A Chuck for Chuck - Recap

Thursday finds Alton’s neighbor Chuck (owner of the Turk-o-Rama) at the food store looking for the “pot roast aisle.” Chuck’s mom makes pot roast every Thursday, but this Thursday, she’s gone… to Branson and Tony Orlando, leaving Chuck minus a meal. Good thing Alton’s also shopping that night, because Chuck hasn’t got a clue.

Alton takes Chuck to choose meat. First he tries to get Chuck to think like his Mom would, but Chuck misses the point. Then Alton explains that Chuck’s mom would pick the cheapest cut of meat during tough times. Chuck’s first guess is soup bones. Finally Alton explains that for good pot roast he needs chuck. Chuck, misunderstanding completely, thanks Alton for the compliment! But it’s not a compliment; it’s a statement identifying the type of meat: chuck roast. To explain further, Alton draws a picture: farthest from hoof or horn lie the tender and expensive cuts. The cheaper cuts are from muscles that work harder, like the shoulder, which on a cow is called the chuck. The chuck primal is almost a quarter of the animal, so Alton gives his neighbor some tips on what to look for.

Alton draws lines on the diagram to illustrate proper butchering. The butcher starts by cutting off the shoulder to the arm. Alton doesn’t want arm or ribs for this roast, he wants shoulder. Should meat is different at the point of the shoulder blade than at the wide end.
For pot roast, Alton prefers cuts nearer the wide end, but any of the seven bone cuts will yield a nice roast. These cuts take their name from the shape of the shoulder blade, which looks approximately like the number seven. For simplicity, Alton tells Chuck to look for any piece of meat with “blade” in the name that is cross cut (like a steak). Longer bones yield the tenderest roasts. Alton and Chuck pick up some onion and garlic before leaving the store, but little else.

Back at Chuck’s trailer, Alton tells his friend that pot roast is a “scrounge together” meal, made from whatever is handy. Besides the meat, you need spices, aromatics, a flavorful liquid, and “chunkies.” Alton starts Chuck off cutting an onion and crushing garlic. Unable to find a Dutch oven, Alton works his way through cooking vessels until Chuck produces a very old skillet, apologizing for its age. But Alton loves old skillets; claiming they are the best sort. He sets that on the stove to heat rocket hot, which for cast iron might take three or four minutes. Next, he asks Chuck what dries spices are around, and receives a blank look. Fortunately for Chuck, Alton “never leaves home without” a selection of spices. He gives the now weeping Chuck some salt (Kosher, of course) and cumin to rub on the meat. While Chuck takes care of that Alton digs through the cabinets to find a few additional ingredients.

When the rub is on the meat, Alton slams it into the hot skillet. This high temperature sear causes a Maillard reaction – proteins and sugars combine to form new compounds that give seared food its great flavor and brown color. Searing takes about two minutes for the first side and three for the second (searing draws a lot of heat out of the skillet). Chuck and Alton pass the time playing Rock/Paper/Scissors.

Chuck flips the meat onto a plate hot side up. Alton grabs Chuck’s vegetable oil and supplements the rendered fat in the skillet just a bit. Chuck adds the onion and garlic and stirs them until they’re translucent. Alton turns the heat to low – the retained heat in the skillet is enough for now. To the aromatics, Alton adds tomato juice and balsamic vinegar while Chuck stirs. Then the “chunkies” – dark raisins and green olives, lightly crushed. Alton tells Chuck to keep stirring until the liquid is reduced to about half its volume. This concentrates the liquid.

Alton needs aluminum foil, but Chuck’s is…busy. It’s a homemade satellite dish. Chuck got the idea from a neighbor who had a hat made out of the stuff, to keep out “the signals.” The same neighbor taught Chuck that aluminum has unique thermal and electrical characteristics which make it ideal for many tasks. Strangely, the schizophrenic neighbor is right about this! It’s the third most common material (following silicon and oxygen) but it never appears in metallic form in nature. It’s always an oxide, typically bauxite.

Alton sends Chuck to the roof for six feet of the stuff and sets himself down for a nap. Well, actually, a dream sequence describing the production of aluminum. First, bauxite ore goes into a crusher where it’s ground into alumina. That powder goes into a vat of molten cryolite (sodium-aluminum-fluoride) where it dissolves. An electric current passes through this vat causing the molten aluminum to sink. Special taps permit its exit from the vat. A gas flush removes any remaining impurities and then the liquid metal flows to a mixing channel where trace metals and recycled material are mixed with it. The liquid cools to slabs. These pass through successively closer rollers called stands, each compressing it thinner. A final product thicker than a quarter inch is plate, which may be used as armor. Between a quarter inch and a six thousandths of an inch is sheet aluminum, used for all sorts of utensils and pans. Thinner still is foil. Kitchen foil tears easily, so two sheets go through the rollers back to back, which is why there is a shiny side and a dull side.

Alton awakens as the glaze finishes. Chuck sets the oven for its lowest temperature while Alton builds a double layer foil pouch for braising. Half the glaze goes into the foil, then the meat, then the rest of the glaze and Alton seals it tight. Alton assures Chuck there will be gravy from this cooking method. Chuck wonders about boiling, but Alton explains that the connective tissue in the meat must dissolve to produce gelatin, the substance that gives pot roast its delicious mouth feel.

Chuck protests that there won’t be any gravy, but Alton, increasingly irritated, corrects him. The meat will give up some of its moisture and that will mingle with the glaze. Once built, the pouch goes into the oven for three and a half hours.

Alton takes the roast out and lets it continue cooking for a final half hour on the cook top. Still sealed in foil, it’s not resting but cooking. He recommends refrigerating the meat and pulling off the solid fat the next morning, or (if immediate consumption is the goal) punching a hole in one corner of the pouch and draining the juice into a suitable vessel. A gravy separator or bulb syringe can draw the fat off the top. Alton adds some of the chunkies from inside the pouch and uses a stick blender to mix and puree it into low fat gravy.

Chuck is impressed. This meal actually tastes like meat – he’s used to the roast tasting like gravy. His mom may have seen the Dawn, but Chuck has seen the light. He knows now how to select a chuck roast and how to make it…Good Eats!

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