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Beef Pot Roast

Tips: - The book notes that tomatoes may be added if desired. You'll need: Large oven-safe pot or Dutch oven, with a lid. Adapted for home kitchens by Halite from the U.S. War Department's Army Recipes (TM 10-412, 1946): scaled down from 100 servings, 1946 ingredients swapped for ones sold today, and the method rewritten. The recipe as printed is the Original version in this recipe's history.

6 servingsBy U.S. War Department on Army Recipes, TM 10-412 (1946)

Ingredients

  • 1.1kg (2 ½ lb) Beef, boneless
  • 118ml (½ cup) Vegetable oil, or shortening, lard, or meat drippings
  • 136g (¾ cup) Onions
  • 82g (3 oz) Celery
  • 218g (1 ⅔ cups) Carrots
  • Salt, as needed
  • Pepper, as needed
  • 227ml (1 cup) Beef stock

Instructions

  1. 1

    Rub the beef with the salt and pepper.

    • Salt
    • Pepper
  2. 2

    Sear the beef on all sides in the pot, using the vegetable oil to brown it.

    • 118ml (½ cup) Vegetable oil
  3. 3

    Once the beef is well browned, add the beef stock and cover the pot.

    • 227ml (1 cup) Beef stock
  4. 4

    Braise in a 350°F oven for about 2 to 2½ hours, or until fork-tender, keeping the pot covered.

  5. 5

    During the last hour of cooking, stir in the onions, celery, and carrots.

    • 136g (¾ cup) Onions
    • 82g (3 oz) Celery
    • 218g (1 ⅔ cups) Carrots

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Beef Pot Roast

100 servingsBy U.S. War Department on Army Recipes, TM 10-412 (1946)

Ingredients

  • 42 pounds Beef (boneless)
  • 4 pounds (2 No. 56 dippers) Fat or drippings
  • 5 pounds (5 No. 56 dippers) Onions
  • 3 pounds (3 No. 56 dippers) Celery
  • 8 pounds (7 No. 56 dippers) Carrots
  • As needed Salt
  • As needed Pepper
  • 4 quarts (4 No. 56 dippers) Beef stock

Instructions

  1. 1

    Cut meat into 6- to 8-pound pieces.

  2. 2

    Rub with salt and pepper.

  3. 3

    Sear in bakepan, using fat to brown.

  4. 4

    When well browned on all sides add the stock and cover pan.

  5. 5

    Braise in 350° F. oven for approximately 3 hours. Keep pan covered.

  6. 6

    During last hour of cooking add all the chopped vegetables. Note. Tomatoes may be added if desired.

Typed from the page scan above. If the two disagree, go with the scan.

What we changed

  • Cut from the book’s 100 servings to 6 servings.
  • Swapped “Fat or drippings” for “Vegetable oil” (or shortening, lard, or meat drippings).
  • Scaled 8 amounts and rounded each to a kitchen measure, like ½ cup.
  • Tidied 1 ingredient name.
  • AI rewrote the method for a home kitchen. Tap As printed at the top to compare.

Taken from the log we keep of every edit to this recipe. We left out the line-by-line unit conversions.

Where this recipe comes from

It’s from Army Recipes (TM 10-412), the cookbook the U.S. War Department printed in 1946 for Army mess halls. As a U.S. government work, it’s in the public domain.

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