Heat a skillet on medium high with vegetable oil or butter. (if using butter you can’t let it get too hot or it will burn)
While skillet is heating, rub roast with favorite steak seasoning or salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, etc.
When oil is heated, set roast in skillet and brown for several minutes. You want it to form a nice brown crust, not burnt but not gray either. Flip roast over and brown the other side too.
In a large oven-safe pot or roaster (I use my dutch oven) place a few cups of beef broth or beef soup base/water mixture (you can also add a little red wine). You want to have enough liquid to almost come to the top of your roast. I usually throw in garlic and a little extra steak seasoning too. Add the roast.
Cover, bake at 300 for approximately 5 hours or until you stick a fork in it and it basically falls apart. Your meat should not resist your fork. I have also cooked it at 350 degrees for an hour or so and then dropped the temp down if I need it done faster than 5 hours. If you check it and the broth is getting low, add more or even some water – if you don’t it will be nasty.
I have added potatoes and carrots to the juices a few hours in… Yummy.
Now, if you want to make gravy from the juices (which is always a good idea):
If you have a fat separator, that is the best thing to use for gravies so you can get rid of some of the oil. You can get those for a few bucks at Walmart or Target. If you cook your roast early, you can also separate it from the juices and then put the juices in a bowl in the fridge. The fat will set up on top of the juice as it cools and when you’re ready to make gravy you can take that off and toss it.
Gravy:
Heat about 1/2 – 1 stick butter in a pan over medium heat. Stir it while it melts and then add about 1/4 cup flour. Stir that around, it will be thick but if it’s too thick, you can add more butter. Stir and cook the butter/flour mixture for a few minutes, letting it get golden but not dark.
Slowly while stirring, pour in your broth/juices from the meat. You’ll want to have about 4 cups liquid so if you don’t have enough juices from the meat, add a little water or broth. Continue stirring and let the gravy heat and thicken. I like it to not be super thick because I usually tear up the roast into chucks and plunk it back down in the gravy to serve it. 🙂 If it is too thin, you can thicken it by stirring together a little flour and water (about 2T at a time) and add it to the the gravy.
