The Comfort Food Diaries by Emily Nunn

Author:Emily Nunn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books

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Serves 4

Use a cast-iron pot with a lid because it’s cooked on top of the stove and then in the oven.

Corn oil, about 3 tablespoons (or enough to thinly coat the bottom of the pot), plus more for the meat

1 (2-pound) chuck roast or sirloin

Salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges

2 to 3 plugs of butter (where I come from a plug is about a tablespoon; the word implies that measuring isn’t important)

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 big stirring spoons bacon grease (meaning the big spoon you’re stirring with; use about ½ cup)

1 cup hot water

4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

8 to 10 small new potatoes, scrubbed

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Heat the cast-iron pot on high, add the corn oil, and let it get hot enough to make a droplet of water sizzle but not so hot that it smokes.

2. Rub the meat with oil, then generously sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Lay the roast down in the pot and do not move it for 4 to 5 minutes. Do not turn the roast until it releases from the pot. It should be the color of black coffee and dry—no juiciness. (“Now that’s what I want it to look like,” Aunt Mariah says. She scrubs the small potatoes while I peel and chop the carrots.)

4. After it’s dark brown on all sides, remove the meat, scrape up the bits from the pot for a minute, and don’t really pay any attention to it.

5. Turn down the heat just a little bit, and throw in the onion. After it has cooked for a minute, throw in the butter. (Aunt Mariah says the butter is really for the color as much as it is for the taste. And sure enough, the onion starts to get darker around the edges than it would have with just the oil. It sizzles a while longer.)

6. After 6 to 7 minutes, once the onion is brown around the edges and is beautiful, remove it to a bowl and make the gravy.

7. Add ½ cup of the flour to the grease in the pot, and stir on medium-high heat to make a paste for the roux.

8. Plop in the bacon grease. (“I just did that because it was close,” Aunt Mariah says sheepishly. “You can use butter.”)

9. Stir in another ½ cup of the flour, sprinkling it over the top and into the mixture, and continue to stir over medium-high heat. (“See, it’s starting to brown,” she says.)

10. Drizzle in 1 cup or so of the hot water. (Steam rises, and it smells so good I can’t wait to try it. The gravy is the color of café au lait, which worries Aunt Mariah, but this smell, the steam, and the entire activity cheers me immensely. “I didn’t let it get brown enough,” she says. “So here’s a secret.” She pulls out a bottle of Kitchen Bouquet and drizzles some in. This is not for “flay-vah.

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