Another problem is overcooking the pot roast, leading to dry meat. Prevent this by ensuring you have enough braising liquid in the pot and don't let it go dry. For smaller roasts under 3 pounds, check for doneness at two hours. For larger roasts, check three hours.
When cooking a roast in the oven, keep it uncovered until roasted to the desired doneness. After removing from the oven, tent with foil and let stand 15 minutes before carving. This allows the juices to redistribute, preventing them from draining out during carving—and preventing dry, disappointing meat.
Over a low heat, add meat to a few tablespoons of water, broth or other liquid. Simmer for a few minutes to allow the liquid to penetrate into the meat. Simmering in an acidic liquid, such as vinegar or lemon juice, can tenderize and add flavor as well as moisture.
Covering your overcooked steak with a thick sauce or gravy will help balance out the dryness and make up for its lack of flavor. Preferably, the sauce is also warm. Serving the steak warm is important, as cold steak gets even tougher. Warm some water or broth in a pan with some barbeque sauce and let your steak simmer.
If it's not cooked correctly, that same cut of meat can be distressingly tough, chewy or dry. A failed pot roast can result from undercooking, overcooking or choosing the wrong cut of meat, so before you can fix it you'll need to decide where you've gone wrong.
Brining makes meat juicier. Unbrined meat loses 30 percent of its moisture, while brined meat loses only 15 percent. Make a brine by combining 1 cup of salt to 1gallon of water. Brine the meat about four hours and rinse thoroughly.
You can add a little bit of water or broth to a pan and simmer the meat for a few minutes. The goal is to allow the liquid to penetrate the meat without allowing it to overcook even more. This should take a couple of minutes. If you add a couple tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice, this also helps revive the meat.
Don't crowd your meat in the pan – leaving some space around and under the meat allows it to heat evenly. To give your meat a flavourful crispy exterior, cook uncovered on a rack set in a shallow roasting pan. Don't add water!
Add Just Enough Liquid
To keep a pot roast from drying out, your slow cooker needs liquid to create a moist environment, and that can include meat or vegetable stock, wine or water.
You should cover a beef roast with kitchen foil for at least part of the cooking time. This stops the roast beef from drying out too much during cooking.
Regardless of the size of your roast, aim for cooking at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), for 20 minutes per pound. After resting for 15 to 20 minutes your roast should reach its final internal temperature, which could be 5 to 15 degrees higher than when removed from the oven.
Roast for 12 mins per 450g/1lb (about 55 mins for a 2kg/4lb 8oz joint) for medium-rare, or 15 mins per 450g/1lb (about 1 hr 10 mins) for medium-well.
A surefire way to make a tender, juicy pot roast is through braising; that is, cooking the meat in a small amount of liquid in a tightly covered pot at low temperature.
You don't need much broth. Pot roast is meant to be braised, which means cooking meat slowly over low heat with minimal liquid, covered. If you add too much water/broth, you are going to miss out on that roasty flavor that comes from the top part of the meat cooking above the liquid.
Does chuck roast get more tender the longer you cook it? It does! The secret to an incredible beef chuck roast recipe is to let it cook for long enough. I cook my chuck roast for 4 hours and 20 minutes, and by the time it's done it's fall-apart tender with soft carrots and potatoes all cooked in the same pot.
Season and oil generously. Brown in a 220°C/Gas 7 oven for 20 mins, then turn down to 160°C/Gas 3 and add a little water to the pan. Cook for 20 mins per 500g (add/subtract 15 mins for well done/rare). Wrap in foil and leave somewhere warm to rest for at least 15 mins before carving.
Instead, use wax paper, it is the absolute best. Wax paper keeps the meat moist and not reflect heat back to it. It keeps your meat warm just as long as aluminum-foil, but without the unpleasant side effect of the meat over cooking.
The key to cooking the perfect roast beef is sealing your roast all over first. This locks in the flavour and gives it a nicer appearance. Pot roasting without sealing runs the risk of a joint reminiscent of school dinners. You also need to let it rest at the end of cooking to reabsorb moisture and firm up.
Raw meat is essentially a bundle of protein, fat, and liquid. When you overcook meat, you're rendering out the fat and liquid, so all you're really left with are the toughened muscle fibers.
The key to cooking pot roast is cooking it low and slow. The meat should just fall apart, hence the name, and if it doesn't, you probably have not cooked it long enough. Also, I like to cook the potatoes separately, as they tend to be a little to mushy for my liking when you cook them with the roast.
Overcooking is one of the leading causes of a tough, dry piece of meat. The best way to ensure a juicy cut is to slow-cook it in a slow cooker, oven, smoker, or pot. If you have the time, slow-cooking is the best way to cook lean meat. After an all-day slow-cooking session, the meat will turn out juicy and tender.
Using a meat mallet (or kitchen mallet) to pound steaks helps soften and tenderize the meat. Simply place the meat in between pieces of plastic wrap or wax paper and pound it prior to cooking. If you don't have a meat mallet, you can also use a heavy kitchen tool such as a skillet, saucepan or rolling pin.
It's milk. Here's why: A steak that marinates in an acidic or enzymatic liquid too long, such as citrus juice or cola, becomes tough or mushy. But the acid in milk is so mild that you can soak beef in it long enough to tenderize it effectively, without damaging the proteins on the surface.
Marinate: The use of enzymes or acids to break down the protein in meat is an excellent way to ensure a tender final product. Use in conjunction with the tenderizing process to really get that flavor in there.
Sear before roasting
To guarantee a well-caramelized crust, sear the roast in 1-3 tablespoons of oil for two to three minutes per side, either in the roasting pan or a skillet, before putting it into the oven.