Southern Pot Roast

Father's Day and Juneteenth fell close together this year, and I spent most of the weekend moving between celebration and grief, which is not so unusual when you think about it — most of the important things in a Black family's life happen in that same space between the two.

I cooked Marcus's favorites on Sunday: smothered pork chops with the gravy he liked thick and dark, white rice cooked soft so it soaks up everything, snap beans from my garden that I started in April. Destiny and Travis came over. CJ called from Huntsville around noon and stayed on the phone through most of the cooking, which is his way of being present when he can't be there in person. He described what he was cooking for himself — a poor imitation of my pork chops, he said, laughing — and I walked him through it step by step while standing at my own stove. Cooking together by phone. We have found ways.

Marcus's chair is still at the table. I don't sit in it and nobody else does either. It's not a shrine, exactly — I've thought about moving it and I probably will someday — but for now it stays because some part of me still orients the table around where he would have been. Travis sat to the left of it, easy and respectful, not making a thing of the empty seat. I appreciated that in him. Travis pays attention to the shape of a room.

After dinner Destiny asked if I still had the box of Marcus's recipes — the ones he'd typed on index cards back when he was trying to teach himself to cook before we got married. I do. I got them out and we sat at the table going through them, laughing at the ones that said things like "add spice until right" with no further instruction. His handwriting was very neat. I had forgotten how neat it was. Destiny held one card a long time without speaking and I didn't interrupt her.

CJ called back that evening to say his pork chops came out fine. I told him that was generous self-assessment but I was proud of him for trying.

The meal I made that Sunday — the pork chops, the soft rice, the snap beans — was Marcus’s, built around what he loved and how he liked it. But the cooking itself, the low-and-slow patience of it, the dark gravy pulling everything together, belongs to a tradition bigger than any single dish. This Southern pot roast is cut from that same cloth: the kind of recipe that asks you to stay close to the stove, to tend something, to let time do what it does. If you walked CJ through it on the phone the way I walked him through the pork chops, it would come out right.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 3 hrs 30 min | Total Time: 3 hrs 50 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

3 to 3 1/2 lbs boneless beef chuck roast
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
1 tsp black pepper, divided
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced into half-rings
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
3 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 lb baby potatoes, halved

Instructions

Season the roast. Pat the chuck roast dry with paper towels. Combine 1 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder, then rub the mixture all over the roast on every side.
Sear for color. Heat the vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Sear the roast for 4 to 5 minutes per side until a deep brown crust forms. Transfer the roast to a plate and set aside.
Build the base. Reduce heat to medium. Add the sliced onion to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 6 minutes until softened and beginning to color. Add the minced garlic and tomato paste and cook 1 minute more, stirring constantly.
Make the gravy. Sprinkle the flour over the onion mixture and stir to coat. Slowly pour in the beef broth and water, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, thyme, remaining 1/2 tsp salt, and remaining 1/4 tsp pepper. Add the bay leaves.
Slow cook the roast. Return the seared roast to the pot, nestling it into the gravy. The liquid should come about halfway up the sides of the meat. Bring to a low simmer, then cover tightly and cook over low heat for 2 hours, turning the roast once at the halfway point.
Add the vegetables. Tuck the carrots and potatoes around the roast. Replace the lid and continue cooking for 1 to 1 1/2 hours more, until the roast is fork-tender and the vegetables are soft.
Rest and serve. Remove the bay leaves. Transfer the roast to a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing or pulling. Spoon the pan gravy generously over everything when serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Southern Pot Roast — The Gravy Marcus Would Have Wanted