Pot Roast

We ate a lot of pot roast growing up and I remember it being dry and chewy... I would sip water with it just so I could swallow it down! It was one of my least favorite dinners so I usually gorged myself on the braised celery and carrots... I LOVE braised celery and carrots!
Well, this isn't a dry chewy pot roast! This pot roast is AMAZING! The meat was falling apart it was so tender and juicy! The boys got seconds and couldn't quit talking about it... I chose seconds of meat instead of getting more celery and carrots... and even Justin (the non-beef eater) loved it! We are all stuffed but we're super excited to eat the leftovers tomorrow!!!

Pot Roast Ingredients
3 1/2 pound pot roast (I get arm chuck pot roast)
1/2 cup flour
Sprinkling of Pepper
1/4 cup butter
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup white cooking wine (it's next to the vinegar at the grocery store)
Carrots and Celery- Optional

Gravy Ingredients
Pot Roast Drippings
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk

Directions
In a large bowl or plate, combine the flour and black pepper to taste. Dredge the rump roast in the flour and cover evenly. Shake off excess. Heat a large pot/dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the butter and then set the floured roast into the hot pan and sear it on one side, about 3 minutes. When that side is nice and brown (the browner the better), flip it over to the other side. When you’ve browned it all over the place, remove the roast to a plate. Oh, and see that brown stuff in the pan? That’s good. That’s real, real good.
Now, with the burner on medium-high, we’re going to deglaze the pan...we’re gonna scrape the heck out of the pan and git all that gooooood stuuuuuuff off the bottom. Pour 1/2 cup of white cooking wine in the pan.
Use your whisk to stir and scrape the bottom of the pan. Now add the onion soup mix and mushroom soup. Stir together Now add the browned meat to the pan and spoon some of the sauce on top of the roast. Cover and bake in the oven at 300 degrees for 3 hours. After 2 hours I add the chopped celery and carrots (so the veggies slow cook themselves in the sauce... it's heaven)! If your roast is bigger than 3 pounds you'll probably need to cook it for another hour. When it's done you move the meat to a cutting board and test it with a fork. See how easily it splits apart? You can literally see the melted connective tissue between the meat. When it easily “falls apart,” it’s definitely ready.
But don’t stop there! Because you’d never want to miss out on all that flavor, we need to take make some gravy from the drippings in the pan! Set the roasting pan over medium-low heat, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour in the pan. Whisk the flour into the drippings until the flour is incorporated. Now, whisk in 1 cup of milk while whisking and scraping off the encrusted bits on the bottom of the pan. Now’s a good time to have Abbott's favorite creamy mashed potatoes handy. Which reminds me, I never addressed The Potato Issue at the beginning of this post. I do NOT like to put potatoes into the pot with the meat. While it’s a handy, convenient way to cook the spuds, I think the potatoes turn out kind of dry and grainy. Instead, I think mashed potatoes really make a pot roast special. Spoon some vegetables onto the plate, with the pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy... Mmm! You won't want to stop eating!