Pot Roast with Mashed Baked Potatoes
Adam Ragusea
5,618,190 views
One of the best bang-for-buck meals of all time. Thanks to Turo for sponsoring this video! Skip the rental counter. Sign up for Turo here: https://turo.onelink.me/1712264037/7c... Use promo code Ragusea15 for $15 off your first trip!
**RECIPE, FEEDS 6-8 PEOPLE**
FOR THE POT ROAST
2.5-3 lb beef chuck roast
1 large onion
1-2 stalks celery
1 lb large carrots
1-2 cups red wine (about half a bottle)
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup flour
2-3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
oil
salt
pepper
garlic powder
fresh rosemary
FOR THE POTATOES
2 lbs baking potatoes (Russets), or a mixture of Russets and Yukon Golds
1-2 sticks (4-8 ounces) butter, ideally cultured butter
Half a head of garlic
1/2-1 cup milk
salt
pepper
If you want to limit the amount of fat in the final dish, trim any large globs of fat out of the inside of the meat — don't worry about mangling it. Put a thin film of oil into a large Dutch oven on medium heat, then slowly brown the meat, taking care to not let anything burn on the bottom of the pan. Start the oven pre-heating to 350 F.
While the meat is browning, peel and cut the onion into thin quarter-circles and chop the celery into small pieces. When the meat is brown, remove it to a plate and put in the vegetables. Keep the vegetables moving and cook them until you're worried the fond on the pan is going to burn, then put in the tomato paste and the flour and stir aggressively to disperse the flour through the fat in the pan.
When you're REALLY worried stuff is gonna burn, pour in the wine and start scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon. Pour in the tomatoes and the Worcestershire sauce, and sprinkle on a couple teaspoons of garlic powder. Stir to incorporate, then return the meat and any juices that collected in the plate. Toss the meat in the sauce, put the lid on the pot, and put the pot in the oven.
Put the potatoes in the oven too, right on the rack, and cook until easily pierced with a fork, 1-1.5 hours. Remove the potatoes and let them cool for a moment. Put a large pan on medium heat and put in the butter to slowly melt. Meanwhile, peel and chop the garlic. Put the garlic into the hot butter then immediately turn the heat off. If anything looks or smells like it's going to burn, move the pan to a cooler surface. Cut the potatoes in half, scoop out the flesh and pass it through a ricer into the pan. Mix with enough milk to give you the texture you want, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and keep warm until dinner.
Peel the carrots and cut them into large chunks of roughly equal mass.
After 2-3 hours total in the oven, the meat should be soft enough that you could pull it apart with forks (but don't actually do that yet). Put the carrots into the pot, get them coated in the sauce but not submerged, and return the pot to the oven WITHOUT THE LID. Let cook until the carrots are just tender enough to be pierced with a fork, about an hour.
Remove the pot from the oven. Chop up a few stems of fresh rosemary and put that in, along with some salt, pepper and the vinegar. Stir to incorporate. The meat will start breaking up when you stir, which is a good thing. Taste the sauce and add any additional seasoning or vinegar, then stir one last time. If any of the meat has not yet broken apart into manageable chunks, pull it apart with forks.
That's it. Eat.
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Pot Roast with Mashed Baked Potatoes
Adam Ragusea
5,618,190 views
One of the best bang-for-buck meals of all time. Thanks to Turo for sponsoring this video! Skip the rental counter. Sign up for Turo here: https://turo.onelink.me/1712264037/7c... Use promo code Ragusea15 for $15 off your first trip!
**RECIPE, FEEDS 6-8 PEOPLE**
FOR THE POT ROAST
2.5-3 lb beef chuck roast
1 large onion
1-2 stalks celery
1 lb large carrots
1-2 cups red wine (about half a bottle)
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup flour
2-3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
oil
salt
pepper
garlic powder
fresh rosemary
FOR THE POTATOES
2 lbs baking potatoes (Russets), or a mixture of Russets and Yukon Golds
1-2 sticks (4-8 ounces) butter, ideally cultured butter
Half a head of garlic
1/2-1 cup milk
salt
pepper
If you want to limit the amount of fat in the final dish, trim any large globs of fat out of the inside of the meat — don't worry about mangling it. Put a thin film of oil into a large Dutch oven on medium heat, then slowly brown the meat, taking care to not let anything burn on the bottom of the pan. Start the oven pre-heating to 350 F.
While the meat is browning, peel and cut the onion into thin quarter-circles and chop the celery into small pieces. When the meat is brown, remove it to a plate and put in the vegetables. Keep the vegetables moving and cook them until you're worried the fond on the pan is going to burn, then put in the tomato paste and the flour and stir aggressively to disperse the flour through the fat in the pan.
When you're REALLY worried stuff is gonna burn, pour in the wine and start scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon. Pour in the tomatoes and the Worcestershire sauce, and sprinkle on a couple teaspoons of garlic powder. Stir to incorporate, then return the meat and any juices that collected in the plate. Toss the meat in the sauce, put the lid on the pot, and put the pot in the oven.
