Some people who shall be nameless but, as my mother would have said, whose initials are Roy A. Ackerman like their roast beef on the rare side. I like mine a rich, tender brown all the way through. I make a pretty good rump roast in the slow cooker, but I like best the way #4 Daughter, the amazing Sara Marian, makes chuck roast. She got the recipe from the mother of our friend, Zak.

To decipher this, which is a screen capture from a text:

Pot Roast in the Oven

• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1.5 cans of water
• herbs, spices, salt & pepper to taste
• veg, cut up

Preheat the oven to 425F (around 218C). Massage the seasonings into the meat. Really MASSAGE that sucker to tenderize the meat. Mix the soups and water. Sear the meat on medium high heat until browned all over. The meat, I mean, not you. Put the meat into a pan large enough to hold it and the veg. Cover the meat with the veg, then pour the sauce over it. Cover the pan with foil. Roast for 1 hour. Reduce heat to 350F (around 176-177C). Roast for another 2 to 3 hours. Remove foil and roast for another half hour.

[Notes: I didn’t have a chuck roast, only a rump roast, so I cut that elephant-sized chunk in half. My veg were: potatoes, celery, carrots, onion, garlic, and mushrooms. I didn’t have any cream of celery soup, so I used extra water, beef broth concentrate, and a dollop of cream. My spices/herbs were salt, pepper, bay leaf, and Penzeys Beef Roast Seasoning. Don’t worry if you need to leave the roast in the oven longer than three hours to suit your timing; as long as the foil is on, you can leave it another hour at least.]

A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: Well-done or rare? Why?

MA