Old Fashioned Pot Roast -- The Meal That Holds When Everything Else Does Too

Hot wind. Ninety-four for three days. Three days of farrier work. Two ranches in the county. Eleven horses. The body is tired in the right way.

Patrick on the porch in the afternoon. Coffee in the good cup. The cottonwoods. Tuesday meeting in Roundup. Eight regulars. Three vets. I do not lead. I show up.

Cornbread in the cast iron. Crisp edge.

Tomorrow I move the herd to the upper pasture. That is the next thing.

Hauled three bull calves to the auction yard Wednesday. Got a fair price. Came home. Counted the cash. Put it in the ranch account.

The Musselshell was clear Sunday. Could see trout in the deeper pools. Did not fish. Just watched.

Drove to Billings for parts Friday. Stopped at the cemetery on the way home. Stood for ten minutes. Came home.

Hank, the dog, herded the chickens by accident. He apologized in the way dogs apologize — eyes down, tail low. The chickens were unimpressed.

Three days of horses this week. The work is meditative. The horses know. The owners pay. The cycle holds.

Listened to the cattle market report on AM radio while I worked the shop. Beef is up. Feed is up. The math is the math.

Mended the chute hinge Wednesday. Welder was finicky. Got it on the third try. Patrick used to do this. I do it now.

Worked on the truck Saturday afternoon. Plugs and wires. Two hours. Hands black with grease. Came in. Showered. Ate.

A neighbor's heifer was choking on a corn cob. I drove over with my emergency kit. Cleared the cob with a length of garden hose. The heifer recovered. The neighbor brought a pie the next day.

Mr. Whelan from down the road came over Saturday with a story about a horse he sold in 1979. The story took an hour. I listened. He needed someone to tell it to.

The barn cats are doing their job. Down to one mouse this week, in the feed shed. The cats brought it to the porch as proof. They are professionals.

Storm came through Friday night. Thunder. The dog hid under the bed. The kids slept through it. The cattle bunched up by the windbreak. Standard.

The wood pile is half what it was at Thanksgiving. I will split another cord on Saturday. The cord will be ready by next winter. The wood always is.

Took a walk to the river before supper Tuesday. The cottonwoods were silver. The water was running. I did not think much. I just walked.

Truck started cold Tuesday. Twelve below. Battery is the original. I will replace it before next winter. I always say I will replace it before next winter. I never have.

The Tuesday Roundup AA meeting was eleven this week — three new guys from a referral. The room was full. The coffee was strong.

A reader emailed about the elk chili recipe. Asked what beer to use if non-alcoholic was not available. I wrote back: any beer is wrong if you don't drink. Use stock.

Wrote a blog post Friday night. The first one in two months. About making chili in a snowstorm. Short. Practical. Posted it. Forgot about it.

Drove the back fence line Saturday. Two posts down from elk. Replaced them in the morning. The fence held the rest of the week.

The cornbread in the cast iron was right for midweek — quick, hot, done. But by the end of a week like this one, three days of farrier work, a neighbor’s heifer in distress, Mr. Whelan’s hour-long story, and a Friday night cemetery stop — you want something that has been cooking while you were out doing the rest of it. Pot roast is that meal. You set it in the morning, you go move the herd, you come back, and it’s there. Patrick would have recognized this one. I still make it the same way.

Old Fashioned Pot Roast

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 3 hours 30 minutes | Total Time: 3 hours 50 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 lb beef chuck roast
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 large onion, cut into wedges
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 4 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 4 medium potatoes, quartered
• 2 stalks celery, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch (optional, for gravy)

Instructions

1. Preheat and season. Preheat oven to 325°F. Pat the chuck roast dry with paper towels. Rub all sides with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
2. Sear the roast. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sear the roast 3 to 4 minutes per side until a deep brown crust forms. Do not rush this step — the crust is where the flavor lives. Remove and set aside.
3. Build the base. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion wedges and smashed garlic to the pot. Cook 2 to 3 minutes until softened and lightly browned. Pour in beef broth and Worcestershire sauce, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
4. Braise. Return the roast to the pot. Add thyme and bay leaf. Bring to a low simmer, then cover tightly and transfer to the oven. Cook for 2 hours.
5. Add vegetables. Remove pot from oven. Add carrots, potatoes, and celery around the roast. Cover and return to oven for an additional 1 hour 30 minutes, until the meat is fork-tender and the vegetables are cooked through.
6. Rest and finish. Remove roast and vegetables to a serving platter. Tent loosely with foil and rest 10 minutes. If you want gravy, discard the bay leaf and thyme sprigs, bring the braising liquid to a simmer on the stovetop, whisk in cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water, and cook 2 to 3 minutes until thickened.
7. Serve. Slice or pull the roast apart and serve with vegetables and gravy over the top.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 480 | Protein: 42g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 34g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 620mg