Pot roast or oven roast?

 

Last night Christian cooked a roast for us. He likes recipes that he can start in the crockpot in the morning and let simmer all day, though he often gets behind himself in the finishing touches—tonight it was getting the dripping to thicken. He finally put them in a saucepan on the stove. As he said, and I agree, the cornstarch needs to be a certain heat before it works

The first few times Christian cooked a roast for us were probably after I moved to the cottage, and they moved into my house. But I was always puzzled, because he cooked what I was raised to think of as a pot roast—one of my dad’s favorite dinners. Something that cooked low and slow all day. But that was different from a roast.

My mother often fixed what I guess I would call an oven roast. It appeared whole on a platter, and Dad very formally sliced it. I clearly remember her cutting little pockets in the meat and sliding slivers of garlic in. Then she’d salt and pepper it and put it in the oven. Since it was a lean cut of meat, there was little fat produced from which to make gravy. I don’t remember disliking it. In fact, I’d like to make it today, but I’d want gravy, as I do with any roast meat, be it beef, chicken, or pork. I would cook such a roast for us but the names of the cuts of beef have changed over the years, and I have no idea what my mom bought nor what I could buy today, short of prime rib, which I’m quite sure we did not have when I was a child. Rump roast, I think, is too tough. If anybody has any suggestions, I’d be grateful.

Oven roasts are not as popular as pot roasts, which have been named by some as one of America’s top ten favorite foods. Some sources link the popularity of pot roast to the Baby Boomer generation, but I’m not sure about that. I am a member of the Silent Generation (a short span of years, before the Baby Boomers), and I ate lots of it. You can use beef brisket, bottom or top round, or chuck. I think my mom used chuck roasts. Just set it in a deep roasting pan with potatoes, carrots, onions, and whatever else your mom threw in, and cover with liquid. Red wine or beer are great, but you can also use broth. Cover it and cook on the stovetop or in the oven, all day, at low heat.

A quick recipe: I used to mix a can of cream of mushroom soup (I’m a great fan of soup cookery), an envelope of onion soup mix, and a half cup of red wine to pour over the meat. Makes the best gravy ever.

Although pot roast may be truly American, James Beard, the great advocate for American cooking and the chef who taught us to appreciate so many of our favorites, traces its origins back to French immigrants who brought their method of tenderizing meat, called à l'étouffée, to New England. Maybe that’s why it’s sometimes called Yankee roast—hold on, all you southerners. I know you thought the South could claim it, but not if you’re a devotee of Beard. Then the Germans brought sauerbraten, and Jewish immigrants brought yet another version from the shetls of eastern Europe. My former mother-in-law, whose roots traced to Romania, could cook maybe the best pot roast I’ve ever had. She called it first-cut breast. I howled when her son tried to tell me it was that little hangy-down thing on a cow’s neck. Of course, it wasn’t!

But back to that blending of French technique into American cooking. I really like that because I’ve been compiling recipes for the back of Irene in Danger, the forthcoming second book in the Irene in Chicago Culinary Mysteries. With a nod to Irene’s French pretensions, I’ve included a gibelotte (rabbit stew—but I suggest alternatives), salade niçoise with a good red wine vinaigrette, gougeres (those little rich pastry balls with cheese—great appetizers). And the lobster thermidor that Henny chose for her wedding dinner and Irene sort of cooks on Henny’s TV show. But the rehearsal dinner will be a good old-fashioned Texas barbecue with brisket, so I’ve also included Texas pinto beans (yes, the kind you simmer all day, but Henny has a special recipe), potato salad, deviled eggs (with a hat tip to neighbor Polly Hooper for a really unusual recipe), and Texas caviar. Just like pot roast, it’s a real mix of cultures.

Irene should be back in November. I hope you’ll look for her.