Perfect Sunday Roast Dinner

While growing up, my family would have family Sunday dinners. We would come home from church and smell the wonderful Roast cooking. After changing into comfortable clothes we would all somehow magically appear in the kitchen to chat, sit and laugh as we all worked together to get Sunday dinner on the table. If you can make a great all-American dinner like roast, mashed potatoes, and gravy, then you, too, can have Sunday dinners you won't forget.

There are a couple of different roasts you can make: rump roast or chuck roast. My own preference is chuck roast, so that is what I'm going to focus on in this article. You can go to the grocery store or to Costco or to the butcher's, and pick out a roast. Being able to pick out the best roast comes with time and experience, and if you are unsure about what kind of chuck roast is the best, feel free to ask the butcher for advice on picking out the right one.

Once you have your roast, if you are not going to make it right away, put it in the freezer to save for another date, but if you are going to make it within a day or two of getting the roast, the just put the roast in the refrigerator. When you are ready to make the roast, you need to prepare to cook it first. Go ahead and rub generous amounts of salt on all sides of your roast, making sure to get in all the cracks and crevasses of the meat. After you have salted the meat, rub the roast with flour just as you rubbed the roast with salt. When the roast is salted and covered in flour, brown the roast in some oil. Heat up the oil in a large pot; place the roast in the hot oil, letting it cook the outside of the roast. Make sure that you brown all of the sides.

Once the roast is browned, you need to put it in a covered pot in an oven heated to 300 degrees. Cook the roast for two hours, and then put one cup of water into the pot with the roast. The water will steam like crazy. Then put the lid on top of the pot again. Cook the pot roast for two to three hours (about twenty minutes per pound). Don't forget to save the drippings for gravy!

Once your roast is finished cooking, then you can serve it up with mashed potatoes and gravy. If you don't know how to make mashed potatoes and gravy, then read the Sunday Dinner articles about making mashed potatoes and gravy—you can make delicious Sunday dinners and have a great time with your family too.