Yankee Pot Roast
Perhaps one of the oldest Pot Roast recipes in Northern America, brought over by immigrants in colonial times using ingredients they had on hand in their winter root cellars.
Yankee Pot Roast originated in New England during colonial times, but the idea of braising tough cuts of beef in liquid over long periods of time was nothing new. American colonists just adapted a long line of old world recipes and used what they had on hand. The bleak, frigid winters demanded something of comfort and sustenance, and New Englanders would rely on their root cellars to braise beef in water, or perhaps beef stock, with vegetables like carrots, potatoes, turnips, onions, rutabagas and parsnips. Yankee Pot Roast as the colonialists knew it contained no wine, which was scarce in the New World; it had no celery which would not have made it to the root cellar, and it most certainly had no tomatoes, which were actually thought to be poisonous until the late 19th century.
Today, the generally held notion of a Yankee Pot Roast is a beef chuck roast, braised in broth or stock and perhaps some wine, with onion, potatoes, carrots and celery. The latter isn't original to the colonists' version, but that is how the recipe has evolved and would meet most peoples' expectations if they saw this item on a restaurant menu.
Some recipes call for tomatoes, some don't and beyond the basic ingredients, everything else is subject to interpretation, if not outright bastardization. I ran across one recipe called, "Good, Old Fashioned Yankee Pot Roast with Red Wine and Thyme Gravy." But of course, there is nothing old fashioned about wine or thyme as far as the Colonists were concerned. Another recipe I ran across called "Old Fashioned Pot Roast," listed ingredients which began with a packet of dried Lipton Onion Soup. Of course, there’s nothing old fashioned about that either.
Except for the addition of red wine and tomatoes, this is the version of Pot Roast I grew up with, still delicious a hearty on a winter’s day.
Yankee Pot Roast
Ingredients
- 2-3 lb chuck roast
- 3 cups red wine, plus 1/2 cup for de-glazing
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 4 tsp dried English Mustard (like, Coleman's)
- 4 tsp garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 4 tbsp all-purpose flour, plus 4 tbsp to make a slurry
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 cups beef stock (like, Swanson's or Kitchen Basics)
- 6-oz can tomato paste (like, Hunt's)
- 2 tbsp dried thyme
- 2 tbsp dried rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp Kitchen Bouquet
- 2 large sweet onions, quartered and cut into 2-inch pieces (like, Vidalia or Texas-1015)
- 5 - 6 stalks celery, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 6 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 lb potatoes of your choice, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
Instructions
- In a large Ziploc bag, combine the red wine, soy sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, English Mustard and garlic.
- Add the chuck roast to the Ziploc bag, and squeeze out the air to get the roast in full contact with the liquid. Marinate overnight for 8-12 hours.
- When ready to prepare the dish, remove from the marinade and pat dry. Reserve the marinade.
- Pre-heat the oven to 325°F.
- Rub the roast with the salt and pepper, then rub in the flour until the roast is well coated.
- In a large Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil until shimmering, then brown the roast on all sides, about 4 minutes each side.
- Remove the roast from the hot oil and place on a platter. Add the onions to the hot oil and sauté until translucent. De-glaze the pot with 1/2 cup of red wine and scrape up all the crusty bits.
- Add the roast back to the Dutch oven on top of the sautéed onions.
- In a mixing bowl combine the reserved marinade with the beef stock, tomato paste, thyme and rosemary, then pour this into the pot over the roast. The liquid should cover 2/3 to 3/4 of the roast; add more beef stock or water if necessary. Add the bay leaves to the liquid, then cove the Dutch oven and place in the oven for 4 hours.
- Ensure the potatoes, celery and carrots are at room temperature. Add them to the Dutch oven after 4 hours. Cook for 3 more hours until the potatoes and carrots are fork tender.
- When the cooking time has finished, remove the roast and vegetables to a platter, but leave some onions behind. Tent the meat and veggies with aluminum foil while you make the gravy
- Add the Kitchen Bouquet and half the flour/water slurry. Using a submersion blender, blend the gravy until smooth and bring to a simmer, allowing it to thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon. Use some or all of the remaining slurry to achieve the desired thickness, but be sure to allow the gravy to simmer at least a minute after the slurry has been added.
- Slice the roast and serve alongside the vegetables with the gravy on the side.
Notes
- If cooking at altitudes above 5,000 feet, raise the oven temperature to 335°F and add 1 hour to the cooking time.
Mini-Meatloaf Bell Pepper Rings
Ingredients
- 1 lb 85/15 ground sirloin
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 bell peppers, any colors
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs (like, Progresso)
- 2 tbsp thyme
- 2 tbsp rubbed sage
- 4 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 4 tbsp ketchup (like, Heinz No Sugar Added)
- 1 14.4-oz can petite diced tomatoes (like, Hunt's or Red Gold)
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 tbsp dried basil
- non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
- 10-12 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Using a saucepan large enough to submerge the two bell peppers, fill with salted water and bring to a boil.
- Slice the tops and bottoms off of the two bell peppers. Discard the stems, but retain the part of the bell pepper that was removed.
- Core the peppers of seeds and membrane, and place them in the boiling water for 3 minutes.
- Remove the peppers from the heat, drain off the water and flush the sauce pan with cold tap water until the peppers are cool to the touch. Remove the peppers from the pot and pat dry.
- Cut each bell pepper in half width-wise so you have four rings, each about 1-1/2" - 2" in height.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Take a broiling pan, the kind that has an insert with a grate and a bottom pan to catch the grease, and spray lightly with non-stick spray.
- In the meantime, finely dice the tops and bottoms of the peppers you previously removed, and add to the yellow onion. Over medium high heat, sauté them in the olive oil until they begin to caramelize, about 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic at the last minute and sauté for just a few seconds before removing from the heat. Put the peppers and onions in a large mixing bowl and allow to cool a bit.
- Adding in layers as you go (it will make for easier mixing), crumble the ground beef over the peppers and onions.
- Add the beaten egg, cream, ketchup, Worcestershire Sauce, thyme and sage. Season liberally with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the mix.
- Using wet hands (which will keep the mixture from sticking to you), thoroughly combine all the ingredients. Once mixed, it should easily adhere together into the shape of four even portions about the size of a baseball. If the mixture is too dry, add a bit more cream; or if it is too loose, add a few more bread crumbs.
- Place the four pepper rings on your broiling pan, and fill each with even portions of the meat mixture. The mixture will overfill each ring, which is okay. Just mound it up and then using a spatula, flatten the tops of each mound of meatloaf.
- Thoroughly drain the liquid from the can of petite diced tomatoes. In another mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes with one cup of the shredded cheddar cheese and the dried basil.
- Again using your hands, mound and press the tomato and cheese mixture onto the top of each stuffed pepper ring. Finish each stuffed pepper ring with 1/4 cup more shredded cheddar cheese.
- Bake for 1 hour and serve immediately.