A few weeks ago we took a big Black Angus cow to be processed so we could take it to the market. It was for the October long weekend we figured people would want a whole bunch of BBQ cuts and very few roast. We had sausages, steaks, rissoles, and a bunch of other things. We’re given a list of cuts by the butcher and it tells us what we can have done with the cuts. It’s very straight forward. As we were going through the list we’d ticked things off as mince, which could then be turned into sausages or rissoles, but for some reason I had gotten to the chuck and I said “I’ll take the chuck as a pot roast, thank you” instead of getting it minced and turned into sausages. In hindsight, not the greatest idea. What was I thinking?! At the time I didn’t even know how to cook a chuck pot roast and I was trying to sell it at the market! Also, no one wants a pot roast on a 35C day. *I actually wrote this blog a few weeks ago, so the time line doesn’t quite make sense. But it makes for a good story right?!

Chuck is one of those cuts that you normally get to do a casserole, use as pie filling, and anything else that involves slow cooking. Which for me is perfect, I can get it going and not worry about it. Seeing as I had a spare chuck pot roast or two in the freezer I figured I’d give it ago. Turns out it’s really not hard. In fact, it’s dead easy.

Look at how pretty it is!

I used my trusty cast iron pot (I discovered I owned a much smaller one than the one I had been using and it fits my little rolled roast perfectly). I browned my veggies with chunks of bacon I found in the fridge. I added some apple cider vinegar to lift the goodness off the bottom of the pan. I put my roast on top of my vegetables. I put the lid on and then I put the whole thing in the oven and left it for 4.5 hours. I came back took the lid off for a half hour. Rested my meat, made gravy, and had an awesome dinner. I want to say quick dinner but it took hours to cook so not really a quick dinner. But I did only spend 20 minutes putting stuff together. I did make some mash! I forgot about that!

Using the vinegar was something I hadn’t done before and I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out. I thought I had added literally a glug too much. I put in one glug and I thought “that’s not enough, I’ll go another” and as soon as I put in the second one I thought “nope, that’s too much” but I couldn’t do anything about it then. But! It didn’t matter, you could taste the vinegar but it wasn’t overpowering. Next time I’ll stick with one glug though. I’m sure glug is a real unit measure …. 😛

Crisp tasty beef fat!

Chuck Pot Roast

* The recipe also works for the rolled rib roast that we bring to the market as well.

Ingredients:

• 1.5kg chuck roast
• 3 carrots (cut into large chunks)
• 3 sticks of celery (cut into medium lengths)
• 1 onion (quartered)
• Bacon chunks (optional)
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• Thyme

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180C
• Brown carrots, onion, celery, and bacon (if using) in a heavy bottomed oven- safe pot
• Add apple cider vinegar to pot and using a wooden spoon lift any bits stuck to the bottom
• Place roast on top of the vegetables, put the lid on, and put the pot into the oven
• Cook for 4-5 hours
• For the last half an hour take the lid off the pot to crisp up the fat and check the temperature of the roast with a thermometer (well done is 77C)
• Take the meat out of the pot and rest covered with alfoil for 30 minutes
• Remove the vegetables from the pot and use what’s left in the pot to make the gravy

Notes:

• Instead of apple cider vinegar use a cup or two of red wine, it adds more liquid to the bottom and the resulting gravy is amazing.

The first time using a chuck roast. I was not disappointed.