What the (expletive deleted) is braising, you ask? It’s cooking food in a liquid. In this case, we’re going to cook our beef shoulder in a beef-and-beer broth until it’s fall apart tender.
Why not just use a slow cooker? Because we want to sear the outside of the beef so that it doesn’t just fall to pieces. If one wants a big pile of shredded beef on one’s plate, slow-cooking is fine. If one wants a beautiful slice of tender, juicy pot roast, one braises.
So we braise!
This is our brought-to-room-temperature beef shoulder, about 3.5 lbs.
We used our kosher salt and fresh, ground pepper on all sides. This is the side of fat that will go into the pot first. The fat will render in the heat and help make our beef-sear flavorful.
We’ve preheated our oven to 350F, put our dutch oven on the stove top on medium-high heat, then put in enough olive oil to coat the bottom but not allowing the oil to pool. We are going to sear our beef, not deep-fry it. When the oil shimmers, it’s ready for our beef.
Into the pot it goes! Sizzle, sear, and don’t touch it for 10 minutes. Some people do less time, I like a really heavy sear, dark brown in color. Do not touch the beef! Do not poke the beef! Do not tease the beef! After 10 minutes, go ahead and turn it onto another unseared side. Do not use a fork to pierce the beef when you turn the beef. Use large tongs or two wooden spoons.
These are most of the other ingredients to our pot roast. We love carrots, especially braised, so we go heavy on them. An onion, 2 teaspoons of dried Thyme, a 12oz bottle of good beer, (we’ve had fabulous success with Guinness Extra Stout!). 2 tablespoons of tomato paste (not shown), and a cup (or two) of beef broth, (simmering on the stove.)
After turning the beef for the first time, we can see the lovely color of the sear. This beef is not cooked; it is seared so that the flavors are sealed inside and so that it has more structural integrity to not fall apart during the braising, carving, and eating. We’re going to sear every side, even the small ones. The fat we seared for ten minutes to render as well as sear, every large side can sear for eight minutes, the small sides for five.
While the beef is busy searing, prep your other ingredients. Our carrots are peeled and sliced into big hunks. Three hours in a braise will turn these carrots soft, tender, and juicy, but still firm. Small pieces of carrot will completely dissolve, so keep ‘em biggies!
Onion sliced large, as well. We’re not doing steak-n-onions where we want small slivers of onion. Make ‘em Big Pieces so they can survive the braising, capice?
There’s a big side of our beef nicely seared. Pretty? Yes, yes it is. Keep searing!
See below? We want to sear every side, so move that beef around!
When you’re done searing, take the beef out of the pot and put on a plate of honor. Don’t worry about covering it to retain heat; we still have to braise it for three hours.
This is what the bottom of your pot should look like: black, brown, just dirty. But it’s Pure Flavor Country, and we’re not going to let it go to waste!
Inputten das veggies dar das potten! Cook ‘em for five minutes, same heat setting. Stir occasionally, but don’t try to scrape the bottom of the pot. As the onions wilt, they will release juice that will allow the Pure Flavor Country to migrate all over the vegetables.
After five minutes, you’ll be blown away by the amazing smells, the bottom of the pot will be almost completely clean (see pic!), and your carrots and onion will be coated in PFC-greatness. Don’t eat yet!
Add the Thyme and stir. The wafting air changes from beef-and-onion to a woodsy musk, and your guests will start meandering into the kitchen asking for samples. Beat them off with a clean wooden spoon.
Add the beef broth. One cup for a hearty, thick, pungent sauce, or two cups for a thinner, less gravy-like consistency. For this recipe I went with the one cup as I love the dense flavors in the thicker broth.
Add the beer! This is one occasion where spilling your beer is not a personal foul.
Now you want to scrape the bottom of the pot with your wooden spoon! Scrape it, baby! Get every ounce of PFC into your broth.
Two tablespoons of tomato paste get dunked. Stir it up!
Bring the whole enchilada to a slow boil. Send the dog to his kennel and the guests onto the back porch or you’ll have no room in the kitchen; it’ll smell so good.
Put the beef into the broth, kinda shoving it around until the beef is halfway covered in the stuff. Any beef juices on the plate? Pour ‘em on top of the beef.
Put the lid on, put the pot in the preheated oven for 90 minutes. Swagger a bit; you’re earning it.
