When I was dabbling with the fruit leather experiments, I noticed that our new oven has a ‘Slo Cook’ feature. Since I’ve lost the manual, I googled it and found out that it makes your oven behave like a crock pot. How this feature is different from just setting your oven to 275 or so, I’ll never know.
Anyway, I wanted to test it. I browned up a chuck roast, put it in the oven with some veggies, and then went about my day.
When I checked it three hours later, I was upset with the results. (You should know that it has been a long, long time since I’ve made a roast. Stew, yes. Roast, no.) I sliced into it and it was a hard knot of meat that seemed to have released all its juices. I grumbled, put it back in my giant, inefficient crock pot and let it cook for the rest of the afternoon.
Hallelujah! Time was on my side, and by dinnertime that hard knot had melted into lovely goodness. Plus, the oven was on a little bit all day and that made the house the tiniest bit warmer.
Pot roast, you are the go-to winter food this year.
Brad says
I’ve gotten hard-knot meat in my crockpot before. Maybe that’s been my problem with crockpot cooking… I haven’t waited long enough.
Now I have a single phrase from “Annie” in my head:
“…it’s a hard-knot life…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB54JGNu6vQ
Gretchen says
Thanks, Brad. I’ve now got that song in my head too.
Lauren's mom says
I had a similar pot roast experience last week. It was called “Winner Dinner”. Instructions were to wrap it in aluminum foil and cook it in the oven for three hours. Almost a hard knot. Pretty chewy. My guess is that pot roast needs much more than three hours!
Lauren says
Yes -- this was in the oven for 8 hours. I wonder when the magical moment was?
Safe travels today, Mom and Dad! (They’re flying to St. Louis to visit my brother and his family, not to salute the Cardinals.)
Lloyd says
I’ll bet a lot of people have been traveling to St. Louis lately to visit your brother and his family.
John and Kate Brady says
Grace went to St. Louis, but she went to see penguins, not cardinals.
Peggy says
I’ve only ever had luck with roasts when I cook them in a slow cooker. Maybe I’m too impatient. But now I am so in the mood for some roast beast, mashed pototoes, gravy, bisquits, corn. Mmmmm. This week!
For Lloyd: Last night at a concert, Staler & Waldorf (the old men in the Muppets) were in the balcony. They told this joke:
“Back in the day, we had Johnny Cash, Bob Hope, Steve Jobs.”
“Yea, and today we have no cash, no hope & no jobs.”
Hmpft. It was funny last night.