I admit it: I was a fool to bypass this Mississippi Pot Roast recipe. I will finally add my name to the list of folks who voted Mississippi Pot Roast the best pot roast in the history of pot roasts.
The only remaining question is, why in the heck did I wait so long? I'll tell you why. I was afraid of the pepperoncini peppers. I do not enjoy hot, spicy food.
What may be pleasing warmth to others is fire to my delicate little palate, so for years, I short-changed myself and my family due to an irrational idea that these pretty peppers are HOT, and I MISSED OUT! I jokingly say I was "born to be wild mild."
I will elaborate briefly on how silly I was about pepperoncini peppers. Interestingly, there is a "hotness scale" for measuring the relative heat of peppers called the Scoville Scale. If you want to know more, here's a helpful article.
A pepperoncini pepper measures 100 to 500 on the Scoville heat units chart, just slightly above a plain green bell pepper, which measures zero. Jalapenos are up to forty times hotter in comparison; a jalapeño measures between 2,500 and 8,000 Scoville heat units.
Don't be a Betty! Run and get everything you need to make this amazing recipe! You only need a few simple ingredients. Look in your cupboard first; there's room to substitute and still get the same mouth-watering results.
Watch for sales and "manager's specials" in the meat case. Often, you can find a more favorable price. For example, the chuck roast was about $7.99 a pound the day I made this Mississippi Pot Roast recipe, but I found a manager's special on sirloin tip roast that saved me almost half, and it worked beautifully!! You can also substitute arm roast or rump roast.
You will need a dry Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix, real butter, a packet of brown gravy mix, and a jar of pepperoncini peppers. You can substitute an au jus mix or beefy onion soup mix for the brown gravy and banana peppers for the pepperoncini.
You can even leave the peppers out, but don't. The salty, vinegary flavor from the pepperoncini peppers adds a bright flavor to the meat, and their acidity breaks down some of the fattiness. The very peppers I feared gave this Mississippi pot roast the extraordinary taste I had missed out on for all those years!!
Good cooks always brown meat before slow cooking. The extra step creates the Maillard Reaction that keeps the juices locked inside the meat and makes the jus much prettier and more appetizing with the deep, rich brown color that develops.
You can do this in a hot skillet or Dutch oven, but I prefer the lazy way of doing it in a pan in a very hot oven, about 475 degrees. It will take about fifteen to twenty minutes.
When the meat is browned, move it into the slow cooker and pour in any juices that were released. I used the juice from the peppers to deglaze the roasting pan to get every bit of browned goodness!
Put the packets of dry ingredients on top of the meat, then cut the butter into pats and dot them evenly over the top. Add the peppers.
Put the lid on and cook the roast on low for about eight hours. Resist the urge to peek often to retain as much moisture as possible.
The butter and liquid released from the peppers will tenderize the meat and create the most wonderful jus. When you are ready to serve it, shred the meat with all those yummy juices and serve over a mound of mashed potatoes. You will love this Mississippi Pot Roast recipe! I found this roast refrigerated and reheated deliciously.
Beef roast cooked low and slow in your Crockpot with four ingredients makes the most tender, juicy, and flavorful pot roast you've ever eaten.
*You can substitute sirloin tip or arm roast for the chuck roast.
**You can use beefy onion soup or brown gravy mix instead of Au Jus mix.
***You can use banana peppers in place of pepperoncini.
We recommend you do not use margarine in place of butter
We always enjoy tender beef for dinner. Here are a couple of our favorite beef recipes: Instant Pot Corned Beef and Oven-Baked Hamburger Steak.
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