French Dip

Wow! I can't believe it's been 2 months since I've posted a recipe. If you're a fan on Facebook, you'll know that I have 2-3 recipes to catch up on, but we've mostly been re-making some early favorites. Lots of Sweet and Sour Catalina Chicken being made in this house. :-)


But today, I share with you my first attempt at cooking a roast in the crock pot which was for french dip and was shared with me by my friend, Jessica.




Here is the recipe as it was shared with me:

3 lb. rump roast
½ cup soy sauce
1 beef bouillon cube
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. dried thyme
3-4 peppercorns
1 tsp garlic powder



Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Add water to almost cover meat. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours. Shred beef and serve on rolls with provolone cheese.

I followed the recipe pretty strictly - except that my roast was only 2.5 pounds. Because this called for cooking 10-12 hours, I actually cooked this over night. So...in the crock pot it went at 11:30pm Monday night. (Yes, I forgot to put in the liner. I'm so spoiled by those now!)



It smelled so good cooking all night, although admittedly it's a little odd smelling beef all night and waking up to that in the morning. Just not a smell your brain is used to processing at those times of day.



By 9am in the morning, the meat was falling apart. I'm lame...from this point forward I somehow forgot to take any pictures! :-( But it was...just shredding itself at the mere touch of a fork. It wasn't as tender as I had thought it would be though - most probably the cut of beef I had. Next time, I'll get a premium cut instead of just whatever the grocery store had at the time I went there. Whole Foods - you're where I'm headed next!



I cut it back to low for a couple more hours just to let the flavors keep seeping in to the meat. And then by 11am, just put the crock pot on warm to keep it..well warm...until dinner. We shredded enough meat to make sandwiches on the softest hamburger buns.



(Update 09/16: I had some leftovers for lunch yesterday so was able to get a picture. :-)

Although the meat had stewed all day, it did seem a little dry (again, probably my choice of meat). But...this is french dip! So we dipped it in the sauce and it was SO GOOD! My husband's only complaint was that it was a little salty so I think next time I would add more water to dilute the soy sauce a bit more. I'd even be open to putting more peppercorns in it to give it a stronger pepper flavor. We served it with some fresh corn on the cob and enjoyed a delicious meal!



Here's how good it is...my husband who does not usually take leftovers to work for lunch, has packed some up and is taking it with him this morning! Success!!



Thanks, Jessica, for sharing this recipe! Anyone else have a recipe to share? Post it here or on my Facebook page.