California Pot Roast

This is a great winter dish. The recipe came in a booklet with an electric frying pan my mother bought in the early 1960's. A year or so ago my wife Pam found a great Farberware heavy duty electric frying pan at her favorite store, The Salvation Army. Even though the pan was clearly 20 plus years old, it was in new condition. I've used it for many dishes, and it even serves as a chafing dish for buffets, keeping a steady low temperature. This dish works just fine with a dutch oven as well.

Ingredients:

3 1/2-4 Lb. Boneless Chuck Roast

2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil

1-2 Tbsp. Salt

½ Tsp. Celery Salt

½ Tsp. Ground pepper

1 cup Heinz Chile sauce (or more)

1 large white onion, thinly sliced

3 Tbsp. Wine or water

Optional: 6-8 carrots peeled and sliced in half lengthwise

For Gravy:

1 – 1 ½ cups water or light beef stock

Corn starch

Directions:

Pat the roast dry with paper towels. Salt and pepper the roast and brown in the vegetable oil in the electric frying pan set at 350 degrees. Brown on all sides taking about 10-15 minutes. Spread the Chile sauce over the meat, add celery salt and sliced onion on top of the meat as well. Add water (or wine) to pan and cover. Lower heat and simmer until tender 2 1/2-3 hrs. After about half the cooking time you can add some peeled carrots if desired.

Remove meat (and carrots if used) from pan to a heated serving platter. Add water to the drippings in the pan to make about 2 cups of liquid. Raise temperature till liquid boils and gradually whisk enough corn starch till thickened. You can add a little Gravy Master or Kitchen Bouquet and additional salt and pepper to taste. Pour sauce over pot roast and serve. Goes great with buttered noodles or boiled potatoes.