dish!  It always comes out dry.  But, I have learned to make a decent gravy.  Once I even made an awesome gravy.  I only bring this up because I attempted a pot roast again this past weekend and again, it failed.  Just because I think Parker would probably eat shoe leather if I seasoned it right and gave him a bottle of steak sauce doesn't mean I don't want to make the best damn roast we've ever eaten.
I made the roast in the crock pot with potatoes, onions, carrots, garlic, and green onions.  With the exception of the beef and the garlic everything was locally grown.  Purchased at the farmer's market or given to us by friends.

For the liquid component I used a cup of beef broth and some red wine.  I seasoned with coriander and 2 bay leaves (they're kinda old and not as potent).  I set the temperature to Low.
I used 2 pieces of beef one a top roast and one a bottom roast.  I knew they'd be different and I knew one would get cooked more than the other.  I think what really destroyed this one was that I'd read somewhere that some person liked to put their veggies on the top of the meat in the crock pot.  I'd never done that and I figured what the hey?  DON'T DO THAT.  What happened was the meat was cooked in about 4 hours... probably would have been a perfect medium rare around 3.5 hours.  But the potatoes and carrots?  They took 7.  Now, around hour 5.5 or 6 I caught my mistake and quickly moved the veggies to the bottom of the pot and the meat on the top but it was too late.  It was dry.  So so dry.  It wasn't terribly tough but reminded me a lot of sand.  The one good thing that came from this experience was that I got to sharpen my gravy making skills.

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