Put the potatoes in the oven too, right on the rack, and cook until easily pierced with a fork, 1-1.5 hours. Remove the potatoes and let them cool for a moment. Put a large pan on medium heat and put in the butter to slowly melt. Meanwhile, peel and chop the garlic. Put the garlic into the hot butter then immediately turn the heat off. If anything looks or smells like it's going to burn, move the pan to a cooler surface. Cut the potatoes in half, scoop out the flesh and pass it through a ricer into the pan. Mix with enough milk to give you the texture you want, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and keep warm until dinner.
Peel the carrots and cut them into large chunks of roughly equal mass.
After 2-3 hours total in the oven, the meat should be soft enough that you could pull it apart with forks (but don't actually do that yet). Put the carrots into the pot, get them coated in the sauce but not submerged, and return the pot to the oven WITHOUT THE LID. Let cook until the carrots are just tender enough to be pierced with a fork, about an hour.
Remove the pot from the oven. Chop up a few stems of fresh rosemary and put that in, along with some salt, pepper and the vinegar. Stir to incorporate. The meat will start breaking up when you stir, which is a good thing. Taste the sauce and add any additional seasoning or vinegar, then stir one last time. If any of the meat has not yet broken apart into manageable chunks, pull it apart with forks.
That's it. Eat.
Use promo code RAGUSEA15 for $15 off your first Trip! Thanks to Turo for sponsoring this video.
Q: RED WINE? Why didn't you cook with white wine?
A: As I said in the video, I actually do braise beef in white wine sometimes, even though it's not "traditional." However, I think there's two reasons why red works really well in this recipe. One, we're using a proportionally small amount. Sauces made primarily of red wine tend to be too strong and a little bitter, IMHO. But in this sauce, the quantity of wine is small compared to the tomatoes. Two, as I said in the video, I am a big fan of the combination of red wine and tomatoes.
Q: What kind of red wine should I use?
A: I think anything reasonably dry (i.e. not sweet) would be fine. I think I used cabernet? Again, its proportionally such a small quantity, and it gets cooked for so long, I don't think you're gonna taste the differences between different grape varieties.
Q: Could you cook this entirely on the stovetop?
A: Absolutely. Just get all the ingredients in and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Stir it every now and then, scraping the bottom — just to make sure it doesn't burn. It might take a little longer, and you won't get the same roasted flavor and texture, but it'll still be great.
Q: Could you avoid that burned ring of sauce around the edge of the pot by just scraping down the sides every now and then?
A: Certainly, and if you want to do that, awesome. I just want to throw the pot in the oven and forget about it for a few hours.
Q: Could you use a masher for the potatoes instead of a ricer?
A: A masher used on baked potato flesh produces an unpleasant texture, IMHO. The flesh is just too stiff — it comes out super lumpy. I say either go for a really rustic texture and just kinda crush up the flesh with a fork, or get a ricer. Or just boil your potatoes instead of baking them.
Q: Could you leave the skins on the potatoes?
A: The skins of Russet and similar floury baking potatoes are super gross in mash, IMHO. They have this terrible slimy texture when wet. If you're making mash with waxier varieties — usually the ones with red or yellow skins — I think you can leave the skins on. Though, I will say I've never tried to pass potato skin through a ricer. Perhaps someone here has?
Q: Why did you pronounce "Worcestershire sauce" that way?
A: As far as I'm aware, that's generally how my fellow Americans pronounce it. This is a word with highly variable pronunciations. I have heard Brits pronounce it all kinds of ways. MPW just says WUH-ster — two syllables only.
Q: How would you clean all that burnt-on goo off the pan?
A: Enameled cast iron is a pretty easy surface to clean. Just soak it in warm soapy water for a bit and then go at it with an abrasive sponge. Stuff doesn't stick to the enamel as bad as it would to bare cast iron or stainless steel.
Q: Do you realize that you just showed your house number to the world?
A: Yes. My location is hardly a secret. I'm in the phone book. I'm a homeowner. My address is an easily googleable matter of public record. This is not unusual.
Q: Why do you say it isn't necessary to season the meat before browning it?
A: Because you're going to season the sauce, and ever single bite of meat is going to be completely covered in that very viscous sauce. Any seasoning you put on the exterior would immediately dissolve into the braising liquid anyway.
Q: Could you make this in a slow cooker?
A: I suppose, but I don't see the point. Slow cookers can't brown anything, so flavor is always really bland, IMHO. I know sometimes people brown the meat in a pan and then transfer it to the slow cooker, but that seems like some Rube Goldberg shit right there. If you have an electric stovetop, slow cookers have literally no reason to exist. Just get a (much more versatile) dutch oven. The only reason I can think someone might want a slow cooker is if you have a gas stovetop and you're worried about leaving an open flame going in your house while you're not there.
Q: Is there a substitute for the wine? Is it safe for children to eat this?
A: As I said in the video, you could replace the wine with beef stock (or water). I might use a little extra balsamic vinegar at the end to compensate. And yes, it's safe for kids to eat something with this amount of long-cooked wine it it. A dish like this probably has less alcohol in it than bread: https://youtu.be/nxqAGbJ3bSA