Rich and Hearty Beef Pot Roast

Select the chuck roast based on your liking.  Look for even marbling. I’m not too fond of a lot of fat in my beef in stew or soup, so I trim it and look for pieces where the veins of fat are very definable, so they are easier to trim away.  But don’t throw them away, they are valuable pieces that I will show you how to use in my post Cooking With Fat.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

First, trim the beef and remove any large veins on the edges unless you enjoy fatty cuts of meat.

Coat the two pieces of the beef chuck with a generous dredge of seasoned flour.  You can buy one of the premade flours, such as Kentuck Kernal or House of Autry, or you can make your own, using all-purpose flour, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Try my Seasoned Flour Recipe.

Render the fat you trimmed from the edges in a large hot cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. If there wasn’t enough fat to trim off, you could use beef fat, lard, refined coconut oil, or avocado oil when you brown the beef (step coming up later).

While the fat is rendering, clean the potatoes, carrots, and celery with fresh cold water.

Peel the carrots and chop them into large 1-inch pieces.

Cut the celery into 1-inch pieces.

Keep carrots, potatoes, and celery in a large water bowl until needed.

Peeling the potatoes is optional.

Cut the potatoes into quarters.

If they are small, halve them or leave them whole.

When the fat is rendered out, remove the fat cracklins’ and add your dredged beef chuck.

Cook one piece at a time.

Cook both sides until they are golden brown (about 4-5 minutes), then stand the beef on its edges and brown the edges too.

When all pieces of beef are browned on all sides, set them aside to be placed in the pan/Dutch oven later.

In the cast iron pan or Dutch oven, sautee the onions or mirepoix in the beef fat.  I use one package of chopped onions or mirepoix that I have purchased from Kroger.  They are chopped to the size I

 need.  Season mirepoix with a large pinch of salt, about .25 teaspoon. This helps draw the water out of the onions, so they caramelize more than steam.

Add three cloves of whole garlic and continue to saute. Cook the onions until they are translucent and golden yellow.  Don't let the pan get too hot or your garlic will burn.

Add the red wine to the mirepoix.  Simmer this mixture until the wine is reduced by about half.

*Wine usage:  The use of wine is optional and adds a great flavor to the meat, but you can omit the wine and replace it with water or low/no sodium beef broth.

Add the seared beef to the wine or stock reduction.

Add the bay leaves, salt, thyme, oregano, black pepper, and bay leaves.

Drain the celery and carrots.

Spread the carrots and celery on top of the beef pieces.

Add the lid and place the Dutch oven inside your preheated oven.

Cook for one hour and then reduce oven to 275 and cook for three additional hours.

During this cooking time, toss the potatoes in melted beef fat or butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper from the ingredients list.

Spread them onto a parchment-lined half-sheet pan and roast them in the oven with the pot roast for 1.5 hours at 275 temperature.

When the pot roast is finished cooking, remove and discard the bay leaves.

Add the potatoes to the Dutch oven.

Serve in the pan or Dutch