Hola Mi Gente,
Did you know that I used to be vegetarian? Probably not, based on what you see on this blog, but I was. For a lot of years when I was growing up. I actually still prefer Morningstar products over conventional meat sometimes. Like their breakfast sausage. In my mind, happiness is a freezer full of there beautiful breakfast links. I think one of the reasons I feel that way is because conventional meat producers are so. freaking. obsessed with pork.
Spoiler alert: I’m allergic to pork.
Please don’t go on a rant on what I’m missing out on, I promise you aren’t the first (or last, gigantic eye-roll emoji) person to extend your condolences. I’m very happy with the meats I can eat, and there isn’t an ounce of food lament going on over here. But that’s besides the point.
I think because I was vegetarian for so long, I missed out on learning how to cook meat in a few different ways, and I’ve been playing catch up for the last few years. (Side note: no parents, I don’t resent not eating meat growing up. I loved growing up vegetarian. And I love you). One of the kinds of meat I historically have been bad at, is roasts.
Because Ben actually grew up eating meat of all sorts, he has a taste for how they should look/taste. For the past three years I’d make roasts and ask him how they were and he’d say they were good, but not the full gooooooddddd I’m prodding for when I put a lot of time into a recipe. We’d chat ingredients, tastes, and textures afterwards and he’d just vaguely say that something was missing.
Until this roast happened.
This juicy, fall-apart, flavor-will-give-life-to-everything-it-touches roast. This roast helped me find my roast voice. It helped me taste what Ben couldn’t figure out was missing. And what was missing exactly? Tenderness and juices.
In the past, I’ve thought of roasts as sort of cheap prime rib. I’ve wrestled to get a perfect medium rare center, and non-chewy exterior. I’ve gotten that a few times, but with bigger pieces of meat, it’s just hard to make something that has intense flavor throughout. So with this roast, I just completely embraced the slow cooker life. Honestly, the first time I made this roast, I wasn’t even trying to come up with a new recipe. I was just trying to eat something that tasted like Latin America and was Whole 30 compliant. But then we tasted it, and I knew I had to make it again.
I’m calling this Ben’s favorite roast, because now that I know of the magic of shredded, pull apart, melt in your mouth roasts, I feel like I’ve got a whole new world to conquer, so it’s TBD whether this will be my favorite forever. What I will tell you, is that it’s my favorite right now, and I CANNOT wait to make this and have sandwiches with it the next day for lunch.
While the flavors in this roast do remind me of Latin American foods, and very easily serve that way, it can also be served with other roast-esque sides, like potatoes and green beans (or brusselsprouts like we did). I’ve also had this roast for breakfast and it was AMAZING. I didn’t have to put any kind of dressing or lemon juice on my salad or egg, because the juices took care of all the flavor I needed.
Speaking of the juices,
okay, so we’ve talked about the flavor impact of this roast, and how it’s related to the juices. I also wanted to talk to you guys about reserving the juices from your roast. There is so much goodness packed into those things, that it’s a complete waste to just throw them away. The juice from this roast can be reserved long after the roast is gone (because you will eat it in about -2 seconds), and used as salad dressing, or as seasoning for sautéed veggies.
To reserve the juices from the roast, pour them in a jar and remove the fat (big clear bubbles at the top). Keep it refrigerated for up to a week, and let it soak into your foods for the rest of the week. I promise you won’t be even a little sorry.
The Best News About This Roast
People, you’re always getting on to me because a recipe is too complicated/takes too much time. I HEAR YOU. I am personally someone who love, love, lovessss the concept of slow cooking/eating, BUT I realize that not every one is living that glam food blogger life (just so you know, the unglamorous reality is that my kitchen is ALWAYS messy, and I usually eat my food cold, because eating for the ‘gram means taking pictures before eating) and you seriously can’t just spend the whole day cooking something.
But praise the heavens, there is a compromise to be found in slow-cooking AND living a full speed life. Yes, I’m talking about what should be EVERYONE’S favorite wedding registry item (move over kitchenaid, the sad reality of your existence is that you’re only going to get used three times a year): a Crockpot. Seriously, y’all this thing takes the work out of deeply flavorful dishes. Just dump them in at the beginning of the day, and come home to magic and Top Chef aromas.
So what are y’all waiting for???
We literally can’t wait to have this roast with some tortillas. OR on some tortilla chips as a nacho meat. Ugh. The possibilities are E N D L E S S.
BUT, if you’re currently living that Whole 30 or Paleo life, I promise (hand to heart, y’all) that this roast will make you forget what you can’t have.
Love & The Magic of Crockpots,
Ben's Favorite Roast
Ingredients
- 2 Lbs Chuck Roast
- 1 1/2 TBSP Salt
- 1 TBSP Cumin
- 1 TSP Coriander
- 1 TBSP Chili Powder
- 1 TSP Lime Juice
- 1 8 Oz Can of Diced Tomatoes
Instructions
- Mix all the dry ingredients to create a rub, and coat the piece of meat on both sides with the rub. Place the roast along with diced tomatoes and lime juice into the crock pot and cook on high for five hours, reduce heat and cook on low for remaining hour. Alternatively, you can cook this on low for 8 hours in a crockpot. Shred meat before serving and enjoy!
Mary-Beth Johnson
Mary-Beth is a creative, food-obsessed, Georgia transplant living Chicago. She is proudly and fiercely Latina, and more specifically Chapina. In her day to day she is a food educator to students around Chicagoland aged 3 to 80+, both virtually and in-person. She is passionate about cultivating the truth that every person has an understanding of food that deserves being brought to the table, and that time in the kitchen can be sacred, passionate, and an act of love for self and others. Outside the kitchen you can find her at the intersections of infertility, chronic illness, and a deep love for the dignity of all humans. She hopes to create a space that is holistic about the role of food in the social, political, relational, and physiological dynamics of our world.
