Julia Fuller on How to Make a Perfect Chuck Roast

the beef falls apart as you lift it out of the water and then each bite seems to melt in your mouth, that it is the perfect chuck roast.

I usually begin by selecting a Black Angus chuck roast that is well marbled. That means that the white lines of fat that you see in the beef are very thin and evenly spaced throughout the chuck roast. Then, I wash the piece of meat with water before cooking it. Next, I spray the roasting pan with a nonstick vegetable spray and turn the burner on medium-high heat. I lay the chuck roast in the pan and brown the bottom thoroughly before turning the roast over. When both sides of the roast are well browned, I begin browning the edges of the roast until every surface of the roast is seared. You do this to keep the juices sealed inside the roast, which makes it more tender and juicy. I do not usually dip my chuck roast in flour as the editor suggest in the article, but I am sure that procedure would help to thicken the juices if you like homemade gravy.

Once the roast is completely browned, I fill the roasting pan with enough water to completely cover the roast. Then, I add one beef bouillon cube for each pound that the roast weighs. A 5-pound roast would get five beef bouillon cubes, for example. I also add 1 teaspoon of ground cumin. Then, turn the burner down to a medium-low setting and cover the pan, or if I will not be at home, I place it in a slow cooker. The chuck roast cooks on its own for several hours; no need to disturb it or turn it over in the pan. If you like onions, peel and cut a fresh yellow onion in half and put it in with the cooking chuck roast for added flavor.

About two hours before I want to serve the chuck roast, I wash the potatoes and carrots. Our family prefers red potatoes slow cooked with our roast. We scrub the potatoes and only cut off the bad spots, other than that we leave the skins on the potatoes. If the potatoes are unusually large, I may cut them in half. We peel the carrots and cut them either in halves or thirds, depending on how big they are. If you like freshly cooked onions, peel those now, as well. Open the lid and add the vegetables and almost enough water to cover them. Then, place the lid back onto the pan and let the roast keep cooking until suppertime.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat and vegetables and place them into serving dishes. Then, mix about 1 cup of milk with a half cup of flour, and slowly stir it into the beef broth to make gravy. Add a can of cream of mushroom soup to your gravy for more flavor. Serve the gravy over your potatoes and roast if desired.

We rarely have chuck roast leftovers at our house since we have seven children still living at home. This is an easy, filling and delicious hot meal to fix to feed the whole family without slaving over a hot stove all day. If you do have leftovers, turn them into delicious beef stew for supper the next day, and serve it over biscuits. You never have to worry about a perfect chuck roast going to waste.