When I was growing up, on most Sundays before we left for church, Mama would put a pot roast in the oven. How appropriate, that when we got home from church — home smelled like “heaven!”
They say that of our senses, the sense of smell has the longest memory. And I do remember exactly how that smell wafted out the door and welcomed us as we walked in after church.
I have made this meal many times myself (I USED to cook, regularly), and it always makes the house smell so wonderful! But, because for many years we have gone to the 8 a.m. service and then out to breakfast with Hubby’s brother and his wife, I don’t make it for Sunday noon. And maybe that’s the reason, even though it always smells wonderful when I make it, it never smells quite as good as I remember it did when it was SUNDAY pot roast after church, and made by my Mama.
In case you would like to try it, there isn’t a specific recipe (as with many great foods), but here is the way I make it:
I put a chuck roast (at least 2 lbs.) in the bottom of a granite roaster (the oval shaped one with the dome lid) with water that almost covers the roast, but not quite. Then I generously sprinkle the top of the meat with worchestershire sauce and garlic salt. I add potatoes (at least, a potato per person) that have been quartered, a big white onion cut in chunks and carrots. Put these veggies around the sides of the roast in the water. Sprinkle it all with salt and pepper.
Put the lid on and put it in a 350 degree oven for 2 to 3 hours. (We think it tastes best when the meat has been cooked to death and the veggies practically fall apart when you take them out to put in a bowl). If you like gravy, make it with the broth. Or, you can just put the broth in a small pitcher as “easy gravy.”
Mama always served this with green beans cooked with bacon, and her wonderful yeast rolls (Our daughter has inherited the “gift” to make these rolls. Mama loved that). I do stir-fried green beans in olive oil, with bacon, onion and garlic, and we skip the rolls; partly because I am NOT good at making them and partly because we have to do SOMETHING to make the meal a little bit healthier. I also serve a salad with it.
Mama made roast beef sandwiches out of the leftover meat. And made fried potatoes out of the leftover potatoes and onions. I like to make stew out of all of the leftovers (beef, potatoes, onion, carrots AND the leftover green beans). I just cut it all up in bite-size pieces (except the green beans, of course), put it all in a stew pot with some of the broth, add V-8, more worchestershire sauce and some hot sauce (like Frank’s). and (this is where you can be creative) spice to taste! For us this means, we take turns going in to the kitchen to stir it and adding whatever we think “it needs.” Since the ingredients are all already cooked, you are really just cooking it to combine the flavors. It shouldn’t require more than about 1/2 hour. But, keep in mind, the longer it cook, the more the flavors blend. We like this stew we make almost as well as the original meal.
May God bless each of you richly on this Sunday. And may one of those blessings be memories you have and memories you make for YOUR children that are and will be treasured like mine of Mama’s Sunday Pot Roast.