Marion says she got this recipe from Aunt Nettie, who was a GREAT cook! Aunt Nettie would scream when she heard of anyone cooking a roast in the oven. You must cook your roast on the stove! And, never use a stainless steel pot… instead use a Magnalite pot and risk Alzheimer’s disease! And, never use Crisco Pure Vegetable Oil… instead, use Crisco Shortening. And, never use a jar of garlic… instead, use fresh garlic. WOW! Cooking is complicated. Here's a photo... what I would have used vs Marion's recommendations!
Craig and I have very fond memories of this roast… Marion would often send a freezer bag of roast and gravy to Covington with Todd… and we would feast like kings!
First, the ingredients:
· 2 – 3 lb eye of the round roast
· Garlic
· Red pepper
· Black pepper
· Salt
· Onion
· Crisco shortening
· Flour
· Water
Now, the directions (dictated by Marion):
Rinse the roast (is that Marion, or what?!?) and pat it dry with a paper towel. Tear off wax paper and put it on your counter. Put the roast on the wax paper. Put three piles on the wax paper: one little pile of black pepper, another pile of crushed red pepper, and a third pile of about 20 garlic toes. Also, have your salt shaker handy.
With a sharp paring knife, punch holes in your roast. As you punch, put a garlic toe in the hole. Then, use your finger to put red pepper in the hole. In addition to the garlic and red pepper, add a tiny bit of salt and black pepper to some of the holes.
Add about 3 tbls of Crisco shortening to your Magnalite pot. Get the grease hot and brown the roast on all sides. Get it very brown. The “gook” that forms in the bottom of the pot is what makes the gravy dark and good! After the roast is brown all over, add some hot water to cover about ¼ of the roast.
Turn the fire down to about medium, cover and cook for about two hours. If the water gets low while cooking, add more. Don’t burn your roast!
After about two hours, let the water boil out and take the roast out of the pot. (It will be “gooky” again because you boiled the water out.) Add one chopped onion to the gook. Brown (don’t burn, just lightly brown them) the onions… you may need to add one or two tablespoons of water to keep the onions from burning.
Add a mixture of 2 tbls flour and a cup of water to the onions. This makes your gravy. Less flour means thin gravy and more flour means thicker gravy. Add more water if necessary. Go by size of roast and personal taste.
Slice your roast with an electric slicer and add back to the gravy.
Serve over rice with your favorite vegetable. We didn't cook rice (didn't want the carbs) but we had a nice spinach salad and peas...
Nesi is our critic... she give OUR attempt four wags (maximum of five). It is very delicious and actually does taste like Marion's... but it's not as tender. (To view Nesi's rating, click the triangle to the left below the image.)
Tomorrow we might use the leftovers with BBQ sauce for delicious poboys. And, the roast freezes well for months!
I can't wait to see what's next... if you cook one of Marion's recipes, be sure and let me know! Send the documentation and I'll post it on our blog!
Love,
Aimee
