Recipe: Jack's Schidty Pot Roast

Jack's Schidty Pot Roast
rec.food.cooking/Jack Schidt

Rump Roast or whatever roast you wanna cook
Some whole dried ancho chiles
1 or 2 whole dried chipotles (the canned ones just won't do here) get 'em at Penzey's
2 small onions - 1 diced, the other sliced
a respectable amount of garlic, based upon your love of garlic

tamari, or soy sauce
red wine

fresh celery
fresh carrots
1 granny smith apple

Toasted cumin/oregano blend - in a dry skillet, toast whole cumin seeds; when almost toasted add some dried Mexican oregano. It will smoke a bit but when the oregano turns brown, it's done. Mortar und pestle, and there you are. I make a bunch of this and jar it, so it's always ready.

bay leaf
pinch of basil
pinch of marjoram
black pepper

fresh cilantro

Remove stems and seeds from the dried chiles and boil them with water in a small saucepan. Once it comes to the boil, remove from heat and set aside. The chiles will steep into a sort of tea.

Brown the roast on all sides in a decent sized pot. Once almost browned, add the sliced onions. Give them a head start of a few minutes and then add the diced onion and garlic. Once you feel that this is accomplished, and the onions look right, even a bit of burn is ok here, drain off the chile water into the roast pot, add red wine and soy. Slice or dice the ancho chiles anyway you want, leave the chipotles whole and add with celery, carrots and apple. Add your spices and let it cook over a low heat for a few hours. About 10 minutes before it's done, add some minced fresh cilantro. Once you feel it's ready, remove the chipotles (they're kinda hot) and serve over your favorite starch.

I've added a splash of orange juice to this instead of the apple and it does quite nicely. I suppose any fruit would work (currants come to mind). The celery is also very important here - no substitution. I like the heartiness of the sauce, which can be thickened into a nice gravy also.

I really wing it in the kitchen, so I don't list amounts or measurements as I'm no real chef, but you get the idea.