From a year of Slow Cooker Meals.
OLD FASHION POT ROAST

4 pounds beef roast (chuck or rump)
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced in rings
2 large Russet potatoes, cut in 2-inch chunks
1 cup baby carrots (or peeled and cut regular carrots!)
1 cup sliced celery
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1/2 cup beef broth (if you've got red wine open, you could use that.
2 to 3 cloves of garlic, minced (I add both)
The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Okay, I browned this meat. I hate cooking before I cook, but my father-in-law brought over this GORGEOUS piece of meat and I felt the right thing to do was to pretend I knew what to do with a big gorgeous piece of meat so I browned it.
The browning provides a bit of texture and if you have a more sophisticated palate than I do, perhaps you notice a difference.
but it's up to you.

This is what I did:

In a plastic zippered bag, shake a thawed beef roast with flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Remove roast from the bag and brown all sides in a large skillet with olive oil. While your meat is browning, place the sliced onion in the bottom of the cooker. Add meat, and toss in the potatoes, celery, and carrots. Pour Worcestershire and beef broth (or wine) on top. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. If your meat isn't as moist as you'd like nearing serving time, take it out and cut it into a few pieces and return it to the pot to soak up more juice.

A dry roast isn't from over slow cooking, it's from under slow cooking!
Enjoy, I make this every couple of months
Linda

Let me add that a chuck roast is much more tender and juicy than a rump roast.

I just take a chuck roast, S&P, add a couple of sliced onions and come garlic and a cup of red wine. Sometimes I flour and brown it, sometimes not.

If you want veggies, don't put them in for the whole time, perhaps only the last two or three hours. The veggies become mush and somewhat lost after they have given their all for the roast. For eating veggies, add later.

ROAST BEEF

I will use a lot of different types of beef roasts in the slow cooker, depending on what's on sale and where.

Put the roast in the cooker. Surround it by either tiny potatoes that have been peeled, or chunks of potato (peeled and cut). Add carrots if you like. (If adding other vegetables, I would take the advice given above and add them later. But potatoes and carrots like the entire time in the cooker.)

Mix together 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce, and 1/3 cup water. Add 1/2 tsp onion powder, stir. Pour over the roast and vegies.

Turn on the slow cooker to LOW and cook for around 6-8 hours, or HIGH for 3-4 hours.

Also for your friend, look at some of the "5 ingredients or less" slow cooker/Crock Pot cookbooks and see about those as a gift down the road.

Donna

PKGuy, you mention you use a pressure cooker for beef stew. Ever since I got a pressure cooker, I haven't cooked a pot roast any other way. In fact, what I do is make up the aromatics (what the French would call 'mirepoix') in advance and freeze them. Here's a recipe I worked out for a non cooking relative to make an absolutely superb, melt-in-your-mouth pot roast. You don't need added salt; the salt in the broth (and mushrooms, if used) will be plenty IMO to flavor the meat.

(By the way, here's where a food processor comes in handy. Buy a bunch of onions (ten pounds, if you have the freezer space), along with about half as much each of celery and carrots. Run them through a fine blade on the food processor so that the stuff is finely chopped (not pureed) and mix them by volume in a 2-1-1 ratio. Scoop it up into quart ziplock bags and freeze. A quart bag holds 4 cups of mirepoix nicely. I generally have mirepoix frozen in 2 or 4 cup amounts. Having that available makes this next dish a no-brainer, and easy to do when you come home from work. Very little effort, and once you get the pot up to pressure there's very little to do except relax, have a glass of wine and wait for it to be done.)

