If You Want Easily Sliceable Pot Roast, Start With This Cut Of Beef

If you ask most cooks which cut of beef to use in a pot roast, one of the first you'll probably hear about is the beef bottom round — it's Julia Child's favorite beef for pot roast. It's a solid choice, but there's another cut that's not talked about as much for pot roast that still deserves to be mentioned. If you'd like to serve sliced pot roast rather than shredded, use beef eye of round.

The beef eye of round has a reputation as a "bad" beef cut, but it's a delicious bargain that can be served in a number of ways if you're adept at cooking it, including in a pot roast. This cut is lean, which is why it seems counterintuitive to use it to cook a tender roast. Lean meat has a reputation for being less flavorful, and can become tough and dry when improperly prepared — but the leanness of the meat is exactly why it's easy to serve it in slices. Fatty cuts tend to shred, as the meat's collagen turns into gelatin and the fat melts. Eye of round, on the other hand, is easier to slice. If you cook it low and slow in a liquid it will come out tender, yet still sliceable.

If you'd like to make a sliceable pot roast with beef eye of round, the best way to cook it is to braise the meat in a large pot filled with liquid. Begin by browning the meat, which for this cut is usually sold as a 2 to 4 pound chunk. Then, remove the meat and sauté some aromatics such as onion and carrot, and then deglaze the pan to harvest the extra bits of flavor. Set the meat back into the pot and add the cooking liquid.

Many cooks will use broth, but if you'd like to mix it up, make a unique pot roast with beer, or a 1:1 ratio of beer to broth instead. This will help tenderize the meat and enhance the depth and richness of the roast's flavor. Braise the roast on a low temperature for about three hours, until it reaches an internal temperature about 145 degrees Fahrenheit for medium doneness. You can make gravy with the drippings to drizzle on top, if you desire.

If cost is a factor in your choice of beef cut to make pot roast, lean cuts like eye of round are often less expensive, as the fatty cuts like chuck roast can cost more. Some stores don't always have all of these cuts available simultaneously, but at Meijer, chuck roast costs about $10/pound (though prices may vary), while eye of round is priced at about $7/pound. For slicing, the beef eye of round will serve you well, and it's a budget-friendly option for making flavorful roast.