Basic Beef Roast - Building Block Recipe

I have a large family to feed, and since I don't have unlimited income, I'm constantly watching the grocery budget. I honestly try to keep all meats at under $2 a pound - so I watch for what goes on sale and stock up.

Quite often one of the two beef finds I come across is chuck roast (the other is ground beef of course!). I have nothing against an old fashioned pot roast, but if there was a long running sale or the price was really good - let's just say it shows up on my table a little too often.

Because chuck is a tough cut, it does best when it's braised - slow cooked in a little liquid. In this case the liquid comes from the meat itself. The tradeoff of course is intensely beefy flavor. I began to play with other applications for this cut and came up with several.

This particular recipe is a building block - you use the roast itself in other recipes. You can of course use this to go on to regular pot roast, and I'll post instructions for that. But this blog is simply how to prep for some other dishes - Roasted Beef and Bean Enchiladas, World's Best Beast Stew, Philly Steak Sandwiches, French Dips...you get the idea.
 
The other rockin' thing about this recipe is you can do it in a slow cooker, and have more than one dinner. Each recipe uses half of this one - so I plan ahead on having dinner in the bank, so to speak. I've even pulled a roast out of the freezer in the morning and popped it in a slow oven while it was still frozen.
 
This particular recipe isn't pretty - I almost didn't take pictures since I immediately cut it apart, and never made a 'pretty' plate. However, I will post one to show you what you're looking for in the interim stage.  So give this a try - you'll rely on this all the time.

1 3 lb chuck roast
salt and pepper - about 2 tsp salt, and six-seven cranks freshly cracked black pepper per side of the roast

1. Preheat oven to 250F, or set crock pot or slow cooker to lowest setting.
2. Salt and pepper all sides of the roast.
3. Place in a heavy Dutch oven, and place in the oven. Walk away - don't add anything else to the pot - no liquid, no veggies, nothing else at this point. The roast will produce it's own jus - just a fancy french word for juice. You'll use this jus later - so don't go messing with it now.
4. Slow cook or roast for at least six hours. It can go 8-10 as long as the temperature is very low. Don't open the lid of the Dutch oven or slow cooker - you'll release too much heat, and have to allow an additional fifteen minutes of cook time for each time the lid is lifted. Stop it.

That's it - once done, pull it from the heat. Allow it to rest - or cool completely if you wish. Once rested it's ready to use. Shred it, slice it, chop it - whatever you wish! Make sure you also reserve the juice in the bottom on the pot. Pour it into a fat separator if you have one, or a measuring cup if not. Stick it in the fridge for a bit - the fat will congeal at the top and can be easily spooned off.