Here’s out main course after it’s first trip through the oven.
Take your tongs, flip that beef over, reinsert into the broth, cook for 90 more minutes… then remove the pot, take off the lid, and marvel at yourself!
Take the beef out, put it on a carving board, cover with aluminum foil, and let set for ten minutes. Then carve it up against the beef’s grain and put the slices back in the pot.
Take the pot to the table and serve family-style. Although I didn’t make roast potatoes, herbed egg noodles, or any other side, (because it’s frickin’ late!), perhaps you can imagine your own favorite side dish with this place setting.
…I desire this piece of cookware.
its nearly 11:30 at night, and you have successfully made me hungry. looks excellent, can you email me some of this?
I can smell this in California!
Cubed potatoes. My mother always put cubed potatoes in this. I add potatoes, too. I often experiment with colored potatoes, yukon gold or those blue ones. Red wine does wonders too, although I agree that you simply cannot go wrong with Guinness in this dish. Depending upon my mood, the last 15 minutes of the braising will find me adding frozen peas to the mix. Then, it really becomes a full meal for me. If you make smashed potatoes, use a slotted spoon to remove the onions and carrots and just pour the liquid over the potatoes. Or remove all of it and add just a smidge of cornstarch to make a gravy. I don’t care for gravy but my friends love it so I turn the liquid into gravy. Add some french bread and I would accompany this with applesauce followed by coffee, tea and warm apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream.
You have done a great service, Daniel. This is extraordinary reheated the next day, assuming you have left overs.
/drool
/printing – IN COLOR DAMN IT!
/handing over to husband with puppy-dog-eyes
WIN!
Awesome Daniel!
Wow! I’m going to have to try this. Just one question:
Can you do this in a large steel pot as I do not have an earthwear cooking pot like that?
That is how you post a recipe! Easy to follow instructions, great pictures, and leaves the reader with a desire to go make that dish right now.
So I asked this question after your last recipe but I think it was missed since it was not a timely post. Kosher salt? I have a hard time finding it in the small town I live in but can get coarse sea salt. Is there a difference here? Also, looks awesome and I am certain the taste will be just as awe inspiring. Looking forward to giving this one a try.
@Britter – kosher salt has a flat crystal that allows it to adhere to wide surfaces better. Sea salt won’t act like kosher salt, as it has a much larger, irregular crystal – it’s best crushed as seasoning or used in applications that will better dissolve it (like, for instance, wet bread doughs with overnight rises). If you don’t have or can’t get kosher salt, use table salt, but use about 1/2 the suggested amount, as table salt takes up less volume than kosher salt.
@Daniel – Why don’t you add the tomato paste before the beef broth and cook it down a bit – more flavor….
Thanks Michael. I am not a fan of table salt and will effort to find kosher as I do a lot of artisan baking as well as the occasional meal like this one.
Hmmm… looks tasty. I generally make Alton Brown’s Pot Roast (Google it, of course), which is also very good (though I skip the raisins).
Looks absolutely amazing. I have an old steel cookpot (with lid) of my grandmother’s that I use for recipes like this one. Can’t wait to try this one out.
You have made me want to buy a Dutch oven. I really really wish my husband liked to cook. Maybe I can talk him into helping with this.
*drool* maybe Blizzard could add a recipe for this next to your gun
Seriously looks very good.
It will be difficult to do this in a stainless pot as its lid is not heavy enough to keep the liquid from evaporating. You don’t need to spend $300 on a Le Creuset, though. As I’ve said in the past, IKEA and other stores sell these for under $75. Consider this a lifetime investment.
Daniel,
If you was to incorporate potatoes into this dish how would you do it? My mom, a chef, says for simplicity she would steam red potatoes and put them in the pot after cutting the meat to serve it family style like you did. She said doing it this way would insure you dont have mush potatoes. Im excited to try it out this weekend.
Thoughts?
::reading this thoroughly with great interest… then realizing I’m hungry and going off to the kitchen::
Daniel,
Looks delicious.
Very similar to a regional dish from the North of Belgium.
Try using a Belgian Trappist Beer if you can get your hands on one. (There is a difference between Abbey Beer and Trappist Beer, and yes, it matters.)
