Thursday, November 20, 2008

A Simple Beef Pot Roast with Prep Cook Ragout

This delicious Beef Pot Roast video recipe is dedicated to all you hungry prep cooks out there. In a restaurant kitchen, real diner breaks are more theory than practice.

There is often not enough time to get everything done, and you can't really tell the chef that you didn't get around to dicing the mushrooms because you were enjoying a nice leisurely supper.

It's not that you starve; someone is usually assigned to cook a "family meal," as it's referred to. Leftovers are pulled together and laid out buffet-style to grab when you have a chance. This thankless job is normally done by the youngest cooks, who gain valuable experience, as well as learn profanity in several languages as the results of their labors are critiqued by the older line cooks.

Prep cook ragout or ragu, is what I call the stewed vegetables that are leftover from the making of stocks, sauces, or from roasting meats. This soft, cooked-to-death "mirepoix" (onions, celery, carrots) is the last resort "family meal" side dish of the "in the weeds" apprentice.

Here, however, these same vegetables make for a really nice topping to our simple, but comforting beef pot roast. Beef, mirepoix, butter, rosemary, salt and pepper…now, that's a recipe any busy prep cook would love. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
Beef Chuck Pot Roast (about 3 1/2 pounds)
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced onion
1 tsp dried rosemary
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 stick butter

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

YUMmmm, such comfort food!

BTW - My 3 1/2 lb meat cannot be bigger than your 3 1/2 lb meat. (No bragging rights!)

Chef John said...

thanks, but I'll do the jokes. ;)

Angie ^i^ said...

LMAO *snort* hahaha

Love the "special treat" within the video!! That was great! I'll definitely give this recipe a try! YUMMY!!

Anonymous said...

Hey Chef John, I notice that sometimes when you're browning meats, you don't wait for the whole surface to get really crisped and caramelized. The pot roast here seemed to still have a lot of grey on it when you flipped it. Is this to avoid burning the pan and ruining the sauce, just because the meat doesn't really need to be browned all over, or some other reason that I'm not smart enough to figure out? I'm just an amateur, so I feel a little big in my britches to be criticizing your technique, but I'm curious about this.

Anonymous said...

Hey Chef John, I notice that sometimes when you're browning meats, you don't wait for the whole surface to get really crisped and caramelized. The pot roast here seemed to still have a lot of grey on it when you flipped it. Is this to avoid burning the pan and ruining the sauce, just because the meat doesn't really need to be browned all over, or some other reason that I'm not smart enough to figure out? I'm just an amateur, so I feel a little big in my britches to be criticizing your technique, but I'm curious about this.

Chef John said...

it depends, that could have seared longer but the light was fading so I wanted to get it in the oven (probably why I screwed up those shots). Besides it roasts so long for this dish, not a big deal.

Anonymous said...

hi chef john, i don't like celeries much. can i take it out and the dish will still be decent?

btw, you look fit and thin. have you lost weight?

Chef John said...

lol, thanks. Sure leave it out.

Anonymous said...

Nice sketch work. Did you have to fly someone in to do that?

And thanks for the shout out to your leg.
Incidentally, I actually thought that "mine" might be bigger than yours until I saw the diagram, and realized you got me beat by a lot. Kudos. We are talking about your leg, right?

Anyways, not even a braise? I'm curious. And horseradish mashed potatoes? That's why you're the Chef. Sounds great!

Scott - Boston

Daniel Vu Tran lol said...

oh my goodness I absolutely love your shows :D

Nath said...

Huh. I made basically the same thing for dinner yesterday (with slightly different flavourings). This looks like a good version for next time, though.

Anonymous said...

Great work - thank you.

I always wondered what I could do with the cooked-to-death left-over vegetables in my power soups. Now thats a great idea... as always: thanks :-)

Daniel

Jokes And Clips said...

great recipe! what other dish can I use in an oven? Can I use a foil pan?
BTW, you are so multi-talented, cooking, drawing....I wonder what else you can do.

Chef John said...

You can use anything as long as it's sealed. You would have to use foil.

Anonymous said...

this video keeps reminding me why I keep coming to this site xD.

I love your recipes too :3

Anonymous said...

Could this be done in a crock-pot as well?

Chef John said...

Yes, but I haven't tried it. You may need some extra beef stock.

Anonymous said...

Your recipe calls for a 1/2 stick of butter, which is 4 TBSP. In the video, it looks like you added only 2 TBSP of butter. My big bottom and I can tell the difference. What gives?

Chef John said...

it was just bad editing as some had already melted before the shot. You can certainly get away with 2 tbsp.

test it comm said...

That looks good! I like the sound of using the leftover vegies from making stock. It always seems like such a waste to just toss them.

Danny said...

I did this dish last night minus the herbs (didn't have decent rosemary on hand) and buried 6 cloves of garlic in a huge 5.5lb chuck and slow oven for 8+ hours. Served over your 'Perfect Mashed Potatoes', which is self defining

I've since been nominated for the 'best roomie ever' award. Thanks Chef John for the inspiration!

PS- noticing more use of Gold and less of Russet. Is Russet 'silver' in the potato olympics?

Chef John said...

Well done! And, I enjoyed your clever "Russet 'silver' in the potato olympics?" Yes, and red potatoes get the bronze.

Amy Lynn said...

Is the cooking time the same if I'm only using 2 lb of meat?

Chef John said...

basically the same. just cook til fork tender.

Anonymous said...

I stumbled onto your videos on youtube and have been trolling it for a week solid. Just love your work. Hanging to try quite a few of the recipes, if only my computer were in the kitchen so I could refer to the video along the way. Loved your artwork in this one ☺

Anonymous said...

Hey Chef John,
I just made this last night and my ragout did not come out thick and chunk like yours. Instead, there was a lot of juice in the pot after the beef cooked and my sauce was more soup than ragout. I followed your directions and ingredients. What could have gone wrong? BTW, love your blog. Keep it up!

Chef John said...

No way to say, but u can always pour off and boil the sauce to reduce.

Anonymous said...

I am always look for a good pot roast recipe. My hubby hates roast and I keep on trying different ones because we ALWAYS have lots of roast when his father gives us meat from the cow he has butchered. :-) I will give this a try tonight. Thanks

Anonymous said...

I have been searching the web now for 6 hours for a great pot roast recipe and video. Your video/recipe is the best I have found. Thank you soooooo much!!!! My only problem now is how to make the recipe for 12 people in the same size slow cooker. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
Holiday crazed housewife!

Anonymous said...

Hello again! Holiday Crazed Housewife here. I want to thank you. I survived the X-Mas dinner for 12. I purchased two (2) slow cookers and prepared your 7-Bone Pot Roast in each. One slow cooker meal was served to those who arrived on time and the other was served to those who are always late. Your Pot Roast was the hit of the party. Thank you soooooo very much!!!!! Please have a very Happy and safe 2012.

Signed: No-longer the Holiday Crazed Housewife

Unknown said...

Chef John,
New to your channel ... tell me in your prior life did you sell cars? Great two-step photo recovery while ending with something that looks/tastes good!

Unknown said...

Chef John.... so glad I stumbled across this recipie... we love it! Thanks so much!

Wildfire41 said...

Absolutely delicious and so easy. Another family hit. I've said it before, every time I cook something new and it's a big hit, my family looks at me and says, "Chef John"? Yep!!!!