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TEST KITCHEN:
By DANIELLE CENTONI
Q: What cut of meat is best for pot roast? I've seen recipes that use top round, bottom round and chuck, but I don't know the difference between these cuts.
A:
Those are all tough cuts of meat, which makes them all a good choice for pot roast. The whole point of pot roast is to take a tough cut of meat and braise it slowly in liquid until its fibers relax into tenderness and its ribbons of collagen and fat melt into the meat and make it succulent and moist.
Still, there are differences between the cuts. Top round and bottom round cuts come from the back end of the cow. The top round is very lean but tends to be more tender than the bottom round, and is often cut into steaks (which are sometimes labeled "London broil").
The bottom round, which is divided into a bottom round roast and a rump roast, is a bit tougher. Though they're labeled "roasts" they're really best when cooked with moist heat, as in braises and stews, because the cooking liquid keeps them from drying out before they get tender. They're also good choices for cutting up into stew meat because they're not heavily riddled with collagen and connective tissue. These things can make it hard to cut meat into uniform pieces, and they also take longer to break down.
Chuck roast comes from the other end of the cow -- the area around the shoulder and neck. This area also yields several tough cuts, but the cuts tend to have more fat, collagen and connective tissue, which make them the best choice for braising whole, as in pot roast (sometimes cuts from this area are actually labeled "pot roast"). As the fat and tissues break down during cooking, they give the meat a silky texture that's more noticeable in a roast than it would be if the meat was cut up for stew.
To be honest, butchery terms are very confusing for almost everyone, partly because each region, and each butcher, can have different ways of doing things. For example, cuts of meat common on the East Coast can be either nonexistent on the West Coast or given a very different name, causing no end of confusion. When in doubt, ask the staff behind the meat counter for help.
Danielle Centoni
is a Portland-based freelance writer.
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