Stoner Cooking: Shoney's Slow-Cooked Pot Roast Recipe

From TopSecretRecipes.com
Todd Wilbur

Menu Description: "Tender roast beef and carrots slow-simmered and served in a rich brown gravy."

Remember Mom's delicious pot roast? Shoney's tender slow cooked entree is just as good, if not better than, many home recipes. The secret to making tender, flaky pot roast is the long slow-cooking process with frequent basting - and then cooking in the pan juices after flaking the meat. This recipe, based on Shoney's popular dish, requires 3 to 4 hours of cooking to make the meat tender. The meat is then flaked apart, put back into the pot with the pan juices and carrots, and cooked more to infuse the meat with flavor. The original recipe requres a rump roast, a tough cut of meat before cooking, which is reasonably low in fat. If you like, you can also use the more tender and less costly chuck roast. This cut of meat requires about an hour less time in the oven to tenderize it because of its higher fat content.

Pot Roast
2 tablespoons butter
1 4-pound rump roast
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 large clove garlic, chopped
20 whole peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh parsley (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
2 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
1 teaspoon salt
2 large carrots, sliced

Gravy
2 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
salt and pepper to taste

On the side
mashed potatoes

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Melt the butter in a large oven-safe pot or Dutch oven and sear all sides of the roast in the melted butter for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until all sides are browned.

3. Remove the meat from the pot to a plate. Add the onion, celery, bay leaf, garlic, peppercorns, thyme, and parsley to the pot that the meat was in and saute over high heat for 5 minutes until the onion starts to brown.

4. Put the roast back in the pot with the vegetables. Add the beef stock and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

5. Cook the meat in the oven, covered, for 4 hours or utnil the meat is tender enough to tear apart. Every half hour or so, baste the meat with the broth so that it doesn't dry out.

6. When the roast is tender, remove it from the pot and strain the stock into a medium bowl. Discard the vegetables and spices, but keep the stock.

7. Using two forks, shred the roast apart into slightly bigger than bite-size chunks. Put the meat back into the pot and pour the stock over it. Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and the carrots.

8. Put the pot back into the oven and cook for 40 to 50 minutes. This will make the meat even more tender and fill it with flavor. By this time the carrots should be tender.

9. Just before serving the pot roast make a gravy by straining the stock from the pot roast and combining it with an additional 2 cups of beef stock. Sprinkle the flour into a medium saucepan and stir in the liquid. (You should have about 3 cups of stock altogether. If not, add water until you have 3 cups of liquid.) Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often until thick. Remove from the heat.

10. Serve the pot roast and carrots on a bed of mashed potatoes with the gravy poured over the top. Salt and pepper to taste.