# Pot Roast with Vegetables



## vl123 (Mar 2, 2012)

Hello,

I am going to be making a pot roast with vegetables for the first time in a couple of days. 

Am I supposed to fill the crock pot with liquid until the vegetables are covered or just the usual amount that I use, which is a can of coke?

My vegetables will cosist of:

Carrots
Potatoes
Mushrooms

TIA!


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## Bubbles (Mar 2, 2012)

I never cook the veges with the beef as I don't want mushy vegetables.  I cook the roast in liquid of choice and 1/2 hr before serving, I ladle some juice from the crock to cook the veges stovetop.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Mar 2, 2012)

vl123 said:


> Am I supposed to fill the crock pot with liquid until the vegetables are covered or just the usual amount that I use, which is a can of coke?



Although I have not cooked pot roast in a crock pot I found a similar recipe for you, Marie's Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast (AllRecipes.com), and they just throw in 8 oz. water and that's it. It seems to me that your can of Coke should be sufficient.

While I was looking I found another pot roast crock recipe that looks delicious, although no Coca Cola: Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast (a blog, KalynsKitchen.com). That's one I've got to try!


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## Merlot (Mar 2, 2012)

Crock Pot Coca-Cola Roast Recipe - Food.com - 81071 maybe this will help


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## CWS4322 (Mar 3, 2012)

Welcome to DC! My mother has dementia, but a conversation I had with her when I visited last month was about the horrible pot roast my paternal grandmother would make and I was forced to eat every Thursday evening. If your recipe is good and the meat isn't stringy, the veggies not mush, I probably would give pot roast a try again--it has been 20 years since I last ate pot roast...things have changed, I hope!


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## no mayonnaise (Mar 3, 2012)

Never cook the veggies with the pot roast.
Always cook the veggies separately in the oven, stovetop, or grill.

If you cook the veggies with the roast, you end up with soggy flavorless vegetables because the braising liquid has absorbed all of the flavor from them. You're just zapping all of the flavor out of the veggies you're going to eat, and cooking is about adding flavor, not subtracting it, so that's a bad idea.  Whereas roasting them separately maximizes the flavor of the veggies and you retain the flavors of each veggie separately.

Want a killer pot roast recipe?  Click here.

The addition of dried mushrooms to the braising liquid might be an interesting flavor addition, definitely worth experimentation.  Fresh mushrooms probably wouldn't be the best option unless cooking them separately IMO.


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## Dawgluver (Mar 3, 2012)

I always cook my veggies with the meat.  Haven't had a bad pot roast with veggies yet!  I use the crockpot, may be different on the stovetop. A can of coke should be about right.


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## no mayonnaise (Mar 3, 2012)

I don't even own a crock pot, since it just makes what goes on on a stove easier.  No offense, really, but I see no use for a crock pot if you own a dutch oven and a stove. It's like cruise control for cooking.  I've had many pot roasts and if the veggies are cooked with it they're obviously mushy and lacking flavor without exception IME.  Vegetables need their own distinct flavor, and they also need texture and both are lacking when cooked with the roast the whole way through.
When you make a stock from scratch, the veggies taste like nothing when you're done because the water absorbed all of the flavor from them.  Braising is no different.  Fortifying the braising liquid with extra veggies is great but the veggies served at the table should be cooked separately to maintain their unique flavors.


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## Andy M. (Mar 3, 2012)

I saw Jacques Pepin make a pot roast where he used two sets of veggies.  He started the pot roast with a mirepoix of veggies.  After cooking for a couple of hours, he strained out the veggies and tossed them, continued cooking and added the veggies to be served with the meal near the end of the cooking process.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Mar 3, 2012)

I think that's what some folks want: a cruise control for cooking. Crock pots are very popular for a variety of reasons, particularly to those who want to slow cook dinner while they are doing something else. I'm not sure if I could say that ALL crock pot recipes would better when cooked on stove top and in oven, but maybe many or most of them might be. But that's not the point. For whatever reason the OP wants to use a crock pot. Maybe the OP doesn't have time to fuss with a more complicated method. Maybe the OP just got a new crock pot and wants to try it out.

I think the OP already got an answer. It appears to me that all the OP wants to know is whether the can of Coke is sufficient moisture, or is it necessary to add more moisture. From what I was able to read on the Internet it appears to me that the can of Coke is probably sufficient moisture since I've found other pot roast crock pot recipes that use no more than that, like the one I linked that uses just 8 oz. of water.


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## Bubbles (Mar 4, 2012)

My favorite pot roast:  Pour one can cream of mushroom soup over roast, sprinkle with 1 envelope Lipton onion soup. Cover tightly and roast 325 for 3 hours.  
Easy peasy and wonderful gravy.


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## CraigC (Mar 4, 2012)

As Andy mentioned, vegis for the braise and later added to serve with the roast. I'll even go one further, keep in mind the cooking time required for each veg for your desired doneness and add them accordingly.


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## Siegal (Mar 4, 2012)

I think its fine to throw all the veggies in the crock pot at the beginning as that is the whole point IMO for the crockpot - set it and go to work and come home and there is food. Perhaps roasting and then adding later, or whatever people suggest is ideal but sometimes ideal is not convenient. As long as you do not stir the veggies/potatoes/etc should not fall apart. Crock pots lose like NO water so coke can would be perfect otherwise you would have a soup! Good luck!


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## Greg Who Cooks (Mar 4, 2012)

Siegal said:


> I think its fine to throw all the veggies in the crock pot at the beginning as that is the whole point IMO for the crockpot - set it and go to work and come home and there is food. Perhaps roasting and then adding later, or whatever people suggest is ideal but sometimes ideal is not convenient. As long as you do not stir the veggies/potatoes/etc should not fall apart. Crock pots lose like NO water so coke can would be perfect otherwise you would have a soup! Good luck!



+1

Also, I think it's quite possible that both the roast and the vegetables may give up some moisture which will join the Coke "broth" and there might be even more liquid after cooking is finished than at the start. (This is supposition. It would be interesting if somebody knows if this is likely.)


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## Petek (Mar 4, 2012)

Gourmet Greg said:


> +1
> 
> Also, I think it's quite possible that both the roast and the vegetables may give up some moisture which will join the Coke "broth" and there might be even more liquid after cooking is finished than at the start. (This is supposition. It would be interesting if somebody knows if this is likely.)


Yes, you'll end up with more liquid than you started with. Little moisture is lost to evaporation and, as you said, the ingredients (especially the meat) will give off liquid. When adopting conventional recipes to a slow cooker, it's usually suggested to reduce the added liquid by about one cup. Also, veggies in general take longer to cook in a slow cooker than otherwise. That's why most slow cooker recipes call for chopping the veggies into smaller pieces and adding them to the bottom of the crock (where the increased heat will cook them faster).


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