Garlic Studded Pot Roast

Everyone has their own way of doing pot roast. You can use whatever type of roast is on sale. You can use a variety of veggies. Or no veggies. You can cook it in the oven, or in a slow cooker. You can get all fancy-pants with it, or leave it plain and simple. There is no right or wrong way to make pot roast. Pot roast is for everyone. Okay, well, except vegetarians. Sorry about that, guys.

Here's how I like mine. And boy, do I like mine.

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GARLIC STUDDED POT ROAST

• 1 lean any-kind-of roast, somewhere between 1-3 lbs (whatever looks like the most meat for your money)
• Several cloves fresh garlic
• Salt, black pepper, white pepper, and Tony’s (OR your favorite seasoning salt of choice, of course) – to taste
• 1 large onion (or 2 smaller onions), chopped
• 1 small or ½ large bag baby carrots (left whole) or several large carrots, sliced roughly
• Coarsely chopped new potatoes (optional)
• Hot cooked rice or crusty bread, for serving

This is a Crock Pot recipe. You can make it in the oven, though, no problem. You just have to be home for several hours to watch it, and I had to go to work.

Choose a lean roast, and fresh head of garlic. Peel the garlic cloves and slice them into long slivers. I usually do about 3-4 large garlic cloves, but I like garlic. Use your best judgement on how much garlic you think you might want. I trust you.

Now, this recipe gets a little violent...using a sharp knife, poke a hole in the roast deep enough to stuff a sliver of garlic in. I poke the knife deep, then twist to make the hole wide enough for the garlic. Repeat this all over the roast (while the music from the shower scene in Psycho plays in your head), on all sides, until it’s well studded with garlic - you'll be looking at around 20-30 holes, depending on how much you love garlic.

Season both sides of the roast well with salt, black pepper, and Tony’s.

In the bottom of a large Crock Pot, lay in the chopped onion and plenty of carrots. It doesn't matter how you do the carrots. I usually get a bag of baby carrots and dump them in whole. If you want, add a few chopped potatoes in there, too. I leave those out because I'm watching my starches, but they are pretty tasty.

Sprinkle the vegetables with salt and white pepper. Pour 1/2 cup water (or beef broth/stock, if you have that) over the veggies, then place the seasoned roast on top. Cover and slow cook on low, around 8-10 hours.

Serve with rice or bread. I always go with brown rice, because I like the texture.

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Traditionally, I think pot roast is braised by searing it on all sides in a hot pan before slow cooking it. I don't do this, and it's fine. But you can! Especially if you're cooking it in the oven, you can add a little oil to the pot, sear the meat on the stovetop, then add in the veggies and water/stock and stick the whole thing in the oven. Ooooh.

Like I said, there are all kinds of variations. I like the garlic-studded one best because it's the one I learned from my mama. You can also add any herbs or additional veggies you like. I prefer to keep it super simple.

If you want fancy, though, Emeril Lagasse has a cheffier version of this same garlic studding technique on the Food Network site. It's got, like, wine and shit, so you know it's fine cuisine.

But me, when I want pot roast, I want:

1. Meat
2. Garlic
3. Onion
4. Carrots
5. Rice
6. No funny business