Pressure-Cooked Chuck Pot Roast

Chuck roast, 3 to 4 pounds
4 cups mirepoix (if not previously made and frozen as described above, you need roughly 2 cups onions, 1 cup carrots and 1 cup celery, all finely chopped)
Chicken broth (unless you can get GOOD beef broth. Most commercial beef broth is nasty compared with chicken broth)
1 large can of mushroom stems & pieces, drained (optional)
Black pepper
1 or 2 bay leaves (optional)
Potatoes and carrots, peeled and cut into chunks(optional)

In the pressure cooker, put a 4 cup block of frozen mirepoix. Add about a cup of chicken broth. Attach the pressure lid and bring up to pressure for a few minutes. While you're doing that, trim excess fat off the outside of the chuck roast, but don't be too aggressive--you want to leave some for flavor. If you want to, sear the chuck roast on high heat in a frying pan (that's optional--it'll still taste good if you don't do that).

Reduce the pressure quickly and open the pressure cooker. Mix in the can of mushrooms, if used, into the now-thawed mirepoix. Scoop out roughly half of the mix and reserve. Give a generous grinding of black pepper to what remains in the cooker, and maybe throw in a bay leaf or two. Put the pot roast in the cooker. It's okay if it comes up the side of the cooker a little bit. Grind some more black pepper on the top of the roast, then put in the rest of the mirepoix/mushroom mixture on top of the roast. If you're adding potato and carrot chunks, now's the time to do so. Reattach the pressure lid and bring the cooker up to pressure on high heat. Once it gets up to pressure, cut back the heat to where it's just keeping the pressure on high.

Now, don't do anything for a while. After some time (roughly 45 minutes for a 3 pound chuck roast, 50 or 60 minutes for a 4 pounder), turn off the heat. Don't vent the pressure, but rather allow the pressure to come down by itself. It'll probably take at least 15 minutes to do so. During this time, you might want to make a batch of rice or couscous to catch the juices.

Once the pressure is down, remove the lid. Remove the roast to a platter. The juices in the pot will be delicious with no other treatment, but if you wanted to get fancy and strain them you could. Slice the pot roast and serve with rice and the pot juices.

Don't forget Sauerbraten.
Clare
CLAUDIA'S GERMAN SAUERBRATEN

brine
1 pickling spice package or about 1/2 jar pickling spice*
1 large bay leaf
1 medium onion, cut in large dice
6 cloves garlic, cut in thin slices
1/2 c balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 c red wine
2 1/2 Tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
beef
2-3 lb untrimmed meat suitable for pot roast, such as bottom round, eye of round or brisket
1 Tbsp olive oil or bacon grease
1-2 onions, thinly sliced
about 1/3 - 1/2 c juice (any juice you like will work.)
2-3 Tbsp flour mixed in a slurry with 2-3 Tbsp water
small amount (1/4 c or so) light sour cream

In a nonreactive saucepan, mix together the brine ingredients. Bring to a boil to dissolve the salt and sugar and stir. Let simmer for three minutes. Remove from heat and let cool, about fifteen to twenty minutes.
Place the meat roast in a large Ziploc bag set in a bowl. When the brine has cooled, carefully pour the brine over the roast into the bag. Turn to coat. Seal the bag, pressing out the air. Place in the refrigerator and turn the bag over every 12 hours or so. Let the meat brine for two-four days.
Remove the meat from the bag and place on a doubled paper towel; pat the meat dry with paper towels. Strain the brine through a sieve and reserve about 1 cup of the brine.
In a medium skillet, heat about 1 Tbsp of olive oil on medium - medium-high heat until hot. Brown the meat well on all sides and ends, about 2 minutes per.
Place the onions in the bottom of a slow cooker. When the meat is browned, place the meat on top of the onions. Pour in the reserved brine and the juice. Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or until fork-tender.
Remove the meat from the slow cooker and tent with foil to keep warm. Stir in the flour mixed with water. Cover the cooker again and cook on high for about 15 minutes. Remove sauce from the slow cooker and stir in small amount of light sour cream to thicken and to taste.
Cut the beef in long thin slices with the grain and serve hot with the sauce. Store leftovers in the sauce.

*If you use a jarred pickling spice, try to get one that does not contain cinnamon. You can also mix together your own spices for pickling. The package Claudia gave me contains mustard seed, peppercorns, dillseed, crumbled bay leaf, ginger, cloves, allspice, and two small dried red chilies.

