Ingredients:

3 to 4 pound Chuck Roast

3 tablespoons Kosher or Sea Salt

3 tablespoons coarse Black Pepper

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1 cup Oil

1 to 2 Onions diced

1 or 2 cloves Garlic

1 Bay Leaf

1 can Beef Broth

2 cans beefy onion soup, golden mushroom soup or other type of clear broth type soup. Can also use vegetable broth.

Extra water as needed to fill crockpot.

Instructions:

Begin heating chosen broths, water or canned stock in pot on stove. Bring to a simmer and keep warm.

Lightly grease the insides of crockpot or slow cooker. Begin heating it.

Wash chuck roast. Rub roast with salt and pepper.

Fully coat the roast with flour, using your hands and turning to fully coat. Get flour into every part of the roast.

Pour oil into a large skillet. Place over medium heat.

When oil is hot and shimmering, carefully place floured roast into hot skillet.

Add diced onions around roast. Brown all sides of roast with onions, turning as needed. Transfer browned roast and onions to the heated crockpot or slow cooker.

Add the whole garlic cloves and bay leaf to the crockpot. Pour in the warmed broths. Add more broth or water to fill crockpot up to 2 inches from the top.

Cover and cook on high simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, then reduce heat to low and slow cook for 5 to 8 hours or until roast is tender. Liquids need to come up to 2 inches from the top of the crockpot. Don't overfill, or the liquids will spill over when simmering. Broth will reduce as this cooks.

Once roast is tender, carefully drain off remaining broth. This rich broth can be thickened with cornstarch to make a thin gravy to accompany the roast, or left as an au jus. Transfer roast to a baking pan.

**Optional: Heat oven to 450°f. When oven is at 450°f, put roast in oven and allow it to become slightly toasty.**

Allow roast to rest about 20 to 30 minutes before slicing. This allows the roast to reabsorb it's juices.

To make a gravy from the broth:

Pour all the broth from the crockpot into a sauce pot. Dip out 1/4 cup of the broth into a heat safe bowl. Add 1 cup cold water to that, then add 2 to 3 tablespoons cornstarch in the tepid broth. Mix until cornstarch is fully dissolved and there are no lumps.

Pour a thin stream of the cornstarch/broth mixture into the pot of simmering broth while continuously stirring. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring constantly. Taste for salt and add more if needed.

Once thickened, pour this gravy over the roast, or put the gravy in a gravy boat and serve alongside the roast. Make the gravy as thick or thin as you prefer.

Slice roast cross-grain (against the grain) to ensure tender slices. If sliced with the grain, the slices will be tough.

Vegetables can be omitted entirely if a meat dish is all you want. However potatoes, carrots and celery can be slow cooked along with the chuck roast.

An Alternate Gravy:

Use 2 cans Golden Onion or Golden Mushroom Soup and 1 jar of turkey gravy to cook the chuck roast, in place of the listed broths/soups above. Add the needed water to fill the crockpot as described above.

I've found that the turkey gravy gives the roast an amazing flavor that nothing else will, and doesn't necessarily require making a cornstarch-thickened gravy, unless you'd like a thicker gravy.

Less Rich Version:

Use only salted water to cook the chuck roast in the crockpot, no soups or broths. As it's a chuck roast, it has wonderful flavors on it's own.