Jewish American Pot Roast Recipe (2024)

In her accompanying article, "How to Make Great Beef Stew? Here’s a World of Wisdom.", Ms. Moskin references J. Kenji López-Alt for his "unstinting research" on beef stew. In the article she cites, Mr. López-Alt recommends using a single piece of meat (not cubed), and cooking with the lid ajar, which, he says promotes "extra browned flavor" and "tenderer meat." Elsewhere he says to cook stew either on the stovetop or "in a 200° to 250°F oven...with the lid slightly ajar."

Coming from a traditional Jewish American home, this recipe is pretty authentic except for the thyme. I doubt my European born mother even knew what thyme was let alone be tempted to add it to her beef stew. Ditto for the tomato paste-we didn’t use anything tomato (I think they weren’t readily available in Czechoslovakia where my mom was brought up). She would have used the paprika only.That said, a really nice basic recipe-simple and highlights a great piece of meat.

Don't be surprised at how much brisket shrinks during cooking...

Having made Brisket based stews. My advice is get the fattier second cut. After all it will be in the oven for almost 3 hrs. A lean piece of meat will turn into leather. Second forget the tomato paste or tomato sauce. These two ingredients will produce the deadening "Betampte fleish" translated to "tasty meat" meat--forget it--you will fall asleep at the dinner table. My suggestion white wine (never red) mushrooms and real Roma tomatoes in addition to the onions.

I agree about leaving out the tomato paste and thyme. My recipe (actually, my grandmother's and mother's recipe) has me skipping the pot-on-the-stove step. I just put the brisket in a pan, fat side up, cover it with sliced onions, then some Lawry's seasoning salt and paprika. My mother often crumbled up a few gingersnaps to flavor the juices. Add mushrooms and carrots alongside partway through cooking. The key is to cover the pan TIGHTLY with foil. Cook for about 3 hours. Wonderful!

Whole brisket is broken down into a flat cut and a point cut. The point cut is fattier and, in my humble opinion, the only cut worh using when making pot roast, corned beef (easy to brine) and pastrami (cormed beef that's spiced and hot smoked). I find the flat cut to be dry when pot-roasted and lacking the flavor of the point cut in everything else.

If this is cooked a day in advance, the cooled slab of brisket can be then be thinly sliced against the grain and added to the reheated pot . It is a nicer presentation and can be eaten with a fork.

You can throw in peas if you're not following the Ashkenazic Passover laws (no legumes). But not if you are, and not if your guests are.

OK we have…no tomato paste, no thyme but add onion soup mix, ginger ale, catsup, mustard, red wine, flat cut, point, ….has anyone actually made this as written?

I have enjoyed this type of Jewish cookery from time to time, as a gentile. Briskett is one of those things if done properly is a revelation. I'd go with the tomato paste. It not only is tomato flavor enhancer, it makes things rich.However, if you are using parsley for green garnish, why not throw in two handfuls of peas for more veggie substance?

This is a stew! It was never, ever, supposed to be eaten rare. Brisket is a tough lean cut full of connective tissue. As the recipe says, cook for 3 hours or until the meat is tender.

I don't think my Jewish grandmother and mother knew from thyme, but they did know about onion soup mix, which is, I guess, the secret ingredient to my family's brisket? I know hundreds of other Jewish grandmothers and mothers for whom it was the secret, too. So, I guess it isn't so secret. Also, it didn't need to be Liptons, the store brand was just fine.

Cook halved, peeled potatoes in the gravy for the last hour of cooking. I braise the whole piece of brisket for two hours, slice it, and put it back in the gravy with the potatoes. And no thyme or tomato paste. Just lots of garlic, onions, and paprika.

This is what my German mother and aunt who were born in the German part of Serbia in 1937 would call Hungarian Goulash. As another reader stated, there would be more paprika and no tomato. Also no carrot. I loved this growing up and would often request it on my birthday. Also can be made with chicken. Always served over kulski noodles at our home growing up. So interesting to see this recipe. Thank you.

Made it as written. Except I doubled the carrots, we like carrots. Didn’t add potatoes as my husband makes the best garlic mashed potatoes ever, so that will be our starch. Definitely best if left to sit til the next day. Will probably cook some peas, too.

So good with the egg noodles and sour cream

This is my new favorite pot roast recipe. I recommend sticking with a chuck or top roast (fat = good) deglazing the pan with some red wine to give the meat and gravy that extra flavor boost, add mushrooms at the start of the roast and tripple the carrots (big chunks). Boil your potatoes in milk instead of water to save all that starch and lightly season. Let the gravy do the work!

The carrots are incredible. Even my daughter who normally hates cooked carrots liked them. Next time, I’ll add more - a lot more.

I'm very appreciative for this recipe. We weren't blessed with a Jewish grandmother, but my husband has a tomato allergy so with a simple swap of anchovy paste for the umami aspect and we had a wonderful beef stew that everyone enjoyed together. I did take the recipe's suggestion to try it with cubed stew meat, highly recommend.

Dumb Q; no S & P until the end or am I doing what would seem a normal season as go?

Absolutely delicious! I included quartered potatoes and more carrots, and substituted red wine for the water. This was the best pot roast I've ever made!

Cooked with farmer’s market beef chuck 3.25 lb roast. As written except a few more carrots. Very good-maybe best pot roast ever! Thyme works well with beef, tomato paste also fine. Served as suggested with mashed potatoes and parsley. Fork tender in 3.5 hours. Couldn’t wait-ate it for dinner:)

The family loved this. I loved the great tip embedded in this recipe to make a little ball of dough out of butter and flour for easily thickening the sauce. Thank you!

I made the recipe as written with chuck roast. Delicious!

Added celery and kale at the end. Very good.

I'm a sucker for pot roast and being from the Caribbean I've always made it with rice on the side and beans in with the roast. When I saw this recipe suggested mashed potatoes, I was gobsmacked that it never had occured to me. Cooked my pot roast this week with garlic mashed (my favorite) and let me tell you, I will not make pot roast with rice and beans again!! The mashed potatoes take the roast to a much more cozy dimension. Very content with this recipe!

To me brisket is a scary cut. It'll either be amazing or inedible. This was amazing. Followed the recipe as written except used beef broth instead of water. I couldn't find my bay leaf (unforgivable because I have my own bay laurel tree) so did use the thyme. Not really sure it really added anything to it. Would definitely make again.

Added parsnips because I had them. Yum

There are more steps than needed to make this roast. I increased the temperature to 325 degrees, put the beef, fat side up, in the pan, seasoned it and placed the vegetables over the top and added the tomato paste and water ( about 1/2 cup or more) to the bottom of the pan. Roasted and basted it uncovered until browned, then covered and roasted for another 3 hours until was tender. I cooled the meat with gravy in the pan, skimmed off the fat the next day , sliced the meat and reheated it.

Mimi was the real deal! Have made countless PRs and (almost) always use my home-made beef stock instead of water. Or, in a pinch, a weak "Better Than Bouillon" stock is a great substitution. BTB can be a bit salty if it's made too strong. Definitely the Point Cut, or a combo of Chuck and Short Ribs. It takes a dab hand to correctly roast a chicken, but anyone can make a PR!