Slow Roast Chuck Roast

I thought I would share with you my technique for our Sunday after church dinner at Mamaw Smith's.

I bought a 7 pound chuck roast yesterday with some fat present. I rubbed with with olive oil, salt and peppered, added about a cup of water, covered it and parked it in the over at 225F for almost ten hours. It turned out mash potato tender.

I served it with with fresh sliced tomatoes, every ingredient salad, fresh mash potatoes with sour cream and real butter, green beans out of the garden, peaches and cream fresh corn out of the garden, mac and cheese, devil eggs, corn bread, yeast rolls, angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries and a one hour nap.

It was good.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

quote:

Originally posted by Sundancer7

I thought I would share with you my technique for our Sunday after church dinner at Mamaw Smith's.

I bought a 7 pound chuck roast yesterday with some fat present. I rubbed with with olive oil, salt and peppered, added about a cup of water, covered it and parked it in the over at 225F for almost ten hours. It turned out mash potato tender.

I served it with with fresh sliced tomatoes, every ingredient salad, fresh mash potatoes with sour cream and real butter, green beans out of the garden, peaches and cream fresh corn out of the garden, mac and cheese, devil eggs, corn bread, yeast rolls, angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries and a one hour nap.

It was good.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I know where I am heading next Sunday! Wow that sounds good...real good!

I have heard her say this, and I concur....."You're a good Son, Paul".

Pass on our regards to Mamaw Smith and enjoy many more of those family dinners!

It sounds especially good because I've survived on deli food and takeout this week. I don't have air conditioning and it's just too darned hot to cook!

Paul:
That sounds incredibly delicious, and an incredible amount of food! How is Mamaw's appetite nowadays? Was she able to have some of everything? If so, God bless her heart! I think my grandmother is around her age, and she could probably eat a little of the mashed potatoes, tomatoes, and the pot roast, but that's about it.

Mamaw Smith is 83 and is a huge bundle of energy. She keeps two grandkids, mows the lawn, washes her car and keeps her place very neat. She is a small lady and her appetite is not huge but she is extremely healthy.

I cannot take all the credit as she made the corn bread, yeast rolls, deviled eggs. I made the rest.

Sunday dinners are fun at her house as that is one of the few times on a weekly basis that we have the entire family together. Daughter, Son in law, two grandkids, Mamaw Smith, wife and of course myself. It is a after church thing.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Sounds like the perfect Sunday... Thanks for sharing!

Ten hours?Paul,I think you ought to get a pressure cooker!

I realize that a pressure cooker is much faster but I have never learned to cook with one and in addition, I enjoyed the aroma of the beef cooking and the house smelled really good.

I think the method of cooking at low temps (225F) is called moist heat. The exterior of the beef was brown and the interior was like mash potatoes, it was so tender.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

My mom used to put a roast in the oven before we went to church, and we would eat it when we got home. It also was a chuck roast. She would cover it with undiluted cream of mushroom soup, and a package of onion soup mix. Also some Lea and Perrins. A little red wine and cover with foil. It was a smaller roast and cooked in about 3-ish hours. It made its own gravy.

quote:

Originally posted by 4fish

It sounds especially good because I've survived on deli food and takeout this week. I don't have air conditioning and it's just too darned hot to cook!

Try a crock pot!! I add half a can of cocacola to the water and a splash or 3 of A1 cook till the taters an onions disolve than add more and cook till the meat falls apart when forked..

fastfood says that Arby's makes a fantastic chuck roast

Sounds like the Sunday dinners my Mother would do years ago. She was from Newport. Must be an east Tennessee thing.

Mamaw Smith and I have been harvesting this mornng okra, green beans, tomato's, beets, and squash for Sunday's dinner. We are gonna slow roast a pork roast along with more mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, cole slaw and Tennessee fried cornbread and blackberry cobbler for dessert.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

quote:

Originally posted by Sundancer7

Mamaw Smith and I have been harvesting this mornng okra, green beans, tomato's, beets, and squash for Sunday's dinner. We are gonna slow roast a pork roast along with more mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, cole slaw and Tennessee fried cornbread and blackberry cobbler for dessert.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, knows how to cook and eat like folks in the South. Reminds me of my dear grandma's house.

is mamaw interested in adopting some fully grown children??

quote:

Originally posted by dreamzpainter

is mamaw interested in adopting some fully grown children??

Unfortunately she has got a whole bunch.

Son, daughter in law, Granddaughter, grand son in law, two grand kids and neighbors.

Everybody eats in the neighborhood.

