Beef Shoulder Roast - in Oven or Crockpot

Beef Shoulder Roast Braised in Red Wine - Oven

from Home Ec 101
 "This recipe is designed to translate into a planned over meal of sliced beef with melted cheddar on hoagie rolls."

• 1 beef shoulder roast
• 2 – 3 TBSP of olive oil
• 1/2 – 1 cup red wine
• kosher salt / black pepper
• 2 – 3 cloves of garlic – chopped
• 2 TBSP Worcestshire sauce{A lot of people actually use tamari soy sauce to replace Worcestershire sauce. a teaspoon each of tamarind paste, soy sauce and white vinegar. To that add a pinchful of ground clove and just a tad hot pepper sauce. You will be pretty satisfied with this substitute for Worcestershire sauce.}
• 1 onion sliced into rings

Preheat the oven to 350F.

 cook the onion slices over low heat while you prepare the roast.

heavy skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. with olive oil.

sprinkle your roast with kosher salt and black pepper. { Don’t go nuts with the salt, think of how a pretzel looks.

cook for two minutes on each side.
If you are using the same pot in the oven simply add the wine, Worcestshire, and garlic to the pan now. Reduce the heat to low.
Once the onions are soft spread them over the roast.
{If your roast is in a new pan, braise pan and pour juice on roast, but remember there should only be about a quarter of an inch in the bottom of the pan.

Assuming your roast is between 1 and 1 1/2 inches thick (fairly common for this cut) it’ll need to cook at 350 between 1 3/4 hours and 2 1/2 hours.
Once the meat is fork tender place it on a platter and allow it to rest for at least ten minutes. Don’t throw out those pan juices! While the roast is resting use a fat separator to skim off the grease and pour the liquid into a sauce pan. Simmer until the volume is reduced by half. This really concentrates the flavor. {Why discard fat? keep fat for meat?}

To serve, slice the roast against the grain and drizzle with the reduced sauce.

Wine Braised Pot Roast for the Crock Pot or Dutch Oven

 
 Start at 8:30 for dinner. 
Yellow-fleshed potatoes are best to use for slow roasting, such as Bintje, Yukon gold, or yellow Finnish varieties.
Shoulder is tougher cut.

• 1 pot roast preferably 3 – 4 lbs
• 1 tsp salt, divided
• 1 onion, sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 2 cups of drinkable red wine, divided (it doesn’t have to be super fancy, but nothing you wouldn’t touch in a glass)
• 1 bay leaf
• fresh ground pepper
• optional 2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

sprinkle both sides with a pinch of salt

Sprinkled and resting comfortably.

 If you are using a dutch oven preheat the oven to 350.
Heat a skillet over medium heat. It’s very important that your pan is hot before the roast is added.{ This step is crucial to the maillard reaction, which is the difference between ho-hum and please, please make this again, I’ll do the dishes, just make it again. Yes, that important. I promise, this step is worth the dirtied pan.}

Add the roast and sear for two minutes. {There should be some sizzling when the roast is added. If not, remove roast quickly and let the pan heat a little more. Peek after 90 seconds to make sure it’s not getting too dark.}  turn the roast and let it go for another two minutes.

If you are using a slow cooker for this recipe, place the browned roast in and turn it to low. Cover. If not, remove the roast from the dutch oven and set aside for just a few moments.
Add the onion and garlic cloves to the pan and give a good stir to loosen some of the browned bits.
Then slowly add, 1 cup of the wine to the pan.

 Add a few turns from a pepper grinder or about 1/4 tsp black pepper.
Add the bay leaf and pour everything in the pan over the roast in the slow cooker.{If you are going the dutch oven route, return the roast to the pot and turn it once.}
Scoot the onions and garlic to one side, to spoon over the top of the roast.

 In a slow cooker,  cook 8 – 10 hours on low.{ Going the dutch oven route, you’ll let this cook for 2 to 2.5 hours at 350F. This cook time assumes the roast is 1 to 1.5 inches thick. If your roast is thicker, it will need to cook longer in the dutch oven.}
Once the roast has finished cooking, {set it aside and pour all of the pan juices into a fat separator. This handy device can be found in most big box stores, like Wal-mart or Target and should only run a few dollars. They are extremely handy. If you do not have one, pour the pan juices into as narrow a jar as possible and spoon off the fat.} Heat a skillet over medium heat and add the pan juices. Add the 1/2 tsp salt, unless you decide to add the Worcestershire sauce which contains plenty of its own salt. Add the second cup of wine and cook down, stirring occasionally until the liquid’s volume has been reduced by half. This takes between 5 & 10 minutes. Do not abandon it and turn the heat down, if using a thin pan or if it is at a roiling boil. We just want to simmer it, not scorch the bottom.