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Perfectly Thymed Pot Roast
by Jes Mostek
serves: 10
  If you happen to have some red wine on hand that's a bit past it's time, say from a meal last week, that's perfect for this meal! Substitute the turned wine for the cooking wine and vinegar.

If you have fresh herbs available, so much the better! Use twice as much fresh snipped herbs to substitute for the dried herbs called for in any recipe.

Trimming the fat from meat not only makes for a light meal, but it also prevents the meat from burning easily. Fat absorbs heat more readily than meat, causing the part of the meat that it in direct with the fat to reach higher temperatures sooner, causing the meat to burn-- yuck!
Ingredients:
  3 lb.   beef roast
  1/4 c.   flour
  10   whole carrots
  8 med.   Yukon Gold potatoes
  1 (14 oz.) can   beef broth
  1/2 c.   red cooking wine
  1/4 c.   red wine vinegar
  1 lg.   onion
  3   bay leaves
  1 T.   thyme
  2 tsp.   parsley
  1/2 tsp.   rubbed (ground) sage
  1 tsp.   savory
  1 tsp.   steak seasoning, optional
    salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
  If you're using a slow cooker/crock pot, turn it on to the "low" setting.
If you are using a dutch oven, preheat the oven to 300°F.

Peel and quarter potatoes. Peel and cut ends off of carrots. Remove root, stem, and paper from onion, and cut into 8 large chunks. Set aside.

Rinse beef roast under cold water and pat dry excess water with a paper towel. Cut any large chunks of fat away from meat. Dredge meat in flour and brown each side of the roast in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over high heat, turning with a fork every 30 seconds or so. When all sides are browned, transfer roast to a crock pot or dutch oven. Turn off the flame, but keep the pan on the stove.

Top with potatoes, then carrots and finally the onion. Place the cover on the slow cooker or dutch oven.

Using that same pan, combine beef broth, wine, vinegar, bay leaves, herbs, and salt & pepper. Heat to a boil and pour over meat and veggies in crock pot or dutch oven.

For slow cooker, heat about 8 hours on the "low" setting. If you're short on time, 3-4 hours on the "high" setting should do it. The advantage of cooking at a lower temperature for a longer time (besides the meal being done at the end of a shift), is that you'll get more tender meat.

If you're using a dutch oven, cook 2 hours in the oven at very low heat (300°F).