Beef Pot Roast (Or, temperamental crock pots need therapy)

Tonight’s dinner was a beef pot roast with petite red potatoes, sautéed onions, and baby portabella mushrooms; it was cooked with Campbell’s French Onion soup and an au jus gravy made from a McCormick package.  I am sad to say that my first real cooking post is also the first post to receive a “failure” tag.  I cannot decide whether it was the cut of meat, which did not take flavor even though it marinated for 48 hours, or the crock pot, which is temperamental and unreliable even though it cost $40 and is supposed to be awesome, or the red potatoes, which were particularly potent. I was terribly excited about this adventure, but it seems that it was a let down. However, I will write about this anyway.

We marinated a five pound beef roast in Hot & Spicy Marinade from Allegro, which I happen to like a great deal even though it has a fairly high salt level, and it was seared in an iron skillet for maybe three minutes per side. I’m not sure of the actual time because my father did the meat and the au jus (which came from a bagged mix). Prior to the searing and au jus, I sliced petite red potatoes and boiled them with two beef bouillon cubes to begin their cooking process and eliminate some of the very strong potato flavor and smell.
                      
While those were boiling and my father was searing meat, I sliced baby portabella mushrooms and half a white onion. White onions are a hotter than yellow, which are really sweet, and I personally think they have a nicer flavor. I sliced the mushrooms first and then onion, so what you see on the cutting board is mushroom in the onion pictures. 
        
        
The onions were sautéed in butter with some garlic and other spices, while the mushrooms and potatoes went straight into the crock pot on top of the beef. This was followed by the French onion soup, sautéed onions, and au jus. I stirred all that together and let it simmer until the meat was cooked and the potatoes were tender.
        
In the end, however, the potatoes were still far too strong and the meat had no flavor. It was like eating paper, but at least it wasn’t tough. Such a disappointment. And I really was hoping to report on a successful cooking adventure for my first cooking post. Next time will be better.