. . . cooking up a Pot Roast. It’s the American go-to meal for Sunday dinner. Right? Growing up it seemed as if we had pot roast every weekend after church. I hated going to church and therefore dreaded going home to a pot roast afterwards. Association can ruin even the tastiest of treats, huh?

Well, I grew up and stopped eating so much pot roast and as I started to learn to cook for myself, became eager to learn how to cook everything. This was before the Food Network and Internet and really before food snobbery was even heard of. My best resources then were Mama and “The Joy of Cooking”.

Essential for every cooks library.

Mama got me started and showed me how to do it all. What she didn’t know “Joy” did. I suppose I would be remiss if I excluded Martha from the mix but she’s become more infamous than anything. I’m not to proud to say she taught me a few great things; Pie crust, red velvet cake and corn-shrimp chowder. She even inspired me to make my own headboard. But that’s another story, today we’re talking pot roast.

Who inspires me today? America’s Test Kitchen, Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain. Chiefly all the cooks at American’s Test Kitchen. I have subscribed to their magazine “Cook’s Illustrated” for over ten years (thanks to my Mama). I have two of their latest cookbooks and when I can find it on TV I’m glued to their show. They know how to make everything. If they don’t they keep trying until they get an end product they guarantee will be good. I just bought their latest “The Science of Good Cooking”. I’m going to work my way through all of their recipes. I love their magazine because it’s not about selling you stuff you don’t need. There are no advertisements (praise Jesus)! It’s loaded with tips from real cooks (meaning those of us at home who love to do it). They test products and tell you which of them are great, good and to be avoided.

So today I cooked a roast following their recipe for slow cooked-to-tender roast beef. It was in the oven for three plus hours at 225 degrees. It turned out rare and so very tasty. My D nearly ate the whole thing. I should have taken a picture but I forgot and honestly … roast beef is not pretty. I suppose I should have staged it to look pretty but I was so hungry and distracted I just couldn’t get it done. So . . . here is a pretty picture from my honeymoon instead . . .

Paris . . . where every meal was amazing!