I won't give you a recipe - you've already received those. But I wanted to answer another part or two of your question. I do prefer to brown the roast first. As another poster mentioned, after cooking all day in the crockpot, the veggies tend to be mushy. But I do like to put a layer of sliced onions under the roast to use as a rack so the roast doesn't stick to the bottom. Of course, this adds flavor as well. The onion soup makes it too salty for my taste (and I love salt!). In addition to the beef stock/broth (about 2 cups), I like to add a 12 oz. bottle of dark beer. You cannot taste the beer in the finished product, but it just adds depth to the flavor.

I've never seen a Sauerbraten recipe that didn't include gingersnaps. That is one of the defining flavors for me. I'm sure your recipe is tasty, but it is not Sauerbraten in my opinion. I have not tried the following since it is specifically written for a slow-cooker (I make mine in a Dutch Oven) but the seasonings are much closer to a traditional Sauerbraten. Full disclosure: I strain the seeds/berries out of the sauce before serving, and I do not use potatoes since I serve it with spaetzle and I do not do the sour cream thing at the end.

Slow-Cooker Sauerbraten

Traditional sauerbraten has the most wonderful sweet and sour flavor; and the meat is very tender from long, slow cooking. This easy and simple version cooks in your crockpot and takes about 20 minutes to put together.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 9 hours
Total Time: 9 hours, 20 minutesIngredients:
2 - 3 lbs. top or bottom round
2 onions, chopped
1-1/2 cups beef broth
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 bay leaves
6 whole cloves
12 juniper berries (If I dont have them, I put in a splash of gin)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
16-oz. pkg. baby carrots
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
3/4 cup crushed gingersnaps (about 15 cookies)
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 cup sour cream
2-3 Tbsp. flour

Preparation:
In 4 to 5-quart slow cooker, combine beef, onions, broth, vinegar, bay leaves,spices, carrots, and potatoes. Mix well, then cover crockpot and cook on low for 8-9 hours. Then remove cover and turn heat to high. Remove bay leaves.
Add gingersnaps and brown sugar to the mixture. Stir well and taste for seasoning (you may want to add more gingersnaps or brown sugar for the perfect sweet/sour balance). Then stir together sour cream and flour and add that to the crockpot, stirring well to combine. Cover and cook for 30 minutes until thickened and heated. Serve with hot cooked egg noodles or spatzele. Serves 6-8

If you have a new hot cooking crockpot cook on low for 6-7 hours until the meat is tender.

I think the gingersnaps in Sauerbraten came from Luchow's famous German restaurant in New York City. They used the cookies to season and thicken the gravy of their sauerbraten. This style was made popular in the U.S. after the publication of "Luchow's German Cookbook: The Story and the Favorite Dishes of America's Most Famous German Restaurant" by Jan Mitchell in 1952.

I'm German-Russian & grew up with Sauerbraten as an everyday casual type dinner. Mom never used gingersnaps. I also let the roast sit in a marinade for 3-4 days before cooking. The acidity of the wine/spices helps to tenderize the meat & infuse the flavor. Pressure Cooking might accomplish the same thing...not sure since I don't have a PC.

/tricia

I looked for a recipe online that I could cut and paste that was close to my DH's mother's recipe (she was from Germany and came over in the 1930's). That recipe I posted was pretty close except in hers you do the pickling spices individually. When I told my MIL about recipes with gingersnaps, she was appalled. LOL. She said they never made it that way.
Clare

I'm so sorry your mother was appalled. If you were to google recipes on Epicurious and Food Network, all of them seem to have gingersnaps in them. Maybe your mothers family didn't have access to them and modified the recipe?

My mother is from Budapest and makes wonderful Hungarian dishes, but we have noticed there is a lot of leeway in any regional ethnic dish depending on what the family had access to at the time. I was just pointing out that every time I have had Sauerbrated, and almost every recipe I have ever seen uses gingersnaps for that wonderful spicy sub-note.

