Roast Beef & Gravy with Mashed Potatoes

"For less than the cost of a Big Mac, fries and a Coke, you can buy a loaf of fresh bread and some good cheese or roast beef, which you will enjoy much more."

- Steve Albini

 

Rost beef and gravy is one of those things my mom kept in a weekly rotation along with bbq chicken, chicken and dumplings, spaghetti, and homemade pizza.  She knew what my brother and I would eat, and she made sure we had it.  My kids aren't quite as receptive to these comfort food dishes from my childhood, as evidenced by the fit they both threw when I made it for the first time two nights ago, though both have eaten it at my parents' house.  My daughter declared it "yucky" without having tasted the first bite, and my son flat out refused to let it anywhere near his mouth - even disguised as an airplane.  Once we finally coaxed my daughter to try it, she said, "Mmm!  That's good!"  No such luck with my son.  At any rate, it was good, if a little bland (I've had bad luck with the salt shaker in the past), and after a sprinkle of salt it was 'licious!

 

Mom's Roast Beef & Gravy

4-5 lb beef chuck roast

water

1 tsp Kitchen Bouquet

Wondra flour

 

1. Cube the chuck roast in 1/2" chunks.  Put in a pressure cooker.  Add enough water to just cover the meat.  Check your gasket before you turn on the heat, and then bring it to a steady "jiggle."

2. Once the "jiggler" is getting jiggy with it, turn the heat back to a steady ch-ch (like a heartbeat) for 20 minutes.

3. Remove from the heat.  Release the pressure fully (make sure that red button pressure indicator is all the way down, people!), and then carefully and slowly open the lid.  Set the lid aside, and using a slotted spoon (I used the Scoop 'n Drain #1622 from Pampered Chef), remove the meat to a separate bowl.

 

4. Place the pressure cooker back on the stove cap, and raise the heat to medium.  Add the Kitchen Bouquet, and then begin to whisk in the Wondra flour.  Even though this is superfine and a quick thickener, don't expect it to be completely lump free or to thicken instantly.  You will need to bring it to a boil for a bit.  Just make sure you whisk all the lumps out that you can.  I really have no idea how much flour I added, because we always just shake it in straight from the canister.  If I had to guess I would say between 1/4 and 1/2 cup total.  Just keep checking the consistency by spooning some up and letting it drip back into the pan.  Remember this does not need to be as thick as sausage gravy.

5. Once your desired consistency is reached, pour it over the meat in the separate bowl, stir to mix, and cover with foil.

 

Now, you need to wash the pressure cooker:  Swing it through the air til the bottom has cooled enough you can touch it, then get your water screaming hot before you fill it up to wash it.  Otherwise, you risk damaging the pot.

 

Mashed Potatoes

5 lb potatoes of your choice (I used Yukon Gold this time, but they are a little gummy once mashed)

water

salt

2/3 cup whole milk

1/2 stick butter or margarine

 

1. Wash, peel, and cut up the potatoes (these were quartered because they were golf ball sized to begin with).  The size is not hugely important, but it does affect cooking time.  Three-quarter to one-inch dice is about perfect for this method.  If you do smaller, they will be mush; if you do larger, they will be crunchy.

2. Just barely cover the potatoes with water in the pressure cooker (please, note where the 1/2 and MAX fill lines are to be sure you are not going over the MAX).  Generously salt the potatoes.  If you think you've added enough, add a little more just to be on the safe side.  Check your gasket and "jiggler" before putting the lid on and putting it on the heat.

3. Bring the heat up til the "jiggler" is giving you all it's got, and then turn the heat down so it is a steady medium-paced ch-ch-ch-ch for 3 minutes (sorry, this is an acquired sound, I don't know how else to describe it).  Remove from the heat and release all the pressure before opening the lid.  Believe me, my husband can testify to the fact that you do not want to open it before the red button has gone all the way down, especially when cooking potatoes.

