So, this is a twist on the Guinness pot roast recipes out there. This is a decidedly German twist to the recipe and while it takes some time to cook most of the prep work is super easy and it's pretty much hands-off. Plus I am including a super handy trick to make the browning easier.
Purple Potatoes again...They are Visually Striking Nutritional Nuggets
If you get hung up on on how you expect something to look you lose the opportunity to broaden your nutritional horizon. Let's get down with some purple spuds.
Good News Hardly any Chopping Here
It really can't get any easier than this some roughly chopped carrots, celery, and 4 small halved onions. I don't even bother with the garlic they practically dissolve during the braise.
Browning the roast is essential to getting big beefy umami ness going in this recipe.
To get a really good maillard reaction, we are going to cheat - with baking soda to really help push things along.
Schwarzbier Pot Roast - Serves 6-8
This recipe makes for outstanding leftovers so plan ahead. I also don't cook the potatoes in with the roast as they generally don't hold up well for such a long braise. Set your oven to 275 degrees. Dry off your roast with paper towels and sprinkle with the baking soda and then dredge in flour. Get out your Dutch oven and heat over medium-high heat, add in your bacon fat, lard, or oil once that starts to shimmer add the beef. DON'T move it, let a crust build-up, you will see it at the edge repeat the process on all sides. Once done remove the roast and add the tomato paste and dry herbs, let that get roasty in the pan a bit then add your wet ingredients and deglaze off the heat. Add in your veggies, they should act as a layer to keep the meat off the bottom of the pan. Cover and put in your oven for about an hour per pound. Once done remove and reserve the roast to another dish and cover, use a slotted spoon to fish out all the veggies, and reserve those as well. now mix together equal parts of your thickener starch to water, most of the time 1/3 cup will work. Bring the stock back up to a boil and reduce for about 10 minutes about 30% reduction. Taste for seasoning at this point, add your mixed up starch and water and whisk vigorously, the nice thing about the potato starch is that it will not get lumpy. Add additional salt and pepper as needed and serve over the sliced roast and veggies.
3-4 hours of cook time
3-4 lb chuck roast go for even marbling
3 T bacon fat
4 small onions halved
3 stalks of celery roughly chopped
5 carrots roughly chopped
2 T tomato paste
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 quart of beef broth or Better Than Bouillon
1 can of Schwarzbier or other brown beer that you like - except IPAs they get weird
1 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
salt
pepper
flour for dusting
baking soda
How to Make Perfect Potatoes
Put your small waxy potato of choice, purple, red, or white in a pan and cover with cold water. Add 2-3 tablespoons of salt and bring to a boil, cover and simmer on the lowest heat possible for 22-24 minutes until knife tender in the center.
You Don't Need a Dutch Oven
If you don't have one, this is a good reason to buy one. This one from Lodge is a great value if you are in the market. A Corningware roaster or even a small enameled chicken roaster is all you need. Use what you have on hand or go and splurge and get that fancy French one.
