How Not to Cook a Pot Roast

Earlier this month, as part of our current attempt to save money and to cut back on dining out, I cooked a pot roast - for maybe the third time in my life.

On the day that I was going to cook it, I had lunch plans with a friend. So, I got everything ready that morning and in the crockpot and let it cook while I was gone.

It all seemed ok when I got home from lunch - smelling good, seemed hot, looked good.

I think?

I went out again around 4 pm and when I got back around 5:30 or so, I checked it again and noticed it was warm, but definitely not hot. I pulled the meat out, and it was still mostly raw.

Whuh?!?

Then I noticed the scorched spot on the backsplash behind the pot!

Oh. My. God.

It seems that when I put the ceramic-put-the-food-in-it part of the crockpot into the metal-gets-hot-and-makes-it-cook part, I caught a bit of the cord between them. As it heated, the insulation on the cord melted and it must have shorted out.

I don't know if there were flames, or if it just went "pop" or what, because it all evidently happened while I was gone, but there's one scorched mark and it also looks like something splattered on the backsplash/counter. Not sure what that would be. Burnt plastic???

Shrike got home about 10 minutes after I discovered it. I told her "Um, we're not having pot roast tonight. Oh, and I almost set the house on fire."

I'm not sure if all this happened while I was out in the afternoon, or if it was while I was at lunch, so we didn't know long it was at the cooking temperature or and how long it was sitting around cooling off, but we went on the theory that cooking it for real would kill any germs that might have gotten a start while it was just sitting around.

So, I dumped it all into a regular pot and stuck it in the fridge, and we went out for dinner.

I definitely needed a drink after all that, anyway!

I cooked it in a regular pot on the stove the next day. While I was at home. Watching like a hawk.

It was delicious.

If you promise not to set your house on fire, I'll give you the recipe, such as it is:

Whozat's Pot Roast

Ingredients
1 pot roast
(I have no idea how big; we just bought the thing that said "pot roast" on it)

6 or so smallish red potatoes

1 package onion soup mix
(I used the store brand.)

2 cubes beef bullion
(Because, you know, a huge hunk of beef isn't nearly beefy enough)

Some carrots
(Meh. We're not fans, and we always pick them out anyway, so we're just skipping them next time. I "splurged" and bought the baby ones, because I'm too lazy to chop them. I got way too many; tonight I threw the frozen leftovers out in the snow-covered yard, for the wild bunnies.)

1. Brown the meat in a skillet, then put it in the crockpot.
2. Dump in the onion soup mix, and roll the roast around in it. Pat the soup mix all over the roast and in the crevaces. I suspect it will wash right off a couple of steps from now, but it seemed like the thing to do.
3. Chop the potatoes into 4 or 5 chunks each and toss in the pot.
4. Dissolve the bullion cubes in a bit of water and dump in, then add enough additional water to cover the meat.
5. Cook on low for four hours, let rest for two, refrigerate overnight, transfer to a regular pot and cook on the stove, on medium heat, for six hours.
6. Or, you know, just cook in the crockpot on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours, or until the meat is falling apart.
   

Enjoy safely.

Update:
The bunnies haven't touched the frozen/thawed carrots, or the parsley that I threw out there at the same time. BigGaloot, on the other hand, stops and eats a few each day on our way out for a walk. Misadventures Photos "Whozat+In+The+Kitchen"