Sunday pot roast

Chuck, carrots, potatoes, a cup of stock. Eight hours on Low and the probe slides like butter.

Made it?

8 hr · 25 min hands-on · pull 200°F · rest 15 min

Ingredients

4.5 lb on the fire · ~2.3 lb to the table · 5 plates at 8 oz

1
Salt and pepper the chuck. Sear 3 minutes a side in a skillet if you have 10 minutes — worth it. Onion, carrot, potato, garlic in the crock. Roast on top. Stock, tomato paste, Worcestershire around it.
2
Low 8 hours. Probe the thickest part — it should slide with no tug, around 200°F.
3
Rest 15 in the juice. Slice across the grain or pull. The veg is the gravy; mash a few potatoes into the liquid if it is thin.

Chuck roast → Bottom round or brisket flat. Chuck is the right call. Round will be drier; slice it thinner.
Stock → A cup of red wine and stock. Wine wants a sear first or it tastes raw.

No-sear
You are out the door. Skip the skillet. Still 8 hours. You lose a little fond, not the dinner.
Mississippi-style
Pepperoncini in the house. Chuck, a stick of butter, a pack of ranch, a few peppers. Same 8 hours. No potatoes in that pot.

On the plate

With this dish, try making petite roasted potatoes.
Same pan as a roast or chicken. Or a sheet next to chops. Halve, oil, salt, rosemary. 425°F cut-side down until the faces brown. Toss in the meat drippings at the end.
40 min
With this dish, try making pinto beans.
Start when a packer wraps, or at the beginning of a shoulder. Soaked beans, smoked hock, onion, chili. Simmer until creamy. Salt late.
2 hr 30 min
With this dish, try making rice and gravy.
While the meat rests — use that fond. Long-grain rice. Deglaze the meat pan, reduce, pour over.
25 min

Same cut

Roast, chili, barbacoa, enchiladas.