Balsamic Pot Roast

If you cannot tell by now, I love comfort food!  I especially love slow roasting a large piece of red meat in my dutch oven, and that pretty much defines cooking a Pot Roast.  I had previously posted a pot roast recipe on this blog but this is another take on the classic dish; instead of wine, I substituted balsamic vinegar and added two different kinds of mustard.  You can use just Dijon or grainy mustard but I had both on my fridge so I figured I'd use them both.   Making a pot roast might seem intimidating but the majority of the time this dish takes to cook is in the oven.  The hardest part about making this dish is resisting the urge to take it out of the oven too early because it smells absolutely amazing!  Slow cooking fills the house (or apartment) with smells and aromas that are just so warm and inviting they can warm up the coldest of days, even a snowed in day.

The cut of meat most associated with a pot roast is a chuck roast which is usually a tough piece of meat from the shoulder.  It is great because it is a relatively cheap cut of meat but when slow roasted, it becomes so tender and literally falls apart when you lift it out of the pot.

I dredge my meat to reduce the risk of my kitchen smoking up.  Every so often I have had issues with red meat smoking up my kitchen and one time I tried a recipe for braised short ribs that called for dredging the ribs... guess what! no smoke!  From then on, I have always dredged large cuts of red meat I have to sear.

Searing the meat is one of the most important steps in making a pot roast. The point of searing is not to cook the meat through. By browning the sides of the meat you are able to lock in all the juices as well as impart a lot of flavor to the dish with the brown bits left on the bottom of the pot which come up so easily after pouring in the vinegar.  

After adding the vinegar, scrape the bottom of the pot for all the wonderful flavorful brown bits.

Before adding the potatoes and carrots, the meat should be almost at the point of falling apart but not quite there.

You will know your pot roast is done when the carrots and potatoes are fork tender and the meat literally falls apart when trying to remove it from the pot.

Ingredient Count: 10 (I only needed to buy 5)

Balsamic Pot Roast

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. flour
3 Lbs. Chuck Roast
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. grainy mustard
1 Tbsp. Tomato Paste
5 sprigs fresh thyme
2-3 cups beef stock
2- 3 Carrots, chopped
4 red potatoes, diced into 1 1/2 inch pieces
kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 300 F .

Pat chuck roast dry so that the meat can sear.  Season with salt and pepper and dredge in flour.  Heat oil in a dutch oven, or other heavy pan with a lid, over medium high heat (or high heat if you have a powerful vent hood, which I unfortunately do not have.).  Add the roast to the pan and brown on sides, a few minutes on each side (only turn when the meat comes up easy and no longer sticks to the bottom).  Remove the roast and set aside on a plate.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and saute until soft and translucent, about 3-5 minutes.  Add the balsamic vinegar, bring to a boil.  Reduce for about 5 minutes.  Once the vinegar reaches a syrupy consistency.  Stir in the mustards and tomato paste.

Place the roast back into the pan and add the stock and thyme.  Bring to a boil and cover the pot and place in the oven for about 2 hours.

Stir in the carrot and potatoes and make sure they are coated in the cooking liquids.  Return the pot to the oven to cook for about 1 hour or until the potatoes are fork tender.