Not My Mama's Pot Roast. My Sister's!

My sister, Debbie, makes the best pot roast, EVER. It is always fork tender and it has really intense meaty flavor.  This is one of those recipes where I don't change the ingredients, but I do change the procedure.  Debbie makes her pot roast on the stove.  For ease of use, I'm going to use my crock-pot.  I also like to get a little color on my ingredients before putting them in the crock-pot.  Keep reading.  You'll see.

Debbie's Pot Roast
2-3 pound chuck roast
1 yellow onion, chopped into hearty bite-sized chunks
4-5 carrots, chopped into hearty bite-sized pieces
Approximately 3 cups beef broth or stock
2 packages dry onion soup mix
Salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), a couple turns of the pan, 1-2 T

In a large skillet heat EVOO on high 'till screaming hot.  Season one side of your chuck roast liberally with salt and pepper and place roast season side down into skillet.  Season the other side of the roast.  Sear meat for 1-2 minutes, and then flip the roast and sear for another 1-2 minutes.  Both sides of the meat should now have a nice brown char.  Remove from heat and put roast in the bottom of your crock-pot.

Place onions and carrots in the skillet and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.  Cook just long enough to get a little color on the veg.  Place veggies on top of roast in the crock pot.*

Look how pretty!

Pour approximately one cup of broth in your skillet and deglaze the pan (scrape all the good meat and veg bits off the bottom!).  Stir in both packets of onion soup mix in the broth until incorporated.

Pour the broth from your pan into your crock-pot.  Add additional broth until liquid is level with the top of the roast.

Set your crock-pot on low and cook for 8 hours.  After 8 hours, using a slotted spoon and/or tongs, remove meat and veg to a plate.  The meat will literally be falling apart, so be gentle.

At this point you can serve your meat with a litte jus (meat juice!) from the crock pot or you can make your own gravy.  A lot of crock pot enthusiasts would recommend turning your crock pot up to high, sprinkling in some flour and then bringing the liquid to a boil.  I have never gotten liquid to boil in a crock-pot.  It's probably because I have no patience (After 8 hours, I'm ready to eat!) and have never been able to wait long enough to see if it will boil.  Instead I like to transfer the jus to a sauce pot, sprinkle in some flour (whisking constantly) and bring it to a boil to thicken it.  SO much faster!

Serve with a side of mashed potatoes.  I mean, what goes better with meat and gravy than mashed potatoes?!?

*Adding the vegetables in at the beginning of cooking means they will be VERY tender after 8 hours. If you like your veg a little less done, skip this step and throw the veggies in the last 3 or so hours of cooking.  Don't forget to spoon some of the meat juice on top of them so they get some of that flavor.