When I was growing up, my mother regularly made pot roast because my father (a native Midwesterner) liked it. I liked the pot roast and the potatoes that were cooked with it, but I detested the carrots. I’ve written before about sitting at the dinner table for an hour after everyone else left because I wouldn’t eat the carrots. https://www.theresahuppauthor.com/blog/2015/04/27/the-evil-blue-pyrex-dish/
Once I became responsible for preparing meals, I rarely made pot roast. The memories of those carrots were too vile.
Plus, my pot roasts were always dry. I usually made the roast and vegetables in a crock pot so they could cook while I was at work. But the results were rarely satisfactory.
But my husband is another native Midwesterner. He, too, likes pot roast. So occasionally, I would make one, never satisfied with the results.
Then came the Instant Pot. Although I wasn’t enamored of the Instant Pot when I got it, I have found that pot roast is one of the things it does well. And pot roast is a nice comfort food on a cold winter evening.
Here is my recipe for pot roast. I do cook it with carrots, but I give them all to my husband. The potatoes turn out rather mushy, but I can live with mushy potatoes.
Ingredients
2.5-3 pound chuck roast
1 onion, sliced
1 cup carrots (mini or sliced)
2 cups potatoes, quartered
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp Perfect Pinch or beef grilling spices
1/2 tsp garlic salt
Worcestershire sauce to taste (about 2-3 Tbsp)
2 cups liquid — chicken broth, beef broth, or I’ve also used red wineDirections
1. Brown roast on all sides in Instant Pot (saute mode). Set roast aside and saute onion slices.
2. Scrape bottom of Instant Pot.
3. Return roast to Instant Pot, surround with onion, carrots and potatoes.
4. Pour liquid and spices over everything.
5. Pressure cook for 50 minutes, then allow it to come down to pressure. You can use Quick Release after about 20 minutes.
What recipes have you learned to make after many years of trying?
Sounds good. Maybe choosing smaller potatoes and cooking them whole with make them less mushy.
I totally agree with you on the cooked carrots. In their raw state I snack on them frequently. And they’re necessary to flavor broths, for example for soups or around pot roasts. But to eat cooked carrots? Yuck. Just yuck.
As to the cooking question at the end of the post: My example, like yours, involves gadgetry. I’ve learned to cook lean meats (e.g. chicken breast) without drying them out. I’ve been cooking such ingredients using sous vide for some time now: it’s low-skill, forgiving to the easily distracted (right up my alley,) and produces reliable results. It has for instance transformed holiday turkey for me. Even formerly die-hard dark-meat-only zealots in my family will eat some breast meat now.