any-cut-of-beef pot roast magic

So you know how I’ve always said that large cuts of meat intimidate me? Well, no longer. Two (relatively) simple things have set me free: an instant pot (similar) and an excellent pot roast recipe.

Oh, and one more thing! Mushroom salt, my secret weapon.

I use the stuff all the time. I really must tell you about it soon.

Oh! And because I HATE searing meat — even with a high-sided pot, oil gets everywhere — so I finally bought a splatter screen and … it cuts back on the mess most magnificantly. I don’t know what took me so long.

Anyway, now on the regular, I’m transforming large cuts of beef — pot roast, steak, whatever — into tender juicy morsels in mere minutes. In the ippy, it’s all good.  

I’ve made pot roast several times (and I’m writing the recipe as such), but I’ve also used this method with seared, cubed steaks, which I then add to soup or turn into steak pot pies.

The recipe would be good with plain ground beef, too, I think. The flavors are neutral enough that it’s easy to eat on repeat without getting bored and exciting enough that you want to eat it on repeat. 

Like I said, magic.

Any-Cut-of-Beef Pot Roast Magic
Adapted from Amy and Jacky: Pressure Cook Recipes.

1 hunk of beef, several pounds
mushroom salt (or another seasoning salt, or plain old salt and pepper)
1 cup water (or broth)
2 onions, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine (or balsamic vinegar)
dried rosemary, a hefty pinch
dried thyme, a hefty pinch
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water
potatoes and carrots, chopped up, optional

Season the beef on all sides with the mushroom salt. Pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil into a hot pan and sear on all sides — about five minutes per side. Trim and discard the fat, if you want, and then transfer the roast to the ippy. 

Add a little more oil to the hot pan, and sauté the onions and garlic until tender; add them to the ippy. Deglaze the pan with the red wine and then pour the liquid, including all the pan scrapings, into the ippy. Add the broth, soy sauce, fish sauce, bay leaves, rosemary, and thyme to the ippy. Close the lid and set the pressure cooker for 45 minutes with natural release: once it’s done, let the pressure release naturally for 25 minutes. Remove the roast to a platter and cover with foil.

If using potatoes and carrot chunks, add them to the ippy now and pressure cook for 5 minutes, quick release. Transfer the veggies to the same plate as the pot roast (slice the pot roast, if you wish). Add the cornstarch slurry to the juices that are still in the ippy and cook on the sauté setting until thick and bubbly. Pour the sauce over the meat and veggies and serve.  

If using steaks: sear, or lightly grill. Trim off excess fat and feed it to the dogs. Cut the steaks into bite-sized pieces, put them in the ippy, and then proceed with the recipe as you would for the pot roast: the only difference is that you pressure cook the meat for less time — about 25 minutes or so with a 20 minute natural release. Use the meat cubes in chilis, pot pies, sandwiches, stir fries, etc. 

This same time, years previous: the quotidian (3.18.19), all things Irish, the last weekend, the quotidian (3.17.14), no buffer, family time, our house lately, shaking things up.