A pot roast is braised, a roast beef is...roasted, in an oven without a lid.

Yup. If you have a lid over the vessel and you've added a little liquid, you are braising (i.e., pot roasting) the meat.

Generally, a moist heat method is good for drier cuts, and a dry heat method works well only for moister cuts. If you were to take a very lean cut such as eye of round and cook it with a dry technique, it probably would become excessively dry. If you were to cook it as a pot roast, though, it'd probably be quite tasty. If you were to take a nice juicy rib roast and roast it uncovered, there's enough moisture and fat in the meat to where it'll still come out juicy.

To me, a pot roast is braised with a lid on top of the stove and roast beef is baked in the oven - sometimes with a lid and sometimes without one.

Interesting thought, ruthanna. I have always cooked pot roast in the oven after browning on the stove top.

So we are having pot roast tonight:). I think it's over cooked as I told a neighbour that my roast has been in the oven since noon. I got a "oooh" not a good one either. I am terrible with big pieces of meat (whole chickens, roasts, full size fish). Hopefully this technique didn't create my usual roast beef jerky result.

and arley....you have it reversed....the leaner cuts like eye of the round become very dry when braised for a couple of hours. Actually I prefer an eye of the round cooked in the oven without a lid to no more than medium rare....yeah it's tough, but good!
Linda C

I just learned from getting out my old Betty Crocker Cookbook the other day when I was sick and bored...that what I had always called "roasting" is actually braising. HA! Who knew? GAH!

Posted by Lindac "and arley....you have it reversed....the leaner cuts like eye of the round become very dry when braised for a couple of hours. -----"

Arley is not incorrect.

Meat does not care whether it dry cooked or wet cooked. Meat knows two factors only, how long and how hot.

The pot roast/braising (wet) method allows lower temperature simmering for a long time, that can tenderize lean cuts of meat. You can never go above 212F with this method.

Typical roasting (dry)method tends to be much hotter, say, in an oven set at 250F or higher, that obviously dries out the meat. For ovens which can keep low temperature settings, the meat will not be dried out.

In a smoker, set at low temperature, you can dry cook the meat to juicy and tender, given enough time and low enough temperature.

Typical eye of round recipes cooking time is from two to 10 hours.

Here is one I cooked at extreme low temperature (129 F) for 48 hours. Medium/medium rare, juicy fork-tender.

Dcarch

Wouldn't a piece of meat cooked for two days at such low temps(129F) be spoiled? I don't get those super low temps? The meat certainly looks like it would taste good but doesn't seem hot enough to even kill the bacteria etc.

Posted by arkansas_girl "Wouldn't a piece of meat cooked for two days at such low temps(129F) be spoiled? I don't get those super low temps? The meat certainly looks like it would taste good but doesn't seem hot enough to even kill the bacteria etc."

That is a very important question. Very important.

Fortunately today with internet, you can check out all kinds of information, and you do need to go to multiple sources to confirm your information. I am not going to be very specific, just some general ideas here.

The general guideline given by the authorities are safe to the extreme, they need to account for all those young, old and the immunological challenged. Furthermore, to make things simple, the guidelines do not take into account the time factor. In other words, when they say (again, I am not giving any specific information here, just talking about concepts) 160F is safe for chickens, they are not telling you that is also safe for 150F if you cook at that temperature for 30 minutes, and 140F for 60 minutes.

For beef, (for me, may not be for you) it is generally very safe that you can eat raw beef, if the beef is handled properly. Since you can not be sure of if the outside of the beef is handled properly, you can sear/torch using quick high heat to sanitize the outside before you cook the meat in very low temperature.

It is entirely not recommended to eat raw ground beef because you cannot sanitize ground beef.

There are charts available showing safe temperatures for all kinds of meat based on time and temperature.

dcarch

If you pot roast--with liquid and covered--a piece of meat on top of the stove or in a slow cooker, it is easy not to over cook because you can lift the lid and fork the meat to see how "done" it is. I add vegetables when the meat is still fairly tough and by the time the vegetables are done, so is the meat. There is no danger of over cooking because when the meat is done you remove it from the heat and let it sit until close to serving time. Then, you can reheat for a few minutes and serve. I think pot roast is impossible to overcook, unless I forget about it for some reason. Oven roasting (uncovered) is much harder for me to gage. When it is done I want to serve it immediately so it can't over cook.

Mud lady, get an instant read thermometer.....they are less than $10 and will save you lots of over cooked meat woes.
And deC that looks like a Cure 81 ham. I often serve it with a sweet hot mustard sauce.

Another stunning presentation! Your imagination has no bounds. I never would have thought to treat the beets that way.

The technical information you gave is very helpful too.

Or maybe it's the other way around -- good info beautifully illustrated.

Jim