Beef Pot Roast Recipe

This amazing pot roast recipe comes from Carrie Gamble. Carrie wanted to preserve the wonderful recipes her grandmother made and did, in a wonderful cookbook called Grandmothers Cookbook.

Pot roast may be an old time recipe, but it is timeless and as popular an easy dinner recipe as it was in our mother's time.

This is a deliciously seasoned recipe for beef pot roast, complete with vegetables that cook on the side and become part of the sherry flavored gravy.

A pot roast simmers for a while, so is a perfect method for cooking less tender cuts of beef.

Measuring Pinches and Dashes

Don't you just love these old recipes with a pinch of this and a dash of that? I do. For those who want a better reference to follow, just add a small bit of the ingredient that says pinch or dash, about 1/8 teaspoon, up to just under 1/4 teaspoon if it is an ingredient you particularly like.

Cooking isn't always that precise. Sometimes, it's all about seasoning it the way it tastes best to you.

Grandmother's Pot Roast

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 3 hours

3 to 4 pound beef roast
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon salt
dash of black pepper
pinch of ginger
1 to 2 tablespoons oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 clove garlic
2 stalks celery, cut into large pieces
piece of green pepper
1 tomato, cut into chunks
2 carrots, cut into large chunks
small piece of yellow turnip (or rutabaga)
1/4 cup water
1/4 wine or sherry

Wipe the meat with a paper towel to dry it. Mix together the flour, salt, pepper and ginger. Rub mixture on all sides of the meat.

Heat the oil in a heavy roasting pot. Brown the meat on all sides. Place the vegetables around the roast. Pour water and wine or sherry over the roast. Place lid on the pot and simmer on the stovetop for about 3 hours. This pot roast can also be baked in the oven at a medium heat (about 350ºF) for the same length of time.

Remove meat. To the essence in the pan add the heaping tablespoon of flour plus the water. Cook, stirring often, until thick. Strain the gravy (including the vegetables)) through a sieve. Makes a most delicious gravy.

• If you don't want to use sherry or wine to flavor the pot roast, substitute an equal amount of beef broth.