There is a minhag not to eat roast on seder night. For me, it’s a challenge trying to come up with new recipes to cook on the stove-top. I have tried so many recipes over the years, but I have never fallen in love with them. There is always a traditional corn beef, but after years of making that, I knew it was time to really experiment. I had read a bunch of recipes on the internet about cooking meats on the stove-top. I had to choose a cut of meat that needed a lot of cooking time to braise. I choose a California roast, and it was amazing. I used some of the ingredients that go into a regular roast but rather than putting it in the oven, I cooked it on the stove-top.
NOTE: Braising, from the French “braiser”, is a combination cooking method using both moist and dry heat; typically the food is first seared at a high temperature and then finished in a covered pot with a variable amount of liquid, resulting in a particular flavor. Braising relies on heat, time, and moisture to break down the tough connective tissue collagen in meat, making it an ideal way to cook tougher cuts. Many classic braised dishes such as coq au vin are highly evolved methods of cooking tough and otherwise unpalatable foods. Pressure cooking and slow cooking (e.g., crockpots) are forms of braising.
California Pot Roast
4 pound California roast
2 Tablespoon potato starch
1 tsp salt
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion quartered
2 large loose carrots
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic
2 Tablespoon sugar
1 cup red wine
½ cup ketchup
¼ BBQ sauce
Dredge the roast in potato starch and sprinkle with salt.
Heat a pan with the vegetable oil, big enough to hold the roast with a snug fit and sear the roast on all sides
Add the remaining ingredients, cover and simmer on low for 3 hours. The meat will be very tender.
Cool and slice. Serve warm with sauce and vegetable.
