Pot Roast

Pot Roast is a very popular dish in South Louisiana cooking. It involves the French technique of braising or pot roasting which comes from the French word “braiser”. The meat is seared at a high temperature, then finished in a covered pot with liquid, resulting in a succulent, flavorful meat and gravy. Coq au Vin is a well known French dish in which the braising technique is used.


History aside, it’s one of my favorite wintertime dishes as it fills the house with a wonderful aroma and is a hearty, warming, filling dish for a cold winter night. It’s one of those things where you sit on the couch under a heavy afghan in your warm fisherman’s sweater eating a big bowl of pot roast while watching your favorite movie or football team with your family. And then you fall asleep, warm and happy. Hmmmm.

When I was in Junior High, we lived on a corner; our side yard was very large and a long rectangular shape, completely unimpeded by shrubbery. It was the perfect place to play football and all the neighborhood boys and school friends would come play ball at my house in the fall during football season.


We would play no matter how cold it was and continue until it was so dark that we couldn't see anymore. By the time we quit and I went inside I was chilled to the bone, shivering badly and hungry as a bear. My mother usually had something cooking that was good and hot and she would hold up dinner until everyone went home and I came in. But what I loved and remembered about those meals was Pot Roast! By the time I changed clothes, she had dinner served. I would grab a bowl, go sit next to the fire and watch whatever my father had on TV and eat that wonderful incredible food. The warmth it brought would slowly spread through my cold body all the way to my finger tips and toes and leave me in a satisfied bliss.

POT ROAST (requires a large oven safe pot or roasting pan)

2 large chuck roasts
1 large onion chopped
5 stalks celery chopped
1 medium bellpepper chopped
8 large cloves garlic, minced
1 large bag baby carrots
5 large Red or 10 new potatoes, cubed (skin on)
Flour
Oil
Beef bouillion (I use Better Than Bouillion paste)
Tony’s

Salt, pepper and flour roasts, then brown both sides in oil. When browned, remove from pot. Add onion, celery, bellpepper and garlic and sauté, scraping the residue and drippings from the bottom of the pot. When vegetables are sauted well, push them to one side (or remove them entirely) and place roasts in bottom of pot. Place vegetables around the roasts; add potatoes and carrots and mix them with the sauted vegetables. In a large container, add 4 cups water and 3 tablespoons of bouillion (or 6 cubes) and dissolve. Pour into pot and add enough water to cover 1” over the top of the roasts and vegetables. Season with Tony’s and stir. Cover and bake in oven at 350 degrees (or cover and slowly simmer it on the stove) until roast is fork tender. Serve over rice.

**Note:

See Tips and Information on Better Than Bouillion paste.

When browning floured meat, leave it alone and don't move it for a few minutes (the residual flour around it will brown), then you can turn it. Otherwise the floured crust will come off and stick to the bottom of the pot and burn.

Brisket

It was deer hunting season, and I was spending a long weekend at a friends house out in the country. Her husband had several hunter friends, myself included, out hunting on the property late one afternoon. I had paired up with another hunter friend, Ronnie, to hunt off his stand and we were out in a gully on our way when we heard a thunderous noise. Before we even had a chance to think, a huge herd of cattle was stampeding towards us kicking up a wall of dust, dirt clods and debris; it looked like a storm. Ronnie tried to scare the cattle in a different direction but it didn't work and I dove under the roots/base of a large fallen tree at the head of the gully while he dove behind a large tree nearby. From where I was, it felt and sounded like an earthquake. I glanced up and could see the undersides of the cattle jumping over me...one wrong move and one of them could have landed right on me. I was terrified.

Fortunately, we came out unscathed. Ronnie drove us back to our friends house and upon entering the kitchen, we were so shell shocked and weak in the knees, we both collasped on the kitchen floor in tears. It was the first time I ever saw this grown man cry. We sat there holding each other in total silence, teary and emotional until someone came home and jolted us back to reality. We were terrified realizing how close we came to being killed. Needless to say, that was the last time I went hunting!! Thanks Ronnie!

