8-21-16 Mama’s roast
Shades of “Mama’s roast”! It only took me 44 years to accomplish it, but Bill said last evening that I had cooked a roast “just like Mama used to cook!” (and gravy to go with it!) Is there a higher compliment a wife can receive? My Daddy had loved to eat roast at Bill’s parent’s house, too. For years after her death he would say, “Marilyn sure could cook a roast!” I must say, she did have a way with a roast. I remember what she said were her keys to success….don’t cook it too fast and don’t check it more than once. Leave it alone! Sounds easy, but I guess 44 years of effort attest to the fact that it’s not quite that easy. …..Or maybe Bill’s memory of her mouth-watering roast has dimmed…Whatever. Any compliment is a blessing! If that should be the case, though, the fact that it would take 20 years to dim the memory of it says it was a pretty top notch roast!
For those asking for the recipe, I have to say….you know, honestly, I think it’s the pan. Bill’s mother had a small sized blue-speckled oval enameled roaster. I had a huge one that I only used for turkeys or multiple boston butts. I had tried using my roaster for a beef roast or an aluminum tent over a baking dish, and every combination of temperatures/seasoning/cooking times I could think of over the years. I’d pretty much decided roast just wasn’t my thing. Then I happened upon one of the small roasters just like hers. I grabbed it and thought, now that it’s just Bill and me, I’ll scale down to a smaller roaster for pork loin roasts, turkey breasts, etc. So, I tried it for the beef roast and THAT was the secret. I don’t know if there is a ratio of occupied space by the roast to the size of the pan, but that is honestly the only thing I did different in all these years.