Barbecued Beef Roast

Christmas 2021. The Mountain View house. The tree, the parol, the Nativity. The food — the full Santos Christmas spread, excessive and perfect and Lourdes-scaled. Angela and James were there, Angela at the point of pregnancy where sitting is uncomfortable and standing is worse and the only acceptable position is reclining on Lourdes's couch with a plate of lechon kawali balanced on the belly.

Mark called from San Diego. The twins — seven months now, crawling, getting into everything, Sofia pulling herself up on furniture with the determination of a Santos woman who will not be stopped by gravity. Marco watching Sofia with the expression of a baby who has already learned that his sister is a force and his job is observation. Carmen looked tired and happy. Mark looked tired and terrified, the standard expression of a father of twins at seven months.

I gave Lourdes a new mortar and pestle — granite, heavy, the upgrade from the marble one I gave her two years ago. "Better," she said, testing the weight. "This will last." The Santos women evaluate all gifts by their endurance. Longevity is the metric. The mortar and pestle will outlast us. This is the gift. This is always the gift. Things that last.

Reynaldo's salmon sinigang. Christmas evening. One more squeeze. For Papa. For the approaching baby. For the chain of recipes and the chain of people and the squeezings that connect them across years and deaths and births and the whole impossible, beautiful, tamarind-sour span of a family that started in Iloilo and is still becoming.

That Christmas evening, watching Lourdes test the weight of the granite mortar and pestle and pronounce it good because it would last — I keep coming back to that word. The food at the Santos table has always been like that too: built for abundance, built to carry people through grief and joy and new babies and phone calls from San Diego. Reynaldo’s salmon sinigang was the sour, tender heart of that night, but the dish I’ve come back to again and again when I need to feed a table of people who matter to me is this barbecued beef roast — slow, generous, the kind of thing you set going and then go be with your family while it does its work.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 3 hrs 30 min | Total Time: 3 hrs 45 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

3 to 4 lb beef chuck roast
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup barbecue sauce (store-bought or homemade)
1/2 cup beef broth
1 medium onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Instructions

Preheat and season. Preheat oven to 325°F. Pat the beef roast dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, combine garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Rub the spice mixture evenly over all sides of the roast.
Sear the roast. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or oven-safe pot over medium-high heat. Sear the roast on all sides until deeply browned, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the roast to a plate.
Build the sauce. Reduce heat to medium. Add the sliced onion to the pot and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the smashed garlic and cook 1 minute more. Stir in barbecue sauce, beef broth, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and apple cider vinegar, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
Braise low and slow. Return the roast to the pot, nestling it into the sauce. The liquid should come about halfway up the sides of the meat. Cover tightly and transfer to the oven. Braise for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, turning the roast once halfway through, until the meat is fork-tender and pulls apart easily.
Rest and serve. Remove the roast from the oven and let rest, covered, for 15 minutes before slicing or pulling. Skim any excess fat from the surface of the sauce and spoon generously over the meat to serve.

Nutrition (per serving)

Barbecued Beef Roast — The Santos Table Always Has Room for One More