Kaul E. Smith
knoxville, TN

Paul and I get together once in awhile for lunch, a perk of living in Knoxville, and he has been kind enough to give me a few of Mamaw Smith's homemade, canned specialties. Apple butter, beans, and a few others, which have all disappeared from my house in no time. I've not met her in person, but she is an incredible cook from what I've been able to sample.

Carlton, thanks for the kind comments, please see the thread under recipes. I think you will see that it is expanding.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I'm from Durham, NC and this was a typical Sunday dinner(lunch to Northerners) from my childhood. My grandmother had a big garden, so we always had yellow squash fried with onions and sliced cucumbers in apple cider vinegar with salt, pepper, and a little sugar. My girlfriend moved to Durham from Pittsburg. I like to tell her that she (and miliions of other Yankees) had a subconscious urge to move South because of family legends of great Tarheel food eaten here during their last migration in the 1860s.

quote:

Originally posted by Sundancer7

I thought I would share with you my technique for our Sunday after church dinner at Mamaw Smith's.

I bought a 7 pound chuck roast yesterday with some fat present. I rubbed with with olive oil, salt and peppered, added about a cup of water, covered it and parked it in the over at 225F for almost ten hours. It turned out mash potato tender.

I served it with with fresh sliced tomatoes, every ingredient salad, fresh mash potatoes with sour cream and real butter, green beans out of the garden, peaches and cream fresh corn out of the garden, mac and cheese, devil eggs, corn bread, yeast rolls, angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries and a one hour nap.

It was good.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I'm thawing a roast as I type to try this method tomorrow. I'll put it in the oven before I go to work and hopefully it'll be mash potato tender when I get home! No onions huh? Just olive oil, salt and pepper, water? I could see why no taters, carrots etc. due to the length of cooking time.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty246

quote:

Originally posted by Sundancer7

I thought I would share with you my technique for our Sunday after church dinner at Mamaw Smith's.

I bought a 7 pound chuck roast yesterday with some fat present. I rubbed with with olive oil, salt and peppered, added about a cup of water, covered it and parked it in the over at 225F for almost ten hours. It turned out mash potato tender.

I served it with with fresh sliced tomatoes, every ingredient salad, fresh mash potatoes with sour cream and real butter, green beans out of the garden, peaches and cream fresh corn out of the garden, mac and cheese, devil eggs, corn bread, yeast rolls, angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries and a one hour nap.

It was good.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I'm thawing a roast as I type to try this method tomorrow. I'll put it in the oven before I go to work and hopefully it'll be mash potato tender when I get home! No onions huh? Just olive oil, salt and pepper, water? I could see why no taters, carrots etc. due to the length of cooking time.

Perhaps you could add potatoes and onions as well as anything else you wish. I just did not want it tasting like beef stew.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN+

quote:

Originally posted by Sundancer7

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty246

quote:

Originally posted by Sundancer7

I thought I would share with you my technique for our Sunday after church dinner at Mamaw Smith's.

I bought a 7 pound chuck roast yesterday with some fat present. I rubbed with with olive oil, salt and peppered, added about a cup of water, covered it and parked it in the over at 225F for almost ten hours. It turned out mash potato tender.

I served it with with fresh sliced tomatoes, every ingredient salad, fresh mash potatoes with sour cream and real butter, green beans out of the garden, peaches and cream fresh corn out of the garden, mac and cheese, devil eggs, corn bread, yeast rolls, angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries and a one hour nap.

It was good.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I'm thawing a roast as I type to try this method tomorrow. I'll put it in the oven before I go to work and hopefully it'll be mash potato tender when I get home! No onions huh? Just olive oil, salt and pepper, water? I could see why no taters, carrots etc. due to the length of cooking time.

Perhaps you could add potatoes and onions as well as anything else you wish. I just did not want it tasting like beef stew.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN+

Oh No! I will add nothing! Don't wanna mess with what sounds like a GREAT thing. I may have to adjust my time as I don't think mine is 7lbs. Also, considering I made corned beef/cabbage/new potatoes/baby carrots last night for dinner and just ate it again for lunch, I'll definetly pass on adding those. I'll be mashed potatoes and whatever else I come up with.

We had a chuck roast for Sunday dinner this week. That is one of the best things to put in the oven and then have ready when you get home from church. We had the roast, gravy, boiled new potates, fried corn, canteloupe, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. Then it was time for a Sunday afternoon nap!

