Question about chuck roast in a pressure cooker

[buckytom]

I bought a chuck roast with which I plan to make into a pot roast later this week. I want to use my pressure cooker, but the meat isn't the right shape.

That is that the pressure cooker is sort of a vertical cylinder (an electric Cuisinart model), and the roast is long and thick, sort of rectangular.

How should I get it to fit? I was thinking of cutting in in half across the short side, then browning the two square-ish halves before stacking one on the other in the pressure cooker.

Or should I just brown it whole, then try to stand it up lengthwise inside the pressure cooker?

Am I making any sense?

I'm used to making pot roasts using either cheap rump or bottom round roasts which are thicker and shorter, so they fit better.

TIA for any advice.

 

[Andy M.]

I think the chuck is the best for pot roast. It has the perfect lean to fat ratio.

Cutting it in half across the short sides will do. Then brown it and put it into the pot cut sides down. That should give you enough room for liquids and seasonings to circulate.

 

[pepperhead212]

I also prefer chuck for pot roast. And I would go for cutting it in half, too, and stacking the two pieces, maybe with some slices of veggies in between,

 

[buckytom]

Thanks, Andy and pepp.

I use my mother's recipe for pot roast, which is simple and delicious. The roast is coated really well in salt and pepper, and then is heavily browned on all sides in vegetable oil. Then it's braised with 2 halved onions, a stalk or two of celery, a few cracked cloves of garlic, and a handful of chunks of carrots. And the only braising liquid is water, which ends up yielding a fantastic gravy when mixed with a roux and some dry thyme and parsley, and finished with butter.

It is mandatory to serve it with mashed spuds, and sweet baby peas, or I'll tell my mom...

I've made a few mods over the years by adding some quarteted fennel bulb, or whole criminis, or adding wine, or using fresh herbs. But the original recipe works as good as any.

I'll post my results. Thanks again.

 

[summer57]

I love chuck for so many things -- especially pot roast.

I often pressure cook it. Just cut it into somewhat similar sizes, sear it and finally, pop it into the pressure cooker.

 

[kb0000]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]C[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]huck pot roast tastes best because it has more fat than round, but pressure cooker really scores with round roast cuts because, being tougher, they need longer cooking. Most or all pot roast recipes I’ve seen under cook the meat. The objective is fork tender meat. Here’s what it took to get there with a 1.5 lb chunk roast last week: 30 minutes pressure cooking, natural depressurization-- [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]a[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]n[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]o[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]t[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]h[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]er 20 minutes cooking time. Then add carrots, celery, garlic, onions and repeat. Remove the lid, boil to reduce the liquid to a sauce appropriate amount (I thick with corn starch in brandy). All in all, about 2.5 hours. It wasn’t quite enough. The next day, leftovers got there with another half hour simmering on the stove. [/FONT]​

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Note: [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]a [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif] 1.5 lb pot roast is very thin. Increase cooking time a lot fo[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]r[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif] thicker roasts. [/FONT]​

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]I don’t know how to convert traditional cooking times to pressure cooking, but, in the oven or stove top, a chuck pot roast needs at least 6 hrs cooking time, round, 8 hrs. [/FONT]​