Sweet-and-Sour Pot Roast -- The Sunday Table That Held Everything

I told Amber I was leaving the daycare at the end of December. She cried, which I was not expecting, and then she was embarrassed about crying, which I understood. I told her she was ready for the lead teacher position, that I had been watching her all fall, that she was exactly the right person for it. I told her specific things: the way she handles Caleb transitions, the way she talks to parents, the way she keeps notes. She said: you taught me all of that. I said: no I showed you. You learned it. There is a difference.

The blog has been getting consistent traffic now, which means I have actual readers, not just the people who find a post once and leave. People who check back. I have started thinking about what the blog is for, what it should become, whether I want it to be something larger or whether its size is part of what makes it honest. I do not have answers yet. I am asking the questions.

Sunday at Gloria and James this week felt different in a way I cannot fully account for. We made pot roast, low and slow all day, and in the late afternoon when the light was going orange through the kitchen windows we ate at the table and everything was as it has always been. But I am leaving a job I have held for three years next month and going back to school full-time and I am aware of the edges of this chapter in a way you are not always aware of things while they are happening.

I said: thank you for believing I could do this. James said: we knew before you did. That is exactly right. That is exactly what they did.

That Sunday at Gloria and James—the orange light, the slow afternoon, the sense of standing at the edge of something—it all came down to this pot roast. Low and slow all day is exactly right for a recipe like this one: the sweet-and-sour balance mirrors what the day actually felt like, tender and a little sharp at once. If you have a chapter closing and people around a table who believed in you before you believed in yourself, this is the recipe you make.

Sweet-and-Sour Pot Roast

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 3 hours 30 minutes | Total Time: 3 hours 50 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 pounds boneless beef chuck roast
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 large onion, sliced into rings
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 3 medium potatoes, quartered
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water

Instructions

1. Sear the roast. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Season the chuck roast all over with salt and pepper. Sear for 3 to 4 minutes per side until deeply browned. Remove and set aside.
2. Build the base. In the same pot, reduce heat to medium and add sliced onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
3. Mix the sauce. Stir in diced tomatoes, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, ground mustard, and ground ginger. Stir to combine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
4. Braise low and slow. Return the seared roast to the pot, nestling it into the sauce. Cover tightly and cook over low heat for 2 hours, turning the roast once halfway through.
5. Add 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 beef is fork-tender and the vegetables are cooked through.
6. Thicken the sauce. Transfer the roast and vegetables to a platter and tent with foil. Whisk cornstarch and cold water together in a small bowl until smooth. Bring the pot liquid to a simmer over medium heat and stir in the cornstarch slurry. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes until the sauce thickens.
7. Serve. Slice or pull the roast and arrange on the platter with vegetables. Spoon the thickened sweet-and-sour sauce generously over everything and serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 410 | Protein: 36g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 32g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 480mg