for my dad

My dad loves pot roast. Winter, spring, summer and fall – no matter the temperature, he wants me to make pot roast.

The 1971 invention of the slow cooker (also known by its brand name Crock-Pot) made it an even easier meal to make. No heating up the entire kitchen when you use a slow cooker. Still, eating a heavy pot roast when it’s 106 degrees outside doesn’t appeal to most. Not an issue for Dad!

Dave was out-of-town this past weekend, so I indulged my dad by making his precious pot roast for our Sunday supper.  I do my best to change it up each time to try to keep it exciting since I make it so often throughout the year.

This time I reverted to a very classic pot roast recipe … well not so much the recipe … more the technique. Allow me to explain.

In 1963 House & Garden Magazine published a recipe by Elizabeth (Betty) Wason, an American author and broadcast journalist. The classic technique I took from her recipe was the way she floured the meat.

Instead of dredging the beef in seasoned flour, Betty beats the flour into the meat with the side of a plate, which creates a thicker crust and a smoother gravy in the end. It’s rather cathartic, beating in the flour with a dish, similar to that satisfying feeling one gets when kneading bread dough.

If you’re not up to pot roast in June, bookmark this recipe and remember to make it this fall or winter. I am hopeful that the fall or winter is the next time I’ll be called to make it … but it’ll probably be much sooner. Oh well, gotta give the people what they want.

Gene’s Pot Roast

1/4 cup flour
1 ½ teaspoons Mama Mai’s S&P

5 pounds boneless chuck roast
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced, or 8 sweet mini peppers, thinly sliced
1/2 cup beef broth
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
14 to 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes

In a small bowl, mix together the flour and Mama Mai’s S&P mixture.

Sprinkle half of the mixture on one side of the beef.

Pound the mixture into the meat with the edge of a plate. Turn meat over and sprinkle with the remaining flour mixture and use the plate to pound it in.

Heat a large skillet; add the oil and brown meat on all sides. Transfer meat to slow cooker.

Add the onions and peppers to the skillet and sauté until lightly browned.

While the onions are browning; combine the beef broth, brown sugar, dry mustard, soy sauce, and Worcestershire together in a bowl, and pour over the meat. Add the crushed tomatoes to the slow cooker.

Once the onions and peppers are cooked, add to the slow cooker, cover, and cook over low heat for 6 hours.

Serve with mashed potatoes.

Serves 8