On Sunday, July 29, 2018 at 11:24:51 AM UTC-4, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
> On 7/29/2018 9:52 AM, Gary wrote:
>
> >
> > My teasing here of pot roasts truly comes from my ignorance. I've
> > never had a good one so I've never been tempted to waste my time
> > and food to make one.
> >
> > That said..... over time I've seen many pot roast pics here and
> > they all look so good. BTW, your's looked very good too.
> >
> > Anyway, I've spotted the main problem with all the ones I've
> > had.....neither Mom or 'The wife' ever thickened the liquid after
> > cooking. I know there's a good bit of beef flavor there. All I
> > got was a spoonful of the water on the plate. The meat was
> > shreddable and bland, those large cuts of potatoes and carrots
> > were...blah. No butter offered for the vegetables. Never a meal
> > to look forward to.
>
> I grew up with pot roast being beef in gravy. No veggies in the pot.
> The beef was browned, cooked with liquid that was thickened to become
> gravy. Usually served with mashed potatoes and another veggie.
>
> I don't know when my grandmother started making it that way but it is
> what I've know for 7 decades so keep your carrots out of it.

I grew up with pressure-cooker pot roast. The carrots, potatoes, and
onions went on the bottom and absorbed some of the juices from the
chuck roast. I can't remember all of the details; I think the beef
cooked for a while before the veggies went in. I don't recall the
juices being thickened.

I don't use a pressure cooker any more. For a while I added green beans
near the end of cooking, but my husband doesn't like it that way. He
prefers his stew over egg noodles or rice, so I don't add potatoes.

Rather than thicken when it's done, I stir in some flour when I'm
sauteeing the mirepoix, which thickens as it goes.

> >
> > I do absolutely love my homemade beef stew and isn't that about
> > the same thing just smaller pieces of everything? And I do
> > thicken a bit with flour before or cornstarch at the end.
> >
> > oh well
> >
>
> Stew is stew and pot roast is a beef roast, not just a stew with bigger
> chuncks of stuff.

For you, perhaps, but not for me.

Cindy Hamilton