I was cooking a roast for a friend. He called and said he was running late. Knowing he liked his meat more well done than I do (actually, most people do – I like it extremely rare ), I left the roast in the turned off oven.

Big mistake! Not only was it well done (which was ok for the fresh serving), the leftovers were extremely dry, and to my taste inedible. The solution?
I cooked it more. Seriously – I threw it into a dutch oven with some (a few cups of) beef stock and a splash of red wine (you want something acidic), and let it cook, tightly covered in a slow oven for a couple more hours.

Beef is funny that way – up to a point, it remains moist and tender. Then if you cook beyond that, it gets tough and chewy. Cook it some more, and it becomes fork tender… There’s science behind this – I think something to do with the collagen breaking down? Whatever the reason, it works.

This was a nice cut of meat and not inexpensive – this technique saved the day – or should I say: the days after