buckytom
Chef Extraordinaire
i called my mama, and this is what she said:
1.take a bottom round or rump roast, rump is better, rub it on all sides with salt and pepper, and a healthy dose of paprika. mom's options are to cut a few slits into the meat and stuff a few garlic cloves inside, but that's just when she's "trying something really different".
2. in a heavy pot, brown the meat well on all sides in vegetable oil, and add a coulpa halved large onions towards the end of the browning process to let them carmelize a little.
3. add an coupla peeled whole carrots, and enough water to come up no more than a quarter of the side of the meat. the meat and onions will relase more liquid as it cooks. if you use too much water, you're just boiling it, and the gravy will not have a good flavor. mom's "wild" option here is to add some fresh herbs to the pot, like rosemary, thyme, bay, or sage. not too much tho. just a small leaf or sprig or two.
4. let it simmer, covered, for about an hour and a half, flip the meat, and simmer, covered, for another hour or more, until the meat is fork tender.
5. set meat aside, and plate surrounded by the onions and carrots. turn the heat up to high under the pot to reduce the liquid for a gravy, scraping the sides and bottom of the pan, adding a hunk of butter to finish. stir some chopped parsely into the gravy, and use more as a garnish for the meat, veggies and gravy.
if you need a lot of gravy, don't reduce the liquid, but still turn up the heat and stir in a flour or cornstarch slurry, letting it "cook" into the gravy for a minute or two. add hunk o' butter and parsley, as heretofore mentioned.
serve with mashed potato volcanoes (to hold some gravy), and baby peas with worcestershire sauce, or hp sauce. ketchup if you must.
i can hear mom calling in everyone for dinner, in her brooklynese.
"rick, carol, kathy, claire, diane, tommy,..... diiiinnuh!"
1.take a bottom round or rump roast, rump is better, rub it on all sides with salt and pepper, and a healthy dose of paprika. mom's options are to cut a few slits into the meat and stuff a few garlic cloves inside, but that's just when she's "trying something really different".
2. in a heavy pot, brown the meat well on all sides in vegetable oil, and add a coulpa halved large onions towards the end of the browning process to let them carmelize a little.
3. add an coupla peeled whole carrots, and enough water to come up no more than a quarter of the side of the meat. the meat and onions will relase more liquid as it cooks. if you use too much water, you're just boiling it, and the gravy will not have a good flavor. mom's "wild" option here is to add some fresh herbs to the pot, like rosemary, thyme, bay, or sage. not too much tho. just a small leaf or sprig or two.
4. let it simmer, covered, for about an hour and a half, flip the meat, and simmer, covered, for another hour or more, until the meat is fork tender.
5. set meat aside, and plate surrounded by the onions and carrots. turn the heat up to high under the pot to reduce the liquid for a gravy, scraping the sides and bottom of the pan, adding a hunk of butter to finish. stir some chopped parsely into the gravy, and use more as a garnish for the meat, veggies and gravy.
if you need a lot of gravy, don't reduce the liquid, but still turn up the heat and stir in a flour or cornstarch slurry, letting it "cook" into the gravy for a minute or two. add hunk o' butter and parsley, as heretofore mentioned.
serve with mashed potato volcanoes (to hold some gravy), and baby peas with worcestershire sauce, or hp sauce. ketchup if you must.
i can hear mom calling in everyone for dinner, in her brooklynese.
"rick, carol, kathy, claire, diane, tommy,..... diiiinnuh!"
