I am amazed at the discovery of these tweaks in making beef pot roast that made all the difference in the quality of the final meat. Not only was there significantly noticeable difference in quality, it’s actually simpler and quicker! 4 ingredients, and can be cooked in a TOTAL of 1.5 hours!
I was inspired by the insight in this post:
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pot_roast/
This is my mother’s tried and true recipe for pot roast and she only adds a half cup of liquid to the pot! Why does this work?
Beef is about 60 to 70% water (the rest is protein and fat). So if you keep the heat very low and the pot tightly covered, the beef will release water as it cooks, and it will cook in its own juices.
The result? A deeper beef flavor for your pot roast. The key is keeping the temperature low and making sure the lid is tight fitting. Otherwise, too much vapor will escape from the pot and you’ll have a dry pot roast.
Ingredients:
2 lb beef chuck roast (prime/well marbled preferred)
salt (kosher is easier to control)
water (~1 cup for deglazing)
garlic cloves (lots)
Steps:
- Cut beef roast into large 1- 3 inch cubes. The goal is to increase the surface area to brown and absorb flavor, and make it easier to handle rather than a large slab of meat.
- Salt beef cubes on all sides and sear beef roast. I don’t use oil to sear beef — browning adds that depth of beefiness that can’t be replicated with seasonings.
- Remove beef, deglaze plan with water. Captures all the beefy fond.
- Put beef, garlic, and water into instant pot/pressure cooker. Cook for 55 minutes under high pressure. The countdown should start quickly since there is so little liquid and everything is hot already.
- Once timer is complete, allow natural release for ~15 minutes. Not sure if this is necessary — it’s just what I did in the two times I cooked this.
- Shred & salt/season to tailor to dish! Just using salt really brings out the beefiness of meat. This is a situation where less is more. And if you want to steer it into a certain type of cuisine, this can be done afterwards with sauces and seasonings to taste.
Notes:
Key things are:
– Simplicity of ingredients brings out beefiness.
– low amounts of liquid. Not much liquid is needed in instant pot since it is a sealed environment. I previously brought a slow-cooker mindset to pressure cooking, and thought that you needed to cover the meat with liquid otherwise the cooking will be uneven. This actually waters down the meat, in my opinion.
I like preparing this over a bed a garlic because when it is done cooking, you end up with beefy garlic butter that is soaked with savory beef fat. I’m not sure how it impact of the flavors of the beef.
Addendum:
I don’t think I’ve ever used the descriptors: beefy, beefiness, etc. so much in one article. Note to self to learn proper descriptors for savory meats…
Get as deep of a sear as you can without burning, sear as many sides as you can.
Beef chuck roast is pretty tough. I tried eating rare chuck, and I still had a tough time chewing it.
Put seared meat into pressure cooker/instant pot. For my 6 qt. instant pot I put 1 cup of deglazing liquid with a bunch of garlic.
After cooking for 55 minutes under high pressure, and natural release for ~15 minutes.
Juicy soft meat
Juicy soft shredded meat
Dressed up as tacos. I suspect this style of beef is what Mexican restaurants serve as barbacoa.
These are dressed up with a clove of pressure cooked garlic, fresh white onions and cilantro, and a dab of habanero sauce.
The beef was such a hit that Johanna (age 8) asked to make more tacos, 3 more times! Also, Tabitha (age 6) literally stole the remaining meat from me out of my hands. Their father, a seasoned home cook, was also impressed at how locked down the recipe was.