Not long ago I spent the day cooking Julia Child's recipe for pot roast from her very old cooking show, The French Chef, which I used to love watching religiously. I was inspired after soaking myself in the movie, Julie and Julia, seeing it for oh maybe the 5th time-- well, it is one of my favorite movies. Anyway, I started with a choice-cut angus chuck roast, marinated in red wine, brandy, onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns, garlic, whole cloves, and thyme (Whew! The list is long!). After about four hours, I took the roast out of its bath, dried it off, and browned it all over in pork fat from salt pork that I had reduced. When the roast was all browned-- a nice toasty color-- I discarded the fat and added the marinade back to the pot. After reducing the marinade by half, I then added four cups of beef broth (I didn't have any homemade so I used a high quality boxed one-- oh, Julia would kill me!), and brought it all up to a boil. I then let it simmer in the oven for about four hours until succulent. The house smelled so good and my tummy was growling by now. When the roast was finished cooking, I brought it out of the oven, took it out of the pot, put it on a carving board and tented the meat while I made the sauce. I reduced the cooking liquid until slightly thickened, then added a slurry of cornstarch mixed with a little port, and stirred it into the sauce until it had a velvety consistency. My husband David thought he was in pot roast heaven! I served cooked potatoes and carrots with the roast and drizzled the delicious sauce over it all. Bon Appetit!
