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Pot Roast of Beef
Get a 4- or 5-pound piece of rump or round of beef. If not a solid, well-shaped piece, skewer it closely, and fasten in between the skewered parts small pieces of clean fat or marrow. Put 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of beef drippings in the kettle, or fry out slices of the fat, and when very hot, put in the beef and brown it, turning it on all sides so that it will be well and evenly browned. Add a cupful of boiling water, 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1/2 teaspoonful of pepper, and 1 tablespoonful of vinegar. Cover the kettle closely and let it simmer three hours, adding water as often as necessary to keep it from burning, and keep about the same quantity in the kettle all the time.
When done, remove the mat to a hot platter, and make a brown gravy of the liquor by stirring in a tablespoonful of flour moistened and made smooth with a teaspoonful of Worcester or a tablespoonful of tomato catsup. Let it boil up, and serve in a gravy-boat.
Meat cooked in this way can be reheated by putting in the kettle with just water enough to keep it from burning, covering closely, and giving it plenty of time to heat through, taking care that it does not scorch; or it is nice sliced thin and served cold for lunch or supper, with Worcestershire or sauce piquante.
A stovetop braise of the older school: brown hard, add barely a cup of liquid, and let three hours of low steam do the work. Everything hinges on a heavy lidded pot and a heat low enough that the pot never actually boils.
- The cutRump and round are both lean; bottom round or a rump roast will work, but a 4-5 lb chuck roast has more connective tissue and gives a juicier result. The marrow or fat tucked between the skewered sections is there to compensate for lean meat, and is worth doing if you use round.
- KettleHere this means a deep, heavy lidded pot on the stove, not a modern kettle. A 6-8 quart Dutch oven is the direct equivalent.
- Beef drippingsRendered beef fat, saved from roasting. Any neutral high-smoke-point oil or the trimmed fat from the roast itself does the same job; the browning matters more than the medium.
- The vinegarOne tablespoon in a cup of water is a mild acid; it gives the gravy a lift and may slightly soften the meat's surface, though at this quantity the effect is modest. The recipe does not say which vinegar; cider or plain white will both suit. Do not increase it.
- Heat levelSimmer means bare movement at the surface, roughly 190-200F inside the pot. A hard boil in this small a quantity of liquid will tighten lean round into strings well before three hours are up.
- DonenessThree hours is a fair estimate, but go by feel: a fork should turn in the meat with no resistance. Lean round can need three and a half hours. If you prefer the oven, a covered pot at 325F behaves the same way.
- The gravyA single tablespoon of flour into roughly a cup of pan liquor gives a thin gravy by modern taste. Two tablespoons, worked smooth with a little cold water before it goes in, thickens it properly, and it needs a full minute at a boil to lose the raw flour taste.
- Yield and restingA 4-5 lb roast serves six to eight. Let it sit 10-15 minutes under foil before slicing, and cut across the grain, which on a rump runs at an angle worth checking before the knife goes in.