Chuck Roast is my favorite meat to prepare. It’s relatively inexpensive. Especially if you catch it on sale like I always do. And it is absolutely divine when slow cooked into fork tender slithers of beef. Smother with some savory gravy and man! It’s a meal! I typically cook it stovetop or in the oven for hours. But, thanks to the beautiful ingenuity of my pressure cooker, I can now serve a delectable roast in one hour.
Of course we’ll need a roast. This one was a little over 3 pounds. It’ll fill at least four hearty servings. I start my seasoning off by patting on the W sauce. And my special blend of spices works every time. Pack it on every inch of the roast. Don’t forget the sides!
The most important step in preparation is the searing. I’m grateful for the browning preset on pressure cookers. It saves us time! If we were using a slow cooker, we’d have to sear the roast on the stove. The pressure cooker is a one stop shop! Sear the roast in hot oil on ALL sides! Again, don’t forget those edges!
It’s a cardinal sin to wipe of the “brown stuff” or “fond” found at the bottom of the pot after searing. That’s where the foundation of flavor begins! Instead, we leave it and sauté our veggies in it. See, we’re building flavors.
I roughly chop the veggies because we’re pressure cooking for a whole hour. If we finely chopped them, they would disintegrate completely during the duration of pressure cooking.
Look at this tender beef! I don’t ever want to use a knife to cut my roast. I like it fork tender all of the way! If you enjoy the carving, remove the roast before simmering the gravy. Speaking of the gravy, browned flour is a MUST! All it is a flour baked until golden brown. That’s it! I prefer the texture browned flour gives the gravy over cornstarch. I believe cornstarch is more suited for sauces, not gravies. Browned flour is an alternative to roux. It can even be used in making gumbo! Definitely beginner friendly, but still a go to for pros!
Fork tender deliciousness every single time! That’s the result of this recipe. Try it for yourself! I serve it over garlic mashed potatoes! What do you prefer?
Taste: For overall taste, the pressure cooker was the hands-down winner. Beef, carrots, and potatoes all retained their rich flavors. After 8 hours in the slow cooker, they emerged bland and seemed to need salt.
Why is My Roast Tough? If your roast is tough in the Instant Pot, it likely needs to be cooked longer. Chuck roast will become more tender the longer it cooks, so extra time may be needed. However, you can overcook beef in the Instant Pot, so keep an eye on it if you add extra time.
The pressure cooking process breaks down tough meat, making it tender. Put the lid back on, seal the pressure cooker, and cook at high pressure for another 10 to 20 minutes.
While you may cover meat almost completely for a conventional braise, use just enough liquid for the cooker to reach pressure – during pressure cooking the meat will release it's own juice and braise in that flavorful liquid, instead.
If you find that it's still tough after cooking, you'll need to cook it for another 10 to 20 minutes at high pressure – it just needs a bit longer to continue to brine and break down the connective tissue.
Unfortunately, once you overcook a piece of meat in the pressure cooker, there's no going back. You'll be left with a pile of dry, crunchy, tasteless fibers and no amount of additional pressure cooking is going to put that moisture back into the meat. Earlier, I explained how ingredient size affects the cooking time.
To prevent a chewy beef steak, you need to avoid using too much high-pressure heat. Of course, start with pressure cooking your roast (that's why you're using the Instant Pot anyway), but keep that high-pressured phase to a few minutes only.
Pour the beef broth around the meat until it is almost covered. Put the top on the Dutch oven and place the whole thing in the oven. Cook the roast for 3-5 hours until the meat is fall apart tender. If the meat is not falling apart, it needs to cook longer.
Cooking a chuck roast for many hours in a slow cooker will naturally break down those connective tissues, causing the meat to become more tender. These cuts are often used as stew meat, which simmers for hours on a low fire.
Pressure cooked food doesn't brown so it's worth doing this at the start of cooking before adding liquid and putting the lid on. Meat looks and tastes more appetising with a little browning. Onions, garlic and spices also benefit in the flavour stakes from pre-cooking.
The tightly sealed cooker creates a high-pressure environment that quickly and efficiently steams whatever is inside of it at an extra-high heat. This technique also forces moisture into the food quickly.
Sear roast on all sides in hot oil until browned; season with salt, onion powder, and pepper. Pour in beef broth and Worcestershire sauce; add onion and seal the lid. Bring the cooker up to full pressure. Reduce heat to low, maintaining full pressure, and cook for 30 minutes.
You can still pressure cook leaner pieces – like eye of round and top sirloin – but these work best if they've been stuffed, shredded or rolled (with other ingredients). Best cuts of beef to use: Chuck steak, Round Roast, Shoulder, Pot roast, Ribs, Brisket, Oxtail.
Slow cookers are much better for cooking root vegetables and tough cuts of meat because the long, low-temperature cooking process is great for adding moisture and breaking down fat. Pressure cookers can get hot enough for meats and vegetables to brown in them when cooking, but slow cookers can't.
When comparing appliances, you'll find that the pressure cooker beats even the most energy-efficient slow cooker in terms of using less power and adding less heat into your home. Pressure cookers consume much less power than a standard electric oven, which uses around 2,000 watts of electricity on medium heat.
Slow cooking the meat means it never has the chance to toughen up and will be extra silky and tender. Pressure cooking is faster, though you may lose a little bit of the tenderness. If you're going for the pressure cook method, be sure to get a pork shoulder or pork butt, as opposed to a pork loin.
Yes, pot roast absolutely becomes more tender the longer it cooks. Roasts are generally made from tougher cuts of meat, such as chuck or brisket, which contain a lot of collagen, connective tissue, and fat. These tougher tissues require a long cooking time to break down and for the collagen to converts into gelatin.
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