Ingredient of the Week: Roasts

Looking for a quick way to warm up your house this winter? Use your oven and make a roast! Chefs Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau have a few recommendations for your roasts.

“I think the bone-in is a little overrated,” says Tom, “but in a roast, I think the bone does make a difference. For example, in a pot roast, the bone marrow melts down into your gravy.”

He says it’s not a big enough difference where the fat in the marrow can’t be replaced by, say, bacon fat, but it still makes your roast tasty.

If you’re starting small, with a 5-pound roast, for example, and your oven maybe isn’t quite hot enough to do all the roasting, Thierry suggests searing the outside before placing it in the oven. “You can sear the outside in a saute pan with a little brown butter and some olive oil, and I would sear all the sides of the beef.”

Make sure you’re letting the meat actually sear, adds Thierry, and don’t turn the meat too much. “Otherwise you’re wasting heat and time.”

Three quarters of the way through the cooking time, says Tom, is when you want to add the vegetables, but don’t crowd the pan or you risk drying out the meat.

Whole Foods Markets are a proud sponsor of Seattle Kitchen’s Ingredient of the Week.