Alexa

Alexa - That was my MIL, not Mother, and she is very set and rigid in how she does things. I know there are lots of recipes out there that have gingersnaps in them. I was just pointing out that isn't the only way to make it or the way my MIL's family made it going back to the early 1800's when the recipe was passed down from one generation to another. And it is not the way my DH is use to having it for the last 60 years. I asked him once if I should put gingersnaps in it for a change and his reaction was like I shot the family dog. He takes after his mother. LOL
Clare

Gingersnaps aren't even sold over here in Germany.
Lisa

Sorry, I hit post too soon. Most of the recipes for sauerbraten (I don't have a favorite because I don't like sauerbraten) do contain cloves and allspice in the marinade. So, I assume that the gingersnap is an Americanized version of the recipe.
Lisa

Yes, gingersnaps are not authentic. See my post above for their origin in the Americanized version of sauerbraten. There use was a quick way to get spice into an otherwise time consuming dish.

/tricia

This is in my to-try binder. I love the idea of horseradish and Mustard. The reviews were all excellent.

Slow-Cooked Pot Roast with Mustard and Horseradish (Fine Cooking)

2 carrots, peeled and cut in half widthwise
1 medium yellow onion, peeled, root trimmed but left intact, and sliced into 4 wedges
3 cloves garlic, smashed
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 large bay leaf
3 whole cloves or allspice berries
1 cup homemade or low-salt canned chicken broth
1 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)
2 Tbs. tomato paste
1 boneless beef chuck roast (2-1/2 to 3 lb.)
2 Tbs. olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs. brandy
1/2 tsp. prepared horseradish
1/2 tsp. grainy prepared mustard
2 Tbs. sour cream
1 tsp. all-purpose flour
2 Tbs. minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

Put the carrots, onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and cloves or allspice in the bottom of a slow cooker crock. In a measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the broth, wine, and tomato paste to blend.

Set a large heavy-based skillet over medium high heat. Pat the roast dry with paper towels, rub both sides with the olive oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Sear the roast in the skillet until a dark crust forms on one side, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn and sear the other side, 3 to 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium and put the roast on top of the vegetables in the crock.

Add the broth mixture to the skillet, bring to a simmer, and scrape the pan bottom to loosen any browned bits. Pour the liquid over the roast and cover the crock; don't stir. Cook on Low 8-10 hours until roast is falling apart tender.

Transfer the roast to a cutting board and tent with foil to keep warm. Strain the contents of the crock through a sieve set over a medium saucepan. Discard the solids. Skim the fat from the top of the strained liquid (or use a fat separator). Bring to a boil and then simmer rapidly until reduced by half, about 10 minutes.

Whisk in the brandy, horseradish, and mustard.

In a small bowl, mix the flour into the sour cream, stir in a few tablespoons of the sauce, and then pour the sour cream mixture into the sauce, whisking vigorously to blend. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes to blend the flavors. Meanwhile, slice the roast thinly. Serve with the gravy and a sprinkling of parsley.

Jasdip,

That sounds delicious to me! C&P for my "To Try" file.

Thanks.

/tricia

Lisa, I do know that "gingersnaps" are not common in Germany, however, a lot of the recipes I have seen that were from German posters use Lebkuchen as an ingredient, which are not readily available in the US. Seems that gingersnaps were used as a sub for them.

Curiosity, I've seen a lot of German recipes that also use raisins. Do you include them too?

Alexa

My basic recipe for slow cooker pot roast has one ingredient -- chuck roast. You can add embellishments if you wish, but be sure there is a purpose for anything you add. At least, make it unembellished once as a base line for future experimenting.

Here's my recipe. Put a chuck roast in the slow cooker in the morning and leave it on low all day. Season with S&P (those don't count as ingredients, do they?) and serve at dinner time. Notice the precise measurements and timing. :-)

Cook accompaniments such as carrots and potatoes separately.

