Every once in a while something from my kitchen doesn’t turn out very well. A flop. Disaster. Epic failure. At those times, inevitably, one of my kids says, “You should have followed a recipe, Mom”. I did! It just wasn’t a very good recipe! But in reality, recipes are just guidelines. I seldom follow them exactly, but alter them to match the ingredients I have on hand, or according to my instinct of what will taste great.
This recipe, however, had basically no flaws. I followed it. Then tweaked it. And the results were so amazing I had to make it again. And again. The recipe for Pulled Pot Roast Sandwiches was so close to perfect that the main changes I made were in the cooking method. Instead of a crockpot, I used the pressure cooker. And I ramped up the seasoning a little, because this girl LOVES flavour. These sandwiches are the perfect mate for Bourbon Baked Beans.
I have to begin by saying that I don’t like beer. Can’t stand it. Don’t even like the smell of it. BUT, the alcohol and sugar tenderizes beef in a most incredible way. Of course, the alcohol cooks off, and the taste mellows into wonderfulness. I also found that Omission beer is gluten free and not only less repulsive, but almost delicious.
Pork is fatty, and easy to tenderize, so I cook meat for Pulled Pork Sandwiches in root beer. The sugar and acid make it fall-apart-tender. Beef dries out quicker than pork, so the beer is necessary to keep it succulent (love that word!), moist, tender, DELICIOUS.
The shining star in this recipe is roasted garlic. Oh yeah! This is one pot of beef you don’t need to smother with barbecue sauce because it stands alone. As is. Just mash the garlic with a knife before stirring it in with the beef.
One little tip – save all the extra liquid from the pressure cooker and use for a wonderful soup base or delicious gravy.
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Pulled Beef, Beer, and Roasted Garlic Sandwiches
Description
Beefy deliciousness that wins over beer’s harshest critics
Ingredients
- 4–5 pounds beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into chunks (about 1 pound each)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 10 ounces beer
- 2 heads roasted garlic
- Buns for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the tops off garlic heads, drizzle with olive oil, and wrap in aluminium foil. Bake until tender.
- Combine the spices and rub all over the meat. Put the meat in the pressure cooker, sprinkle with brown sugar, then pour the beer along the side of the pan so it doesn’t wash all the spices off.
- Cover and cook on high for 40 minutes. Let pressure release naturally. Pull meat from the broth and shred with 2 forks. If any pieces are too tough to shred, return them to the pressure cooker for another 3-4 minutes.
- Add some of the broth back to the meat to keep it moist. Squeeze out the garlic cloves and mash them with a knife before stirring in to the meat.
- Serve on rolls. Leftovers freeze beautifully. Any remaining broth can be used to make gravy or soup.
