I loved this. I followed it to a tee with the exception of using a boneless 2 pound roast (I'm a one person family). I used the other ingredients at their original volumes though and it made an absolutely awesome mushroom gravy. I served it over egg noodles. The leftovers were even better! The house smelled amazing while it cooked. True comfort food and a keeper recipe. Thanks, Chef John!
This is almost identical to the recipe I have used to cook pot roast for quite some time except I do mine in the same Dutch Oven I use to sear the roast and then put into the oven at 250 degree for 4 hours or even longer.
I do have 2 quibbles with his recipe however:
1) I normally use a 50/50 ratio of beef broth & dry red wine and
2) In those circumstances dried herbs will work at least as well and be far less expensive.
This is an excellent recipe. I didn't have time to brown the meat ahead of time, so I just put everything in the slow cooker for 10 hours and it tasted fabulous. Will definitely make again.
I'm a fairly proficient slow cooker user and have made many a pot roast in mine.
I have to say this recipe went so far beyond my expectations as to be astounding. The true center of this recipe is the braising of the beef. I went beyond my usual Carmel color and went ahead to an almost blacked meat.
The reward was some of the most beautiful sauce I've ever had in a pot roast. About 1/2 an hour before completion I added several quartered potatoes just because and the sauce made them the other star of this great meal.
I've used several of your recipes over the past year or so but really wanted to provide comment on this one as one of your finest.
Good old fashioned America cooking on steroids! Thanks for all you do Chef John.
Okay for the most part. "Pot Roast" is not a specific cut of meat, but with many cuts used (certainly the chuck roasts populr in the US) this is likely to come out overly fatty. The flour is not necessary- use a nonstick pan to brown the meat. If you want to use flour to thicken the liquid, it should be added near the end- long cooking will destroy most of it's thickening ability.. I have no idea what the food industry has against beef stock, but it's a better choice here (and many other places) than chicken.
Great recipe, and the mushrooms/onions/garlic mixture on top of the meat is great; I used this as a basis for my crockpot pot roast today. The only things I did differently were to use beef broth instead of chicken broth (seems a better fit, reinforces the beef flavor), and deglazed the mushroom/onion mixture with 1 cup of red wine (scrape the bottom to get all the good bits, then simmer until the wine is reduced), and then used just one cup of beef broth. Nothing smells better than pot roast cooking all day long in your home! I posted the recipe and photos in my blog, www.culinaryspirits.wordpress.com .
I've made this recipe twice, both times its turned out fantastic! Second time I made a few tweeks based on other reviews. I used a 3.13 pound boneless roast (for 2 people with leftovers) and seared it until almost burnt on both sides, ie got nice dark coloring and a nice crust on the roast. Only additions/changes I did were: I quartered Yukon Gold potatoes (like 6-8 potatoes) and put them in with the celery and carrots at the bottom of the pot. I put the roast right from the searing pan into the crock pot on top of the veggies and let it rest in there instead. I used Beef Broth instead of Chicken Broth and got a great rich flavor and I added 1 Tablespoon Low Sodium Worcestershire to the mushroom/onion/broth mixture and let simmer before I poured over the meat. It smelled great when I walked in the door and made a great dinner (and leftovers) on a cold October night after work! Highly recommend!!!! Thanks Chef John!
This was the best recipe i have found so far. I have been trying for so long to make a tender roast and end up with something quite similar to a brick... In this recipe I put the crockpot on low instead and used chuck roast with a lot of marbling and it was amazing! Thank you Chef John!
Someone mentioned about not tasting the fresh herbs. fresh herbs should be put in towards the end of the cooking time, otherwise they lose their intense flavor. Maybe more should be added towards the end.