This may be slightly off-topic, but it seems germane to the conversation here. Last week, I left the house with the oven on by accident. My roommate called me and gave me a solid chewing (which I rightfully deserved). It was a mistake....just forgot to turn the oven off. Ever since I was a kid, I remember my mom driving home in a panic from 10+ miles away for fear that she left the oven on -- which, of course, was never the case.

Now I am reading that people are putting roasts in the oven until they get home from church, or hoping that something will be done when they get home from work, etc. Is leaving the oven while no one is home safe -- or, am I making the incorrect assumption that no one is home? Could I burn the entire house down if I left a roast in the oven at 225 for the eight hours that I was not home, or is that just an old wives tale? I don't suppose that I have ever known anyone to burn their house down from leaving the oven on.

I would like to make a roast as described, but lack the ability to be home for 8-10 hours at a stretch awake. I have a roommate, but he and I live completely separate lives -- he's just a rent check -- so, we don't rely on one another for cooking chores, either.

Steve

Steve,
It is probably a matter of what you are comfortable with. I grew up with the "Oh God, I left the Oven on" mentality. As a result I make every effort to shut it down when I leave. Same with the Clothes Dryer. In 60 plus years we have never had any reason to suspect fautly work from either appliance, but I still shut them down.(no we haven't had the same stove and dryer for 60 years!!)
I will leave the crockpot on overnight or when we go out for an extended time, but I isolate it on a cutting board away from anything flamible...as if that is a real safety measure.
I am sure that there are folks who practice the safety tips that come with the appliances that tell you to set the auto-timer and forget the device and let it manage itself, but thats not ME!
One thing that COULD affect my thinking on this, most of my range and dryers have been gas-powered...They work very well but Open flames make me nervous. We now have an electric dryer, but the stove and hot water heater (and furnace) are all L P Gas. And that can be a concern at times.

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

Steve,
It is probably a matter of what you are comfortable with. I grew up with the "Oh God, I left the Oven on" mentality. As a result I make every effort to shut it down when I leave. Same with the Clothes Dryer. In 60 plus years we have never had any reason to suspect fautly work from either appliance, but I still shut them down.(no we haven't had the same stove and dryer for 60 years!!)
I will leave the crockpot on overnight or when we go out for an extended time, but I isolate it on a cutting board away from anything flamible...as if that is a real safety measure.
I am sure that there are folks who practice the safety tips that come with the appliances that tell you to set the auto-timer and forget the device and let it manage itself, but thats not ME!
One thing that COULD affect my thinking on this, most of my range and dryers have been gas-powered...They work very well but Open flames make me nervous. We now have an electric dryer, but the stove and hot water heater (and furnace) are all L P Gas. And that can be a concern at times.

Thanks, Al. It sounds a lot like what I figured -- that the chances of something happening are akin to the chances of getting hit by a bus. I have an electric stove, and I would think that to cause a house fire, the stove would have to have an electrical short -- and I would run the same risk, with no more opportunity to do much about it, if I were home. I don't even think about leaving the dryer on when I leave the house -- but thanks for making me paranoid now! I am more concerned with the washer, because I would think that might leak -- again, what I am going to do about it if I am home, or would I even notice it -- well, I'll never know.

Personally, I am comfortable with leaving the oven on and leaving the house -- it is the roommate. He is VERY old school, and safety conscious (good qualities in a roommate, I suppose). He is the guy who locks and deadbolts the door to take out the trash or wash his car. Our neighborhood is not some exclusive gated community, but it is not the "projects", either!

Thanks, again, for the reassurance.

Steve

As long as the oven is on low and theres little chance of combustion I don't have a problem leaving the house or taking a nap but I won't go to sleep with the dryer running..go figger... I seldom lock my doors and usually just drop the car keys on the floorboard, no I don't live out in the country (jax is a bunch of small towns pulled together under one government) locks only keep honest people out anyway. My youngest daughter recently moved into her own apartment and her roommate is a lock fanatic (a good thing)

My daughter will be home to monitor my roast..well sort of, she'll sleep pretty much all day as a 15 year old does, and considering the house could burn down and she'd never know it....hmmmmm. Not a consolation after all I guess. My roast is only 4.15lbs so I don't have as much time to worry. I'll call her and wake her(maybe)around noon and have her prep it and put it in the oven. Considering her claim to fame meal is a Totino's pizza, talking her through the instructions could take an hour or so. I might eat by 8p.

Just want you all to know that because of this thread I am now having a group of people over next Sunday after church for a pot roast dinner. If succesful I might try a roast chicken dinner on 8/5. (dinner at 1:00, naps at 3:00)