Crock Pot Roast

It's really hard to screw up pot roast. Or is it?

Growing up, my Grandmother would fix a pot roast in the oven every summer for a few dinners at the Lake. She had this thing about eating meat well done. WELL done. In my family we eat our beef medium rare. I think it was because of my Grandmother I became a salt addict. I needed half a shaker to get that roast down every time. Rawhide would have been a more tender, more moist meal.

My Mom seems to have recently discovered the crock pot. I'm not sure why. I know we had one in the house my whole life and I've seen her use it. Their big thing is ribs in the crock pot. She told me recently they cooked a roast for dinner in the crock pot and the vegetables were amazing but the meat was the driest they had ever had. Worse than my Grandmother's she said! They had to throw it out.

I asked her if the meat was on top of the liquid. "Yes." And there ya go.

The roast I made for tonight's dinner was perfect. It was very simple. Just some carrots, a few cloves of garlic, an onion. I used the white of a leek too. I didn't use any spices though. Interesting. Well except for a little salt and pepper. One thing I did that I believe took my meal a step above the average is I used a box of beef stock instead of water. I used six cups of stock to get the beef under the liquid level. (The box is four cups. I used an additional two cups that I had frozen in the freezer).

After the roast was done, I took it out and put it in a casserole dish. Then I strained the vegetables out of the liquid and added them to the casserole dish and put them in the oven to stay warm. Then I poured all of the liquid into my large skittle and boiled it down to less than half of what I started with. I spooned the reduced liquid over the meat and vegetables. I wish I had time to clarify it and make it a little thicker. Next time. This concentrated the flavor and the extra step took my pot roast to another level, in my oh so humble opinion.
Negatives?

The box of organic beef stock had too much salt in my opinion. Not overpowering and fine for my tastes but maybe not for others.

I think that to really do this right I need to sear and brown the roast before putting it in the crock pot. A little note to remember for next time.

Other than that it was the perfect meal for today, since I seem to have finally caught Rose's cold.