4. Remove the lid slowly and carefully, then drain the potatoes.  After this point, there are a few ways to mash the spuds:

• High speed stand mixer
• High speed hand-held mixer
• Old fashioned hand-held potato masher

My mom always uses the stand mixer with the wire whisk attachment, because you can get them much fluffier and it takes less time.  I typically use the hand-held masher, but you get a lumpier potato (which my kids hate).  This time I used my hand-held mixer, and they turned out pretty good.  Whatever method you choose, dump your potatoes into the bowl of the mixer (or back into the pressure cooker), and get to work.

5. I do not melt the butter and warm the milk before adding it to the potatoes, but my mom swears by it because she does not want to cool off the potatoes before they are mashed.  If you do this, put the milk and butter in a glass measuring cup that is microwave safe, and warm on medium power (50-60%) until the butter is just melted.  Please do not boil the milk.  If you prefer not to heat it first, just add it to the potatoes and start mixing.  You can mix it to your preferred consistency, but smooth and fluffy win the game in our house.

6. Dollop the hot potatoes onto a plate, top with the beef gravy, and serve with a side of green vegetables and a Blue Ribbon Buttermilk Biscuit, and you've got yourself an award winning dinner (if your kids like meat and potatoes, that is)!

 

Be forewarned that cutting the meat and potatoes will take quite a while.  You can freeze the meat for about half an hour before you cut it to make it a little easier, but I don't do that.  Also, if you have an extra pair of hands in the house that can take care of the potatoes you won't be quite as long getting dinner on the table.  Start to finish, including prep time, it took me about 2 hours.  Of course, I was also documenting the process for you folks at home, so that took a little extra time as well.  The actual cooking time and assembly is probably about half of that, and prepping the meat and potatoes was about a fourth of it.  You can also pressure cook the entire roast at once and then shred the meat.  If you choose to do that, you will need to increase the cooking time a little.

Rubbed Chopped Pork with Beerbecue Sauce

"Good barbecue comes from experience, and experience, well, that comes from poor barbecue."
– Cousin Woodman (http://noexcusesbbq.com/bbq-quotes)

I love a good barbecue: chicken, pork, sometimes beef.  I have never tried making my own recipe for rub or sauce, but I had to today.  My phone was too small to read, and I didn't have all the ingredients; my computers would not load the page so I could print.  Thus, I have come up with my own rub by smelling the herbs and spices I have and then combining them into *hopefully* a decent rub.  I wanted a beer based barbecue sauce, so I looked up a "beerbecue" sauce recipe, but again, I didn't have all the ingredients.  So, I modified it.  The original can be found HERE.  I can say that it smells divine (even my 4 year old wanted to know what smelled so good!), but I haven't tried it yet. 

*Now that it is 11:15pm, and we ate supper 4 hours ago, I have tried it.  It tastes even better than it smells!

Rubbed Chopped Pork

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup table salt
1/8 cup black pepper
1/8 cup paprika
1/2 Tb cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground sage (this is easy to overdo, so watch it!)

1 Tb Spanish thyme

1/4 cup light honey

6 lb Boston Butt pork roast (I used 2-3 lb cuts with only a small bone, boneless is better!)

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.  Add the honey, and stir.  Do not freak out when this is not a "sauce" consistency.  It is more like peanut butter cookie dough in texture.

2. Put your pork in a 9x13 or larger baking dish (I used the Pampered Chef Rectangle Baker #1338).  Put 1/4 of the rub on each cut of meat, and spread it out with your fingers.  This will not be easy, but stick with it, and spread it out as evenly as you can.  Flip the meat over and repeat.

3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Roast the meat uncovered for 30 minutes.  Flip it over carefully, cover loosely with foil, and return it to the oven at 325 degrees F until a meat thermometer registers at least 145 degrees F in the thickest part of the meat.  I let mine go to 150 degrees F, but the government has changed the minimum cooking temps for food safety, and you can see those HERE.  It used to be 165 degrees F for pork, and my digital thermometer still has that as a default, so I used the medium rare beef setting and then double checked it with an old school pocket thermometer.

