I make my first post a family favorite. Like many of my recipes, this contains alcohol, in particular beer, as one of the ingredients. Generally speaking the majority of alcohol does get cooked out while you cook or bake. Prep time is about 10 to 15 min. Cook time about 3 to 4 hours. The recipe yields six servings depending on appetites.
Yankee Pot Roast
3 bottles of beer (I prefer a seasonal brew like Sam Adam’s Winter Lager for winter months)
One rump roast 3 to 5 pds (I have used venison as well and people can’t tell the difference)
2 large onions (one diced and the other halved and then sliced)
1pd of baby carrots
1pd of small white or baby bella mushrooms (whole or halved)
Anise seed or fennel seed
Black pepper
Chopped garlic (fresh or from a jar) 2 to 3 HEAPING tablespoons
Salt
Flour
1 Stick of butter
Water
Get a pot and lid that fits your roast with two or three inches to spare at the top. Place in your roast. Add your three beers. You can use two beers or even one beer but I found three to be the optimal amount without going overboard. Add your onions, carrots and mushrooms. Add your chopped garlic and I typed HEAPING because your tablespoon needs to be heaping with garlic, not rounded. Depending on the roast I might even add 4 tablespoons. Use your judgment, I promise you won’t mess up with slightly more or less, just don’t use 1 or 6 spoons. Sprinkle either anise seed or fennel seed into your pot, don’t use both. It is hard to say how much seed at this point. I give about a tablespoon to two tablespoons. It depends on the size of the roast. About four to six shakes of ground black pepper across the top and about half as much salt. Add enough water to barely cover the top of the roast, but three beers can sometimes cover it. Place it on the burner for about 2.5 to 3 hours. Start at medium heat at first until it boils then turn down the burner to medium low or low heat where it barely boils.
After that time, remove the roast from the pot. Put the remaining liquid with veggies and spice into a large enough bowl to hold it all leaving your pot empty. Place the stick of butter in the pot and the pot back on the stove. Slice your roast as the butter melts. Sprinkle flour across the flour creating a rue. The rue should be pasty, not thin or lumpy. Make sure the rue covers the bottom of the pot. Add more flour or butter as needed to do so. Let the rue brown. Add the juice from the bowl, not the veggies, to the rue to create a gravy. Add enough of the juice to make a thick, not pasty, gravy but not too much that it is liquid. If you added all the juice and it is too pasty, add some more warm water. If the gravy is just right and you have left over juice, remove the juice from your bowl so you only have the veggies and spice left. Place the veggies, spice and sliced roast into the gravy. Cook another 30 minutes minimal on low heat. Cooking longer only enhances the flavor in the meat; just don’t let your gravy get too thick or burn. Don’t let it cook so long that your meat just falls apart in the pot.
Serve over rice or my personal favorite garlic mash potatoes.
