How To Cook A Roast

I'm telling You! Nothing gets the mouth watering like walking in and smelling a roast that has been cooking in the oven for several hours! Some people cook a roast in a roasting pan, some in a crock pot. I typically cook mine in my dutch oven. I don't build a fire and cook on coals in the backyard, because then you have to stay nearby and tend to it. I prefer to put my dutch oven right in the oven in my kitchen. I don't have a recipe written down for this. I learned from my Mom and she learned from my Dad's Mom (Grandma York). I used to say, "Roast is the easiest thing in the world to cook. You CAN'T ruin a roast." I went to dinner at someone's house where she had cooked a beef roast........I stood corrected. I went to cut into the meat and I swear I heard it say, "Do you MIND?! I'm grazing here!"

Ingredients:

1 beef roast
1 lg or 2 med. onions
3 to 4 lbs. potatoes scrubbed and cut into 2-3 inch chunks(russet, red, white, whatever you prefer)
2 lbs. carrots (baby or peeled and cut up lg. carrots)
2 bay leaves
1 pkg. Au jus seasoning
1-2 tsp. minced garlic
salt, pepper, Lawry's season salt
2-4 cups water

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Take a beef roast out of the package and rinse it off with cold water. I just buy whatever is on sale. The cut doesn't really matter to me. I believe it's ALL in the way you cook it. Heat either your dutch oven or lg. skillet on the stove and brown the roast on all sides. Remove from heat. Slice onions and place a layer on the bottom of your roasting pan or dutch oven. Put the other half of onion on top. Add bay leaves, potatoes and carrots. Sprinkle remaining ingredients on top of the roast. Add water, making sure to get enough on top of the roast so that the seasonings are not dry. Cover and bake at 300 degrees for about 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Take the roast out of the oven and pierce it with a cooking fork. That's the one that has 2 prongs that are extra long. I say this because there are some people who might not know what I'm talking about. If the fork goes straight to the bottom of the pot/pan like butter? Then it is DONE! Remove the roast onto a serving platter with the onions. Remove bay leaves and discard. Scoop out the potatoes and carrots into a serving dish and get ready to make gravy!

To make the gravy, heat the drippings to a boil. If you're using a dutch oven, you can cook the gravy in it, right on top of the stove. If not, pour drippings into a saucepan first. While you're waiting for the drippings to boil, make a mixture of 2-3 tbs. of cornstarch to about a 2/3 cup of COLD water and mix well. Whisk mixture into the boiling drippings and stir until it comes to a boil again. Remove from heat and gravy will continue to thicken as it cools. You can also use a brown gravy mix and add 1 cup of COLD water, mix well and whisk into the drippings if you prefer and bring to a boil. Both are tasty!

Serve this up with either homemade bread, biscuits or Pillsbury Grands biscuits and you've got an awesome meal!