Jim

Sauerbraten recipes are as varied as pot roast recipes are in the States. Each Oma made it a little differantly than another, and yes, some do call for lebkucken. It can give some spices and will help to thicken the gravy. You can also use black bread, the course type, AKA pumpernickel. It is not the black rye you will see.

Mine calls for apfelkraut, apple kraut, which is very hard to find in the US, so I always bring some back with me. Apple kraut is not applebutter so most recipes here do not include it.

And in the end, they are all good enough to eat!

Yes, raisins are a very common ingredient and my MIL uses them, but as with everything else, tastes are different and those who like raisins use them and those who don't leave them out.
I have found that raisins in food is like sugar in cornbread! LOL. Either you like them or you don't. There is no middle ground. :-)
I am a heathen. I don't like sauerbraten. I just don't say that very loud over here. :-)
Lisa

Jim, I'm glad you posted because I forgot to tell you about my adventure following your detailed & complicated pot roast recipe. I used a rather large chuck roast and did just what you said. No browning and liquids! (Because my husband is on a low sodium diet, I did rub the roast with salt-free seasonings.) Amazingly enough, there was plenty of juice for a nice gravy. I was actually quite pleased with the end result and will do it again. I don't know how to explain it, but I find that pot roast cooked in too much liquid makes the meat rather stringy. I guess the key is to find that perfect moment to stop the cooking -- when the meat is quite tender but hasn't gotten to the overcooked stage.

"...I find that pot roast cooked in too much liquid makes the meat rather stringy."

That is what lead me to this method. Although it is counterintuitive, cooking the roast in liquid always seemed to result in a dry texture. After trying many approaches, I discovered that slow cooking without liquid resulted in the moist pot roast I was looking for. And the rich stock I found at the end of the day was a bonus.

I was seeking a better pot roast, not an easier one. Amazingly, I got both.

Jim

I use Jim's method all the time, but for a different reason.

First, it can be explained why meat cooked in liquid can be drier. It may have to do with the salt in the liquid that causes juice to be drawn out from the meat (osmosis).

By Jim's method, you will end up with a cup of jucie in the pot. That my friend, is what I called "Super Stock". It is pure liquid gold. I save that to make gravy and in other recipes.

Keep some handy. Your friends will be amazed what a great chef you are.

You will not be able to make a better stock.

You still have a great pot roast just the same.

dcarch

Yes, jim and dcarch, imo no additional liquid makes the best meat AND stock. I don't do it any other way now.

I always have added very little liquid, a couple of tablespoons to no more than 1/4 cup of wine, beer or juice depending on many pounds of meat. I mainly add it for flavor. It always comes out tender and succulent.
Clare

I've tried a number of methods from essentially boiling it when you add a bottle of something or too much liquid and you wind up fishing around in this sludge to find the shrunken tough meat to sauces to other methods. Less liquid is better. The key, as Jim said is the proper meat. I like a chuck roast or a pork shoulder roast. They'll give off plenty of fluid. I like to put some onion on the bottom so it's not all gray on the bottom and it gets some flavor. Some put sacrificial veggies in there as a rack thinking it flavors the gravy, OK, maybe it does. But I like the taters on top in a drier atmosphere so it'll brown those babies and they're delicious. They'll give off moisture too so again, adding liquid is a recipe for soup.

I definitely vote to brown the meat. Onions & garlic should be sautéed too if you want it better. People think a "slow cooker" is a magical chef that can make a lousy cook a good cook and eliminate basic cooking techniques a thought with which I don't agree but I digress. If you want it simple, put a can of mushroom soup on top of a piece of roadkill, sprinkle it with onion soup mix, make up some instant mashed potatoes and open a can of gravy. Serve with leftover green bean gasserole. (shudder) And of course if this is what you like, go for it and enjoy it, no need to bother bellyaching about it.

I also firmly believe that you can easily overcook things in a slow cooker. You can easily boil/steam all the moisture out of meat, turn the vegetables into mush and I really think it's important to realize it's an appliance that needs to be properly used to achieve best results. I've had delicious meals from slow cookers and I've had what I wouldn't feed as dog food that was made in a slow cooker.

