Braised Sunday Roast

Here’s a great recipe for a cheap roast that tastes like an expensive roast once you’re done with it. I call it a Sunday roast because you can throw it in the oven and forget about it for a couple of hours. Always a great thing on Sunday if you have church in the afternoon, or you just want to take a nap.

This recipe is more of a How To than an exact recipe. You can do it just like how I did the first time so you can get comfortable with it. but this is one of those recipes that you will eventually make your own.

Any kind of beef, pork, lamb, ect, roast can be used. I used a lamb roast that I had bought and then put in the back of my fridge where it was forgotten. Oops. Fortunately it was only two days past use by date, so I braised it to make sure it was well cooked. The braising liquid can just be as simple as a canned broth poured over the roast until it is mostly covered.

Step 1-

1 large chunk o’ meat

Salt and Pepper

Cut roast into large pieces and season liberally with salt and pepper. Salting your meat before cooking allows the flavor to better cook in and makes for a tastier finished product. 

Can you skip salting? Sure, just don’t come and ask me why my food tastes better than yours.

Heat a large pot over medium high heat. If the roast is very fatty then don’t worry about adding oil to the pan. If it’s lean then add 1 tablespoon oil to heated pan. Add a portion of the meat to pan, fat side down, leaving plenty of space. 

Don’t over crowd the pan or you will steam the meat instead of browning it. Sear meat until a nice dark crust has formed. 

Flip meat and sear on other side. Remove meat from pan, place on a plate or a bowl. Meat will not be cooked all the way through. Continue to cook in batches until all meat has been seared. 

Drain all but 1 Tbls of excess oil from pot. The bottom of the pot will have lovely brown bits. Like so- 

This is called fond and adds excellent flavor.

Step 2

1 large Onion, quartered

3 Celery Stalks,  cut into 2" pieces

2 carrots, cut into 2" pieces or a handful of baby carrots 

4 cups chicken broth 

1 cup red wine (I like Merlot) 

2 cloves of garlic 

1 bay leaf 

Add onion, celery, and carrots to the pot. Reduce heat to medium. Sauté vegetables until they have just begun to brown. You don’t need to cook them all the way through.

Add meat and any accumulated juices to pot. Add broth, wine, garlic, and bay leaf. Don’t add any more salt, this is going to cook down and you don’t want it too salty. 

Preheat oven to 300. Bring meat and broth to a simmer, cover and place in oven. Cook for 3-4 hours, until meat is fork tender. Alternatively- place the cooked meat and vegetables in a crock pot. Bring braising liquid to a boil then add to crock pot. Cook on high for 4 hrs or low for 8 hrs. 

Step 3

Remove meat from liquid then strain liquid. Skim off excess fat from braising liquid. Return liquid to pan and simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes. 

Taste braising liquid and add more salt if needed. If it is too salty just thin it out with a little broth. Return meat to pan and toss with liquid. Serve. 

This is how much was leftover after dinner. The leftovers make a great base for a stew, and since the meat is already flavorful and soft, you can whip up a stew in under an hour.

A quick note about cooking wines. I usually use Sutter Home Fre (no I didn’t forget an ‘e’), it is their alcohol removed line of wines. A taste testing by Cook’s Illustrated ranked them the best tasting of the alcohol free (mostly) wines, and you can find it in most grocery stores.