My friends father had already planned to cook a nice brisket for everyone that night for dinner. He had already done the prep work and it had been marinating overnight. When he got in from the hunt, he took it out and fired up the grill and cooked the most succulent, fork tender brisket I had ever eaten. We planned to have a sit-down meal after the hunt but with the "excitement" of the day and that wonderful brisket, we were having cocktails and talking so much that we stood around eating the entire meal standing up, just picking at the food and eating the meat slice by slice before we realized everything was all gone! And it was wonderful that way too! Gotta be flexible!

This can be done entirely in the oven, but it's better to follow the recipe. This marinade recipe can cook 2 large briskets, so mix it all then freeze half if you are only cooking one brisket.

2-3 bottles of soy sauce
1 lg can pineapple juice
1 sm bottle Italian dressing
1 bottle worchestershire sauce
½ cup brown sugar
1 tbl garlic powder
lemon pepper (this makes it good!)
1 large brisket

Mix all ingredients together except lemon pepper. Divide quantity and freeze half if not preparing 2 briskets. Marinate brisket in refrigerator for 24 hours. Remove brisket and place on broiling pan and season generously with lemon pepper and more garlic powder. Cover entire broiling pan & brisket with foil and seal well (I used a 9x13 pyrex casserole dish). Cook in oven at 250 degrees until 2/3 done, about 1 –1/2 hours. Take the remaining marinade the brisket was in and pour into a sauce pan and simmer on stove or on the pit while brisket cooks in the oven. Take brisket out of foil (***SAVE JUICE) and place on BBQ pit over low burning coals. When brisket is browned well on both sides, wrap in foil again and cook on pit for another 30 min per pound. When done, slice brisket. Combine juice and pan drippings, pour over meat and serve.

**** If you choose to cook the brisket entirely in the oven, just keep it covered and cook it at 250 degrees until done. It will take a few hours but is well worth it.

Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup

In the mid 1990's I was living in Dallas and was leaving to go home to Louisiana for a visit during a particularly blustery and cold winter. I stopped to fill up my gas tank at a station just down the street from my house. While there, a Hari Krishna man handed me a carnation through my car window and wanted to discuss his religion with me. I politely declined but he gave me the flower anyway. I set it on the passenger seat with the intention of throwing it away at my next fill-up in North Louisiana. I forgot. I drove with that flower in the car next to me for the next 7-1/2 hours until I arrived at my mother's house. Unbeknownst to me, that Hari Krishna had the flu! Thirty-six hours later I was.....sick....as....a....dog. Ugggghhhh.

Fortunately, my mother had dinner at a friend's previously in the week, in which the friend served a wonderful Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup. Mom called her friend, got the recipe and made it for me. Oh My Gosh, it was divine! It warmed me up, soothed my sore throat, helped clear my stuffy head and was hearty enough to fill me up for awhile, gave me a little energy and was very comforting. It was the best vegetable beef soup I ever had. Upon my return to Dallas, when I finally felt up to it, I called Mom and got the recipe. I've been making this soup ever since....winter, spring, summer or fall...doesn't matter, I love it anytime of the year and all the time! The quantity of this recipe is very large so I like to put half of it up in the freezer for later use. To make this recipe you will need a large soup pot.

4 pkgs of stew meat or 1 lg roast, cubed
1 12 oz can tomato paste
5 stalks celery chopped
1 lg onion chopped
½ bellpepper chopped
1 bag peeled baby carrots (I use a large bag)
6 cloves garlic (I coarsely chop mine)
1/4 cup Worcestershire
2 tbls salt
2 tbls cayenne pepper
2 tbls Tony’s

Place all above ingredients in a large soup pot and fill pot with water to cover 3" over, stir, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Allow to cook down thoroughly, approximately two and a half hours, stirring occassionally.

Add:
1 can yellow corn, drained
1 can lima beans, drained
1 can green beans, drained
1 can early peas, drained
1 lg bag shredded cole slaw (1 lb)

Cook for another 2 hours or until vegetables are cooked and tender. Recheck seasonings and serve with buttered and toasted french bread.

****The secret to any good soup, especially this one, is to slowly simmer it for hours. I start it early in the afternoon so it's ready by dinner or cook it on the weekend for the next week.