One of my favorite things to cook in a dutch oven is a good roast (or two). My family loves it – especially my wife because she doesn’t have to cook!

Ingredients:
~5lb Beef rump roast or Pork shoulder roast (or both)
Spices (including salt, pepper, garlic salt, Montreal Steak Seasoning, Lowry’s Seasoning Salt, Dried Red Pepper Flakes, and Onion Salt
Fresh Garlic – or if you are in a pinch, bottled crushed garlic
Vegetable Oil
Dried Onion soup

Directions
I start the night before by creating my own rub. I sprinkle the roast lightly with salt, lots of pepper, garlic salt, onion salt, Lowrys Seasoning Salt, and Montreal Steak Seasoning. I also sprinkle just a bit of dried red pepper flakes on the top, bottom, sides, and end of the roast. I place the roast in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator overnight to allow the seasoning to penetrate the roast

In the morning, I take my dutch oven and heat it up on my stove top. A 12 inch dutch oven fits perfectly over my large burner. I add a little vegetable oil to the pot, and heat the burner to its hottest setting. I sear the roast on all sides to keep the juices inside the meat.

I place the seared meat in the dutch oven and add some water to the pot (so there is about 1 inch of water on the bottom). I add 2 packages of dried onion soup mix and a small teaspoon of garlic to the water, mix it up and you are good to go.

I use my oven as the heat source for my dutch oven. This recipe works fine with other heat sources as well. I have used this same recipe with firewood and charcoal. However, on Sundays, it is easier just to use the kitchen stove.

I heat the oven up to 275 and take one of the racks out of the oven so the legs of the dutch oven don’t catch on the bottom rack when I lift it out (it is pretty heavy) and cook it for 4-5 hours.

After about 2 hours, I check it and turn the meat to give it a chance to soak up some of that flavored water on the bottom of the pot. At this point, you can add potatoes, carrots, onions, etc. if you would like. My families favorite is to combine it with homemade mashed potatoes. Another excellent side dish is Yorkshire pudding a recipe that I learned how to make from my mom.

The dutch oven will be heavy and very hot when it comes out of the oven. Make sure that you have a good place already set up to put the hot dutch oven when you are ready to lift. You can use a cookie sheet on top of a wood cutting board, hot pads, or several other solutions. Just don’t burn your countertop with the legs of the dutch oven because you need to set it down because it is so heavy. I actually prefer to use a legless dutch oven when I cook inside to make it a little easier to manage when the pot is hot. I set it on top of a thick hot pad and things are fine.

You can take the leftover liquid from the pot and make gravy – it is pretty potent with all the spices, so you might add a little water…

My family loves it! I sometimes will put a dutch oven roast in the oven and then take my family to church. When we get home, the smell of dutch oven roast permeates throughout the whole house. Everyone can’t wait to eat.

Let me know your favorite dutch oven recipes