My family once had this weird discussion starting with “If you had been starving for two weeks on a desert island, and you were finally rescued, what would you most want to eat?”
Nobody really said much about sweet desserts or chocolate. Most of the responses included “good thick bread with butter” and “very creamy mashed potatoes.”
All responses included some kind of meat. I mean, we grow beef for a living. Of course we’re going to eat it.
A high number of the responses included a perfectly cooked chuck roast that pulled into little juicy “strings” of beef.
Because really, there is nothing heartier than a perfectly cooked chuck roast.
I’m not about to say that I’m the one who came up with this perfectly cooked chuck roast recipe, because that would be (a.) a lie and (b.) you probably wouldn’t believe me anyway because you all know that I bake more than I cook.
Fact: My parents know how to make a perfectly cooked chuck roast. So my Dad made the chuck roast while I took down the measurements and the pictures.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a recipe for one chuck roast. In case you haven’t noticed, we have a BIG family, not to mention that the night we made the roasts all the ranch hands were coming over. So just to make things clear, the photos include three chuck roasts, but the recipe only makes one.
Important Note 2: Scroll down below the recipe for step-by-step photos.
Important Note 3: As I said, we raise beef. So if you want to buy a great chuck roast, or if you’re just plain curious about my “other life” outside of baking and food photography, here’s my family’s organic beef website.
- 1 chuck roast
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup green tea
- 4 cloves garlic
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground basil
- 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
- 1 teaspoon dried chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon ground rosemary
- About 5 hours BEFORE serving time, chop up the cloves of garlic into even smaller pieces (about three pieces per clove).
- Put a serrated knife about 2 inches into the roast and shove a piece of garlic into the hole with your finger. Repeat this step with all of the garlic cloves.
- Sprinkle the garlic powder, oregano, basil, sage, onion, and rosemary onto the roast. Gently rub the seasonings in with your hands. Place the roast in a Dutch oven and add the water and green tea (the green tea adds just a hint of acidity).
- Put the Dutch oven in the oven uncovered at 450 degrees F. Cook for about 45 minutes, or until the surface of the roast is browned.
- Make sure the Dutch oven has at least 1 inch of water and tea in the bottom. If not, add a little more water. Put the cover on the roast and continue at 450 degrees F for another hour and a half. Check to make sure there is still plenty of water in the bottom and make certain the top is not getting too brown. If it is at any time, flip the roast over. If you don’t flip the roast, the top will get too brown.
- Roast another 2 hours still at 450, checking water and brown on top. Keep water added and turn the roast over if getting too brown. At 4-5 hours, the beef should be tender, and ready to remove from the oven.
- Let sit on the counter for 15 minutes, then uncover and trim netting with a scissors. Break apart (should not be able to slice—if not breakable down to fiber, it needs more time!) into servable pieces and set up to self-serve.
- Enjoy! This is the most definitive beef flavor out there, besides maybe a brisket. Reheating tomorrow is also wonderful!
Put the chuck roasts into the pan.
Chop the garlic up.
Put a knife into the roast and slide the garlic in.
Sprinkle on the seasonings.
Pour on the water.
And the green tea.
Stick them in the oven uncovered.
Let it get a little bit brown before covering (about 45 minutes).
Roast for another 4 hours or so. You’ll need to check it now and then to make sure there is at least 1 inch of water in the bottom of the pan and the top of the roast isn’t getting too brown. If the top of the roast gets brown, flip it over.
The finished product:
That looks delicious! About how many pound is a chuck roast?
Thank you for sharing wonderful photos!
Happy day!
The roasts we eat are anywhere from 2-4 pounds.