Tri-Tip Roast & Doufeu - What Happened?

[C-Mart]

So, I made the first attempt using my Le Crueset Doufeu 7.75 qt. oven. I decided to do a Tri-Tip roast, and was able to pick up a 3lb. untrimmed on sale for about $9. I sprinkled some salt & pepper on it. I also picked up some baby red potatos, an onion, garlic, carrots, and green beans. I started with a little evoo in the bottom of the oven and put in the garlic, nicely crushed, and then sliced the onions thinly and added them. Next I made a space on the bottom and browned the exposed side of the tri-tip for about 5-6 minutes and flipped it over so the fat side was down. While that side was browning I sliced up the carrots, potatos and green beans and added them all in. This filled the oven nicely, I couldn't see the meat anymore. I added 1 cup of a nice Bourdeux, added the doufeu cover, lowered the heat, and filled the lid with ice. After about 2 hours (and about the time I was planning on eating) I checked everything and the potatos and green beans were nowhere near finished! I decided to pull them out and roast them seperately in the oven. I let the roast go for about another hour. They weren't kidding when they say that moisture will build inside the pot, because what started as 1 cup of red wine ended as, maybe 3 cups of liquid & rendered fat. Anyway, at about the 3 hour mark I pulled the roast out. The carrots had been in the liquid (while the previously removed potatos and green beans were sitting above the liquid) along with the onions and they both tasted excellent. When I started to carve the roast it was still pink & slightly bleeding. It turns out that was the perfect done-ness (for me and my GF anyways). After carving up our portions I put the roast back in the pot and covered it again, letting it go even more because I knew it wasn't done enough for my mom.

The meat was perfect, and the carrots and onions were great. I left the juice in the pot because I didn't feel like making sauce or gravy. The potatos and green beans however weren't very good at all.

So, my question is this: did I just not give everything enough time to cook in the doufeu? for a 3 lb. roast and all the other stuff what would probably be an adequate time frame? I would have thought that the doufeu would have been hot throughout by the 2nd hour, but I could quite comfortably pick up the green beans and potatos with my bare fingers. Any advice for my next attempt?

 

[kitchenelf]

Well, I've never cooked with one. Did you say the vegetables in question were above the liquid? I would think they would have to be IN the liquid. Did you follow an actual recipe that was provided with your pot? I made something sort of similar tonight. My veggies were UNDER the meat but the meat was still covered with the wine and broth totally. Everything was done but mine cooked for 4 hours. Yes, I also tested mine at the two-hour mark just for flavor - the meat was not done and pink. Some meats are ok for this but a tri-tip, like other roasts, needs to cook low and slow to become tender. What you tasted may have been tender on the very outside but when you get into the rest of the meat I feel it would have been tough.

Can you provide the recipe if you used one? It also sounds like you needed more liquid. I take it the top of your meat and the veggies were in absolutely no liquid.

 

[pdswife]

I'm confused... why the ice in the lid?

smiles,T

 

[kitchenelf]

pds, by placing ice in the lid it cools the steam, thus causing it to drip back into the dish.

Well, I found a recipe and you did exactly as they said, same amount of liquid and everything. Did you cut our potatoes in half? Maybe they were too big. Were the green beans raw? Maybe they just didn't get enough steaming action going on to cook them.

Oh great! Now I have to buy one of these to test it out myself - geez, thanks C-Mart - you'll be hearing from my husband.

 

[pdswife]

Thanks KE always helpful!!!

 

[bevkile]

I made a pot roast from Cuisine at Home recipe. It used DARK beer and pretzels. The crushed pretzels thickened the gravy. It was outstanding. Just cooked it in my corning cookware, in the oven.

 

[C-Mart]

pds, by placing ice in the lid it cools the steam, thus causing it to drip back into the dish.

Well, I found a recipe and you did exactly as they said, same amount of liquid and everything. Did you cut our potatoes in half? Maybe they were too big. Were the green beans raw? Maybe they just didn't get enough steaming action going on to cook them.

Oh great! Now I have to buy one of these to test it out myself - geez, thanks C-Mart - you'll be hearing from my husband.

My green beans were raw and the potatos were cut in half if they were bigger, but the little ones were left whole. I didn't follow a recipe at all, except that I looked through the booklet that came with the doufeu to get ideas about how much liquid, how much time, etc...

I can give you my ingredient list though:

1 3lb. Tri-tip roast
1 3 lb. bag of baby red potatos, large ones cut in half
1 yellow onion, medium/small, cut in half then sliced thinly
1 12 oz. bag of pre-trimmed green beans
1-1lb. bag of carrots, peeled and chopped (about 1 in. pieces)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
olive oil
1 C red wine - I used a Bourduex.
fresh rosemary (I decided to add this after about an hour of cooking I just put about 6 branches of fresh rosemary on top of everything in the pot)

When I put the meat back in the doufeu after slicing off a couple of slices, I had the heat up a bit too high, and after about a half hour I noticed that the water in the lid was steaming, which is the reason that the instructions say to keep the heat very low, so I turned it down again. I think that the steam action that was going on inside the pot was probably just too low temperature to cook the veggies, after all, the water dripping is meant as a constant basting action rather than a cooking action. Next time I will probably brown the meat, then take it out of the pot, start the veggies and add the liquid, then place the meat back in on top of the veggies. Also, with that size of roast I see now that I did not cook it anywhere near long enough - though the meat was done, tender, and tasted wonderful.