Red Wine Braised Pot Roast: Spilled Milk #277

Tender beef in a gorgeous gravy with crispy potatoes? Yes please!

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Is is pot-au-feu? Stracotto? Bœuf à la mode, Yankee pot roast, sauerbraten, daube, nikujaga, Lancashire hotpot??

Well, in a sense it’s all of them and none. This is just how I make my pot roast, an American conceit of braised beef with roots from everywhere else. Truly. Braising, slow cooking in liquid, tenderizes tough cuts of meat, and the beef imparts its flavor into the liquid. Using a mirepoix to season the liquid and another batch to serve with the beef allows for better, deeper flavor in the sauce AND better tasting and more elegantly textured vegetables in the final dish itself. Now onto the subject of potatoes, I like to serve them as a separate dish. They get too soggy in the braise, and by absorbing liquid/flavor, you lose the essence of the potato itself. So I steam small Yukon Golds, skin on, smoosh them and pan fry in a smidge of oil to serve along with the beef.

All good food is defined by contrasts: contrasts in flavor, texture, temperature, aroma and visual differentiation. The more of those in a dish, the better, assuming you cook the items well. So I like crisp exteriors and soft, nutty, deeply aromatic centers to my tadies.

James Beard wrote long ago that French immigrants to New England were the ones who brought braising (they called it à l'étouffée) as a technique for tenderizing meats. Well, that’s true…but Germans brought their versions, as did the Dutch, and Jewish immigrants brought their recipes from Hungary, Austria and Russia, Africans brought theirs, Spaniards brought theirs, Chinese brought theirs, all as a way to make the most of cheaper, tougher cuts of meat. The global diaspora brought pot roast to our shores. Full stop. And while the ease of the dish as it first appeared in cookbooks was appealing (throw everything into a pot, cover and roast), the best results come from this simple and elegant dish that my family devours on the regular from November through March.

Recipe: Red Wine Braised Pot Roast