4. Once the pork is done, set it on the counter to rest, still in the pan and covered with foil.  When you have rested the meat, transfer it to a cutting board and either chop or shred the meat (I chop it because I think shredding it is too time consuming and my hands ache)

5. Strain out the solids from the liquid in the pan, and put the liquid in a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, and then remove from heat.  Once it has cooled a little, soak up as much of the grease on top as you can with a paper towel, pour it over the meat to keep it moist.

6. When you are ready to eat, serve on buns (I like the sandwich thins) with slaw either on top of the meat or as a side dish.  You can either sauce the whole shebang, or you can put a little sauce on the top of each sandwich.

Beerbecue Sauce Mod

4 Tb margarine

1 tsp Kosher salt

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground mustard

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

12 oz Guinness Stout

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1-15 oz can tomato sauce

1. Melt butter. 

2. Add spices, stir into paste.

3. Add beer, honey, vinegar, tomato sauce.  Bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat to simmer until thickened (or your pork is ready to be sauced).

5. Once thickened, remove from heat and cool completely before refrigerating.  If you are immediately going to put it on the pork and eat, there is no need to cool first.

Serving Suggestion

The liquid that cooked out of the pork has tremendous flavor.  This by itself is what my husband preferred on his sandwich, you just have to stir it up to make sure the meat is evenly coated.  It is a little salty for my taste, so I put the beerbecue sauce on my sandwich.  I put the meat on my sandwich thin, drizzled a little sauce on top, and ate my slaw on the side.  My mom put her slaw on the meat.  Either way is fine, just whatever floats your boat.

Soup Beans

"There was an old man of Orleans,
Who was given to eating of beans;
Till once out of sport,
     he swallowed a quart,
That dyspeptic old man of Orleans."

- Edward Lear

I don't know too many people who don't like soup beans and corn bread.  That being said, my husband was one of them, until he ate mine after we were married.  Soup beans are one of those things that are not incredibly difficult to prepare, but if you know what you're doing they turn out a whole heckuva lot better.  This is my go-to way to prepare either pintos or black beans.  Even my daughter, picky eater that she is, and my son (who is even pickier) will eat these.  Well, my son will drink the "water" the beans cooked in.  Close enough - I won't split hairs!

Soup Beans

2 lb pinto beans (Halstead are best for quick-soak)

16 cups water

6-14.5oz cans low sodium chicken broth

3-14.5oz cans filled with water

1 lb country ham hock (optional)

1. First things first, you must sort, rinse, and drain your beans.  No one wants to end up with a rock in their mouth!  These are the beans and debris I picked out of my 2 pounds today.  You may only want to pick out rocks, so do it however you want to.  This is merely a suggestion and the way I do it.

2. Dump the sorted beans into your largest stock pot (I think mine is 12qt), and add the 16 cups of water and put on the lid.  Bring it to a boil for 5 minutes.  Turn off the heat, but leave the pot on the hot cap for 2 hours.

3. Drain and rinse the beans again.  They should be about double the size they were dried.

4. Put them back in the pot.  Add the ham hock (if you don't have a ham hock, use a meaty bone from a spiral ham, or large chunks of spiral ham), chicken broth, and water.  Put the lid on.

5. Bring back to a boil, then turn down to simmer.  You can literally simmer these all day long, as long as you don't run out of liquid.  The longer you simmer, the more tender the bean will be.  If you don't cook them long enough, they are a bit chalky in texture.  Also, they are much better on the second day, because the liquid has had time to thicken.

6. Once you have simmered them for a couple of hours, remove the ham hock to a cutting board, and shred the meat, discarding the bone, fat, and skin.

7. Add the shredded meat back to the beans, stir, and serve with cornbread.