New Jersey is famous for a lot of things; people with unusual accents, the New Jersey Turnpike toll booth scene in the opening shots of HBO’s, “The Sopranos”, being Sinatra’s home state, and that funny smell you get driving on Route’s 1 & 9.
The New Jersey thing I like the best, though, is that you are always within a 20 minute drive of a diner. And this hack is one that I learned from a former diner chef who was promoted to running the kitchen of the diner owners other place – a continental restaurant and banquet hall in central New Jersey that was very hip and very popular back during the Golden Age of Pompous Dining.
Twice Hacked Pot Roast – New Jersey Diner Style
This hack comes in two areas. First is the addition of two ingredients not usually associated with Pot Roast – Soy Sauce and Tomato Ketchup. Second is that this Pot Roast is not roasted at all. It’s cooked start to finish on the stove top. The soy and ketchup hack is mine but the stove top hack is pure diner.
Don’t fear if this is too radical an idea for you because you can still follow the recipe. Just substitute “roast in 350 degree oven” for the “simmer covered” instruction. You will be back to the more traditional Pot Roast method and it will be fine.
Why Stove Top?
There are several reasons why you might want to use the stove top method instead of the more traditional oven roasting.
Perhaps you are using the oven for another part of the meal. Maybe baking a cake. Maybe it’s summer and you’d prefer not having the oven’s residual heat in the kitchen. Heck, you might even want to make the Pot Roast outside using that little burner on the side of your grill.
These are all fine reasons but the reason I do stove-top Pot Roast is because it yields a roast that is evenly tender from one end to the other and not overly browned.
Too, often with oven prepared pot roasts, the center cuts are tender and delicious but the ends just fall to shreds when cut. I don’t like that. My preference is to have firm slices of pot roast that hold up well on a plate but are still tender when I put my fork to them. In this area, the stove top method delivers!
Which Cuts Of Beef Are Best For Pot Roast?
Any cut that is not tender and has amble fat distributed through the muscle is a good choice for pot roast. Chuck, brisket, round are all good choices since they have good flavor and enough toughness to stand up to the braising process. My favorite is bottom round and that is what is specified in this recipe but it will work equally well with the other cuts mentioned.
What Am I Going To Do With This Left Over Pot Roast?
If you have more Pot Roast than you can eat over a few days……Never fear! Add a few ingredients and in about 30 minutes – as long as it takes to order in an “Eats” or a “Hub” – you can have a healthy and delicious Beef Barley Soup! One that has not been bouncing around on the back seat of a ’92 Corolla for the last 15 minutes. No that there’s anything wrong with that…. Anyway, check out the video on the right===============>
We Are All Chef Hackers Really….
I believe that anyone who has been cooking for any length of time has made changes – some subtle and others radical – to dishes they prepare. That makes Chef Hackers out of all of us! So my challenge to everyone reading this: Why not try a few different cuts of beef and let us know which you prefer? Or maybe you have a family favorite Pot Roast cut to use or a hack of your own. If you choose to do so, use the “Leave A Reply” section below to let us know! We’d love to read about it!
Pot Roast
Ingredients
- 3 Lb Bottom Round Beef Roast
- 6 Cups Beef Stock or Broth
- 1 Cup Water
- 1½ Cups Onion Sliced
- 1½ Cups Carrot Cut 2-3" long
- 1½ Cups Celery Cut 2-3" long
- 1 Tbsp Butter
- 2 Tbsp Tomato Ketchup
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 4 Tbsp Flour
- 2 Each Bay Leaves
- Salt and Pepper To Taste
Instructions
- Sprinkle a small amount of salt and pepper on all sides of the roast.
- Preheat a tall pot that has a lid and place the roast, fat side down in the pot until the fat has lightly browned and some of the fat has distributed around the bottom of the pan. Continue turning the roast until all sides have browned. Remove the roast from the pot.
- Using the same pot add the butter and saute the onions until they are lightly browned.
- Deglaze the pot with water being certain to liberate all of the dark bits from the bottom of the pan.
- When most of the water has evaporated add the flour, mix well to create a roux/onion mixture and cook until lightly browned.
- Stir in the beef broth or stock, soy sauce and ketchup into the roux/onion mixture and stir until fully blended.
- Return the roast to the pot, return to boil then simmer, covered until Pot Roast reaches desired tenderness. This will take about 45 per pound of raw weight. So a 3 pound roast will take about 2 hours and 15 minutes. Stir the pot every 15 or twenty minutes and at about the half-way point of cooking, flip the roast so that it cooks evenly.
- About 15 minutes prior to the end of the cooking time add the celery, carrots and bay leaves and return to simmer for the final 15 minutes.
- Remove the roast and vegetables, slice the roast and serve with the vegetables and gravy.