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smoking Merry Meatmas

It's in there somewhere...

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It does look like a Chuck roast or boneless blade as they label it here. Crock pot or Dutch oven is perfect for it.

I did one in my CI Dutch oven last week that turned out killer. I caramelized three medium finely sliced onions to a deep mahogany in the DO , before adding small diced carrot and celery. Browned those veg too , I added about 4 roughly chopped garlic cloves near end of browning the veg Seared the roast all sides after heavily seasoning with sea salt in a CI fry pan. I was doing both things simultaneously to go a bit faster but it could all be done in the DO. Deglazed pans with braise liquid to get all that good browned flavour bits. This time beef stock but often I will go half, stock half beer.

I don't like the liquid to go more than about a 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up the side of the meat. If you submerge it , the flavour tends to wash out of the meat in my experience . Good when making Broth or soup not so great for pot roast. Lid on 300 - 325 f ish . After about an hour I flip it over. Add more liquid if needed , spoon some of the veg mix on top of the meat. Lid back on . Check periodically for internal temp of about 170 f. That is when I add fresh veg. Chunks of potatoes, carrot , onion maybe. Depending on how big you cut your veg it should take about another 40 45 mins to fork tender. Pulled the meat and good veg out and covered to keep warm. I strained and fat separated the braise liquid and made gravy while the meat rested before slicing. I don't personally go for fall apart tender on the roast but if that is what you want go deeper 180-185 f before adding the fresh veg.

Those deeply browned onions are really the magic ingredient in a pot roast. The flavour it adds to the meat and gravy is insane.
 
Ashen said:
It does look like a Chuck roast or boneless blade as they label it here. Crock pot or Dutch oven is perfect for it.

I did one in my CI Dutch oven last week that turned out killer. I caramelized three medium finely sliced onions to a deep mahogany in the DO , before adding small diced carrot and celery. Browned those veg too , I added about 4 roughly chopped garlic cloves near end of browning the veg Seared the roast all sides after heavily seasoning with sea salt in a CI fry pan. I was doing both things simultaneously to go a bit faster but it could all be done in the DO. Deglazed pans with braise liquid to get all that good browned flavour bits. This time beef stock but often I will go half, stock half beer.

I don't like the liquid to go more than about a 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up the side of the meat. If you submerge it , the flavour tends to wash out of the meat in my experience . Good when making Broth or soup not so great for pot roast. Lid on 300 - 325 f ish . After about an hour I flip it over. Add more liquid if needed , spoon some of the veg mix on top of the meat. Lid back on . Check periodically for internal temp of about 170 f. That is when I add fresh veg. Chunks of potatoes, carrot , onion maybe. Depending on how big you cut your veg it should take about another 40 45 mins to fork tender. Pulled the meat and good veg out and covered to keep warm. I strained and fat separated the braise liquid and made gravy while the meat rested before slicing. I don't personally go for fall apart tender on the roast but if that is what you want go deeper 180-185 f before adding the fresh veg.

Those deeply browned onions are really the magic ingredient in a pot roast. The flavour it adds to the meat and gravy is insane.
 
I got a spare room, man. Just sayin'.
 
I blew it and forgot the money shot, remembered after the meal was reduced to leftovers. I'm going to source your post on the next one. We have a brand new Lodge 7 quart that I've only used to make a huge batch of ham & bean soup with, afterthought again, once I saw the beauty that Wiri wiri posted....And I was wishing I had caramelized the onion...
 
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It was great, but not the stupendous carnivore delight I was expecting. You're right, I should have monitored liquid levels better, that roast was so well marinated that it submerged in its own juice and drowned...But O, the gravy!!
 
stettoman said:
 
I got a spare room, man. Just sayin'.
 
I blew it and forgot the money shot, remembered after the meal was reduced to leftovers. I'm going to source your post on the next one. We have a brand new Lodge 7 quart that I've only used to make a huge batch of ham & bean soup with, afterthought again, once I saw the beauty that Wiri wiri posted....And I was wishing I had caramelized the onion...
 
roast2.jpg
 
It was great, but not the stupendous carnivore delight I was expecting. You're right, I should have monitored liquid levels better, that roast was so well marinated that it submerged in its own juice and drowned...But O, the gravy!!
The only reason I know what I do is I started where you did . It took me longer than I like to admit to do the research, and refine the technique after too many pot roasts that didn't turn out as well as I knew they could.

There is not many braising dishes where you can go wrong with browned onions. They are a magical bomb of deep flavour. There is a lady I know who fills her crock pot with sliced onions and just lets them go and then divides and freezes to use in her cooking. I think she said she does a huge batch every three or four weeks.
 
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