Wow looks amazing and after such a long time with nothing. To bad I read it at 1 in the morning and I am poor so I can’t afford even the meat for now. Not a carrot fan myself since I only like the raw I would add potatoes in if you did the 2 things of beef broth. Other then that it is very close to how my mom makes a good pot roast but she does hers in a small crock pot just big enough to hold the meat after the full on sear of the entire thing. Takes a bit longer but with the same results. It is my favorite and I miss it since I have moved out.
@Sapphia – My enameled dutch oven is a Lodge – $65 at Walmart – and it works just fine for every application I have used it for.
@Sapphia – My enameled dutch oven is a Lodge – $65 at Walmart – and it works just fine for every application I have used it for.
Daniel, this looks amazing!
Totally going to make this one for my fam (:
I’m totally digging your cookings, keep ‘m coming ;P
Keep the rest coming too (: it’s interesting
Beautiful! Thanks for the recipe! Pot Roast is something I haven’t tackled before, as it wasn’t a staple at home growing up. But I do love it. So I got inspired today and went and picked up some Guinness Extra Stout, a nice piece of chuck, and went to town! House smells incredible!! Can’t wait for the wife to get home and /swoon – well done sir
Just wanted to say that you have single handedly reignited my love of cooking
I really shouldn’t read this blog before 10AM. Makes lunch so much farther away. Nice looking food there Daniel.
So going to try this soon. Sláinte Daniel.
Awesome recipe. My wife makes an awesome pot roast, but we may have to try this one next time.
One thing that we do differently is that after we take out the meat, she will take a hand blender (aka “the boat motor”) and turn all that roasted toasted veggie goodness into a think gravy. Then back in with the meat. It is O-M-G delicious.
I can see how some may prefer to have some nice veggie chunks in there too. But man the blending makes a great taste. Hell, the gravy by itself is a great leftover to go with mashed taters.
Keep the great eats coming, Daniel and let us know when you finally get your Big Red Kook Book published. Much love and kudos!
Oh one more comment for quote excellence.
“Do not touch the beef! Do not poke the beef! Do not tease the beef!”
Awesome.
OMG that looks amazing.
*drools*
/reaches out for it
“it is seared so that the flavors are sealed inside”
Searing = flavor, not sealant.
Take 2 pieces of meat, approximately the same size. Weigh them pre-cooking, sear 1, then cook both to the desired doneness, you will loose about the same amount of weight (in moisture lost from cells) in both pieces of meat.
All that searing does is create an invasion of PFC directly on your meat. And wow that sounds dirty.
Other than that, I think I am using this recipe the next time we do potroast.
Keep up the good work.
If you took 2 steaks, or 2 potroasts, seared 1, then cooked both to t
You need your own cooking show. I love all the additional comments you put in. It makes it look like a mere mortal can cook this :p
Daniel, I just licked my monitor. Twice.
[...] remember beer-braised pot roast? Well we can use a very similar technique with chicken. Let’s make Chicken [...]
I’m actually drooling at this now!
Thank you so much for sharing and for adding the pics….I need this recipe in my life!! I’ve emailed it to myself so that I don’t lose it.
Nikki
Looks amazing
I am definatly making this when my boyfriend is in town in a couple weeks 
I’m making this right now and OH MY GOD the kitchen smells amazing.
I really, really need one of these pots now – I’m just using a large metal pan with lid and it’s not the same. I’m glad my roast is small!
Mmmmmm
I am stuffed to the gills from our staff meeting lunch but……. mmmmm I can smell it all the way from Australia.
*drools*
Or maybe that’s some else’s lunch in the microwave
/at Mike lol!
my monitor’s a bit dusty so that gives it extra flavouring
Made this a few days ago, as promised (:
And it was great! Thanks a lot for the recipe!
Going to try out some others too.
All good to you in 2011, Daniel!
So excited to try this one. The wife is at the store now getting ingredients. I am working late all week this week, so will probably have to wait ’til the weekend to make it. I am excited!!!
Ever since I made this for my family when you first posted it, it’s become a staple around here. People rave about it, request it and ask for the recipe. I always direct them to your site. I’ve even done a modified version of this recipe to make Guinness stew for St Patrick’s Day and everyone adores it. I’m actually making this right now as a pre-Christmas meal for my brother coming to town! Thank you for posting it!