Growing up in Oklahoma, the Sunday pot roast was a thing of legend. Fall-apart tender and heaped with mashed potatoes, green beans, and my personal favorite, dry cottage cheese, the dish still creates all kinds of warm fuzzies when served.

The problem is, I never learned how to make it.

My mother was young when she married, and she argued my poor father shouldn’t have to live through two women learning to cook, so my kitchen responsibilities were limited to eating and getting out. I don’t even remember much in the way of post-dinner dish duty.

Once on my own, my first cooking expeditions were back-of-the-box recipes. (Oh yes, I made a mean Bisquick cheeseurger pie.) Later follies included things children would eat. There was a constant battle to expand their little pallets as well as provide the required nutrients. I must have done that well, because they will all three eat almost anything these days.

The last few years have been spent exploring some classics and understanding why things turn out like they do. I still measure for baking, or like tonight when I set the water to boil for the polenta, but it’s rare that I measure at all. Instead I focus more on proportions and how flavors blend.

Tonight I made a 3-1/2 pound arm roast (thanks Ney’s!) in more of a classic boeuf bourguignon tradition. There are some steps to this one you shouldn’t short cut.

1) Dredge and brown the beef.

Many moms I knew floured their pot roast, but mine never did. While still very yummy, the gravy never thickened. You see, flouring the beef before browning means all that thickening agent is ready for the next step. (It’s much like the Asia beef using a cornstarch and soy sauce marinade from this meal.)

2) ONIONS! I used one fairly large one – still left from my farmer’s market stash of late October – but two small to medium sized onions will work as well. A carrot, finely diced, is another important ingredient for flavor and color.

3) Wine. I’ve not been one to cook with wine, but I’m learning. Tonight’s was a cup and a half or so of last night’s left over Pinot. It’s tough to duplicate the particular flavor of the gravy that’s made without this ingredient. My other secret weapon? A can of Campbell’s beef consumme. I don’t go all food snob over much, but there is absolutely no way for me to duplicate what a can of this liquid gold does for my soups and stews. Ditto a pot roast.

I didn’t exactly follow the boeuf recipe linked above. There was no bacon in my evening. (Bacon in general is a revered household food, but there was none in the fridge, and it was too blasted cold to find any.) There was no tomato paste in my sauce. (In Oklahoma, tomato and beef don’t tango much unless it’s barbecue.) Instead of a bay leaf I threw in some of my stashed rosemary. Chopped onion instead of pearl onions. No mushrooms.

Everything was done in an oval Le Creuset French oven. First the meat was browned and removed, the veges were sauteed, the meat replaced, and the liquids added. Then it went into the oven at 340 degrees for a couple of hours, and down to 300 for the last 40 minutes or so.

If you aren’t one to slow-cook beef, give this a try. It works with short ribs, stew meat, or a roast. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

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Tonight instead of mashed or roasted potatoes, we had polenta with goat cheese. Now polenta is a fancy (Italian) way of saying cornmeal mush. Combine a ratio of 1/4 cup ground corn, white or yellow, slowly into 1 cup boiling water. Add a little butter, and if you’re feeling adventurous, a smear goat cheese or a handful of grated cheese.

It’s good.

Served under the beef with some extra carrots and a generous scoop of the pan gravy, you’re eating as well as any restaurant could provide.

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The spouse joked tonight before we dug in that I should take a picture. Maybe I should have. But since I didn’t, you’ll just have to trust me and give it all a try on your own.