The Border of Mississippi and Mexico

One of my favorite kinds of recipes to try is the kind where you learn not just a new dish but a new cooking technique, one that can transfer to lots of other dishes and emboldens you to try and invent new recipes. Believe it or not, that is my reaction to the quasi-viral article on Mississippi Roast.

First things first. Forget that silly New York Times version of the recipe -- unless you are such a snob that you are unwilling to try the ordinary version and need the Times to push you over the edge. I used this version from "The Supermom Chef," whose ingredients are, I kid you not, one chuck roast, two flavoring packets (Ranch dressing mix, Aus Jus mix), a stick of butter and a bunch of pepperocinis from a jar.  You put them all in your slowcooker on low for a long time and then eat them.

The results are delicious.  That is not to say that the recipe cannot be improved -- it has way way too much butter for my taste, and the Aus Jus is a little salty even for me. (Ranch dressing mix, though, turns out to be a pretty neat spice hack.)

But, really, the most interesting thing to me was the basic technique. It turns out that you can cook a giant hunk of meat in your crockpot without adding any liquid at all.  This is the real secret genius at the heart of the Mississippi Roast. Cheap, fatty roasts like chuck roast and probably various kinds of pork slowly melt down into pieces if you just cook them slow and low for a long long time, which is your crockpot's specialty. I have been tinkering with this and suspect you can eliminate the butter entirely, though I haven't gone that far.

So here was last night's attempt to innovate on the basic concept and make a simple shredded beef for tacos:

• One chuck roast
• Two tablespoons butter (I'll try omitting this next time)
• Two tablespoons Penzey's "Adobo" seasoning (mostly garlic and onion powder with a little bit of black pepper, cumin, and oregano)
• A bunch of pickled jalapeno slices from a jar

• Cook for ten hours in your slow-cooker on low
• Splash in some of the jalapeno pickle juice at the end for a bit of acid to balance the richness

This basically falls apart and goes right into tortillas, dressed in my case with some pickled radishes, a bit of cheddar cheese, and some chipotle hot sauce, but you can do whatever.  Yes, there is still lots of room for improvement (I will probably add ancho chili next time, and omit all the butter), plus add some salt. But this discovery may have saved me from a lifetime of overly watery stews.

If you own a crockpot and are not a vegetarian (do vegetarians use crockpots?) you should be trying to put in a giant hunk of meat.