Recipe: Waterless Pot Roast (crock pot)

WATERLESS POT ROAST

1 (3 lb to 4 lb) pot roast (chuck, brisket, bottom round, whatever)
1 large onion, thinly sliced, divided use
1 packet dehydrated onion soup mix
OPTIONAL:
carrots, cut into 2-3 inch lengths
small potatoes, peeled and cut in half

If using potatoes and carrots, place them in the bottom of a crockpot. Cover with a layer of half the sliced onions.

Rub one side of the pot roast well with half of the onion soup mixture. Place, soup-rubbed side down, on the onions. Sprinkle the remaining soup mix over the roast, cover with the remaining onions.

Cover and cook on lowest possible heat for 8-10 hours. DO NOT peek. DO NOT add water or other liquid. Trust me. It's gonna work.

BEFORE SERVING:
Fish out the roast, potatoes and carrots (if used). Keep warm.

Skim the fat off the juice. Either serve the juice as is, to be poured over everything, or pour it into a shallow pan, thicken with a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch, dissolved in cold water. Cook the cornstarch/juice mixture until clear. Season to taste with ground pepper (it will not need any salt).

NOTES:
From Kathy in Bryan, TX - "This is so simple, I'm almost embarrassed to post it. But since a few folks have asked for it, here's the waterless pot roast recipe I've used for about a zillion years. (Haven't a clue where it came from, but I suspect it may have originated with the Lipton Soup people). This is the easiest, most foolproof recipe I know. If you follow it exactly, you will have a juicy, succulent roast, tasty veggies, and a fabulous gravy, with virtually NO effort."

From Dave Sacerdote - "I tried your no-added-water pot roast method yesterday...though I was a little skeptical as I put it all together, you said in the posting "Trust me - it's gonna work!" so I did. (Bear in mind, now, that I consider my kind of cooking to be "peasant cooking" in the old New England tradition - simple ingredients well- prepared. I have always made pot roast the same way my great-grandmother did: Meat, liquid, seasonings, cast-iron pot on low fire all day with the veggies going into the broth for the last half-hour or so; gravy thickened with roux before serving)

Well, guess what? It DID work! No, I'm not surprised...delighted is more like it. The roast was tender and flavorful, the vegetables were cooked perfectly without being mushy or overdone, and the broth made a WONDERFUL gravy. I confess, I tinkered with the ingredients a little - I added some celery and a couple of parsnips to "New Englandize" it, and a few quartered tomatoes to round out the flavor of the gravy - more of an adjustment for personal preference than a radical change to the recipe, really.

Anyway...a warm THANKS to you for posting the method in the first place. It's truly a keeper."

Source: The Looking Glass BBS, December 1995