Cook's Country this weekend did a show about using a pork roast in a slow cooker. Their emphasis was what I've found. Less moisture is better. Here's an adaptation using a beef roast

In previous posts, I didn't say anything about browning because, with this method (no liquid, slow cooker), I don't think it matters much one way or the other. Normally I believe thorough browning is a key to good flavor and appearance, which professionals always seem to practice but home cooks often don't do sufficiently. After all day in a slow cooker however, the meat is brown and flavorful. There's nothing wrong with preliminary browning but I don't find it necessary with this method and I like the sheer simplicity of it.

Jim

Posted by cynic:

"------People think a "slow cooker" is a magical chef that can make a lousy cook a good cook and eliminate basic cooking techniques a thought with which I don't agree but I digress.---"

So true. One day someone will say, "DC, I got myself a sous vide cooker, how come I am still a lousy cook?" Please don't blame me. No appliance can make you an instant chef.

"----I also firmly believe that you can easily overcook things in a slow cooker. You can easily boil/steam all the moisture out of meat, turn the vegetables into mush and I really think it's important to realize it's an appliance that needs to be properly used to achieve best results.----"

So true again. As long as the liquid in the covered cooker is bubbling, the temperature is going to be at 212F, slow cooker or not. It makes no difference to the food being cooked, 212F is 212F. The only difference is that at the lower temperature, the water does not get boiled away too quickly, allowing longer simmering time.

I also find it interesting of the practice of putting a rope of dough to "seal" the cover of a slow cooker. I don't think it makes any difference whatsoever to the end result. But it does make you look like you know what you are doing.

dcarch

dcarch, I've never heard of placing a "rope of dough" to seal the slow cooker's cover. I'm with you on this. For one thing, as you mention, I don't think it would make much difference in the finished product. Secondly, it would make checking on the cooking food next to impossible, so you could easily overcook your dish. And finally, it would create another level of mess and necessary clean-up. I thought the whole idea of a slow cooker was to make life easier -- not add more work. I guess you could substitute a tightly covered layer of aluminum foil before putting on the cooker's official cover. It would accomplish the same task but be much easier and cleaner to deal with.

I prepared a lamb dish about 15 years ago that used that method. I sealed the lid onto a soaked clay pot with dough & into the oven it went for something like 7 hours. Then, crack off the dough & peek inside...it was yummy. But, probably would have been yummy anyway. It was fun though & since I cracked it open at the table it added a sense of anticipation to dinner. Everybody enjoyed the show & after dinner helped pick-up the baked dough pieces all over the table/floor. :)

/tricia

I saw J. Childs demonstrate that dough rope tip.

The thing is this, a pressure cooker develops about 15 p.s.i. of pressure to raise the boiling point to 250F.

Let's say you have a 16" pot, just one p.s.i. can have a 200 lbs of pressure to over come. A dough rope cannot possibly work against 200 lbs of pressure.

dcarch

I have a recipe for lamb (gigot a sept heures) which calls for a 'caulk' made of flour and water. Of course it won't hold up under pressure, but I think the idea is to have whatever evaporation of fluids condense on the vessel's lid and then drip back on to the meat. (Some Dutch ovens have lids with little basting nipples--no comments, Jessy--to do just that.) Dunno how effective the caulking is, because I've made it with and without the caulk and both turn out well. My guess is that it is a holdover from the days when oven temps weren't accurately maintained, and that technique at least kept the evaporative loss to a minimum.

At the very least, it would keep you from opening the lid frequently to check on the status of the dish.

Thanks for all the replies folks.. Xmas/NY got in the way of reading up to now and I hate being one of those people who post a question and never return.
Haven't gone over to my friends place to start him off yet but I've already used mine for a couple of stews and made a full 6 qts of chili the other night.. overnight actually. I was sitting watching tv about 8pm, bored, ran to the store and grabbed the fixings, tossed everything in and turned it on when I went to bed about 1a.m. LOL Turned out great.