If You're Not Making Pot Roast With This Cut Of Meat, You're Missing Out

A pot roast is a classic easy dish that's perfect for a low-effort dinner at home. All it takes is a slow cooker, your favorite veggies, and the right cut of beef to make a hearty meal fit for the whole family. Traditionally, the most common cut of beef is chuck roast, but it's not the only one that can become part of this mouthwatering meal. If you've only ever used chuck, you're definitely missing out on a top-tier roast. So, why not search out brisket?

Brisket is an amazing cut of meat that's perfect for your next pot roast. Ordinarily, you might think to smoke a brisket, but slow cooking can make it just as tasty, if not more so. After all, low and slow is the name of the game when it comes to brisket, which is exactly what a slow cooker does. Combine it with classic pot roast veggies like potatoes and carrots, and you can end up with a savory pot roast that's full of flavor and cut-it-with-a-spoon tender.

If you do decide to make a brisket pot roast, remember that each cut of meat is unique, and therefore needs to be cooked differently. In this case, since brisket is tougher than chuck roast, it needs to cook for a bit longer to unlock all that delicious flavor and tender texture. It's well worth it, though, so don't be afraid to give a brisket pot roast a try.

Slow cooking is best suited to cuts that get much movement while the animal is still alive. These cuts have little fat and much connective tissue. Chuck roast comes from the shoulder area, which sees frequent use. When you slow cook it, all that connective tissue melts into gelatin that makes the meat nice and tender. Meanwhile, it turns the braise into a sauce that gives the meal additional flavor and moisture.

Brisket comes from the chest muscle of a cow, another area that flexes and moves a lot over the course of the animal's life, even more so than chuck roast. While we're at it, there are actually two types of brisket: flat cut and point cut. Flat cut is evenly thick and rectangular, while point cut has a rounded point on one end and isn't as even. Point cut is better for pot roast since it contains more marbling. They both come from the chest, but the point cut is from the portion attached to the ribcage, whereas the flat part comes from the breastbone. Admittedly, brisket is currently more expensive than chuck roast, but a bit of extra spending can bring serious extra flavor (and the cost hardly compares to far more expensive cuts of beef).