Perfect Pot Roast and Gravy

Like many people, I used to do pot roast in a slow cooker.  Unfortunately, it always yielded rather mediocre results.  Determined to find a better way, I stumbled upon this recipe.  They roast is wonderful, but their idea of "gravy" and mine don't jive, so I change it up at the end.  Follow this recipe exactly.  Don't add veggies to the roast.  Don't add salt to it.  Don't change a darn thing!  Trust me.

Preheat your oven to 350.  In a cast iron dutch oven, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil.  When it's nice and hot, sear your 3-4 pound chuck roast for 4 minutes on each side.  Don't touch it.  Don't poke at it, don't wiggle it around.  Just put it in for 4 minutes, flip it, and do another 4 minutes.

While it's searing, slice one medium onion and chop 2 cloves of garlic.  When the meat is done searing, remove it, and cook the onions and garlic in the juices for a few minutes.  Turn off the burner.  Add in about a tsp of salt, some fresh ground pepper, and a bay leaf.  Put the seared roast on top and place another bay leaf on top of the roast, cover it with the lid, and bake it in the oven for 30 minutes.  Turn the oven down to 300 and cook for another hour to hour and a half, depending on how done you want it.  When it's done, remove the roast and let it rest on a cutting board for 10-15 minutes.  DO NOT CUT INTO IT.  Unless you like dry meat.  If you don't let the juices redistribute before slicing in to, all the love juice will seep out and your roast will suck.  On to the gravy.

You'll be left with lovely onions and garlic swimming in some beautiful beef broth.  Put the dutch oven on a burner over medium heat.  Whisk in 1/4 cup of flour until it's all incorporated.  Add in a bit of milk.  How much just depends on how thick you like your gravy.  I like mine fairly thick, so I just use a few tablespoons.  Season with salt and pepper and keep whisking it over medium heat until it's the consistency you want.  You can add some Worcestershire if you like.  Sometimes I do.

Slice up the meat.  Mmmmm, meat.

Serve with buttermilk mashed potatoes and drown it in gravy.  Don't worry fret about the lack of veggies on the plate; I had a salad with this, I swear.