Roast Beef - Not Great

Again, I haven't used the pressure cooker nearly as often as I had planned.  I blame a lack of recipes that aren't for soup or stew.  I also have to acknowledge the fact that I'm pretty picky so there are fewer recipes that sound good to me than would sound good to Tim.  He likes everything!  

Today is Easter and I decided to do a small roast since it's just Tim and I.  I've done my roasts in my crock pot forever.  I start them one night, cook them low and slow for 20-22 hrs.  They always turn out awesome!!  Juicy and fall apart tender with a delicious au jus.  It's great but if I don't remember to get it started the night before it isn't as good.  Starting it in the morning just isn't the same.  

Soooo anyway, I tried it in the pressure cooker today.  The Beef setting on the cooker is supposed to be for cuts up to 3lbs and runs for 26 min.  The recipe said to cook the roast for 45 min total.  This is kind of annoying to me because I feel like the Beef setting should automatically set for a longer time. 

Pressure Cooker Roast Beef

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 (3 pound) boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 pinch seasoned salt, or to taste
• 1 pinch onion powder, or to taste

• 1 (14.5 ounce) can beef broth
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 large onion, cut into 4 wedges
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
• 4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces

Directions

1. Heat oil in a pressure cooker over medium-high heat. Brown roast on all sides in the hot oil; season with pepper, seasoned salt, and onion powder.
2. Pour in beef broth and Worcestershire sauce, add the quartered onion, and seal the lid. Bring the cooker up to full pressure. Reduce heat to low, maintaining full pressure, and cook for 30 minutes.
3. Use the quick-release method to lower the pressure. Mix in carrots and potatoes, seal the lid again, and return the pressure cooker to the heat. Bring the cooker up to full pressure and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Use the quick-release method again and transfer the roast and vegetables to a serving dish.

The above is the recipe I used. I did not cook the potatoes and carrots with the roast. I chose to boil my potatoes for mashed potatoes. So I just set the cooker for 45 min right from the start. It didn't come out great. It was dry and somewhat tough. Not shoe leather tough but certainly not fall apart tender either. I plan on trying it one more time and setting it to run for 90 min to see how it turns out. If it's still not tender I'll go back to my crock pot.

I totally forgot to take pictures and now we've eaten most of it. Oops!

Oh btw, the gravy turned out delicious! I strained the broth, put it in a small pan with 3 Tbls of flour and heated it on the stove top. It was really good over my mashed taters.