Pot Roast Pot roasting differs from slow roasting in that it usually includes an assortment of vegetables along with a little liquid and a covered dish. Best for cuts of meat that don't roast well nor are particularly well suited to slow roasting; leaner tougher joints with less fat to keep them moist. To pot roast, the oven should be at about 160C/Gas 3. A 1kg joint will take about 2 hours. The joy of pot roasting apart from the obvious economy factor is that it takes quite a lot to get it wrong. By all means, pay attention to what you are doing but feel free to be a bit laidback about it; even nonchalant. Sear the meat all over by giving it a few turns in a hot frying pan with a little added oil if necessary. Add a layer of chopped root vegetables with a bay leaf sprig of herbs and a whole clove of garlic or two to the base of a heavy casserole dish or (at a push) roasting tin. The trick here is to choose a dish that fits the meat almost exactly; too big and you will lose the whole 'steaming in its own little oven' effect that is so crucial to the task. Put the joint over the vegetable season with salt and pepper add a slick of oil and a few spoons of water. Cover with a lid or foil and send it into the oven for a couple of hours. You know the meat is done when it pulls away in your fingers. Serve it carved in hefty chunks with the vegetables; juices spooned over are obligatory. And bread; that's fairly obligatory too for the all-important mopping up. Braise Braising is often fraught with confusion and therefore avoided altogether. Once understood the art of braising is an important addition to your growing arsenal of skills. The slowest method by far the liquid comes about halfway up the dish; which must be tightly covered. With these joints of beef braising is almost the same as pot roasting but the temperature is 10C lower and the liquid comes halfway up the pot. With a braise, the liquid is not served with the dish unless it has been thickened for a sauce. Essentially the differences lie in the recipe but they are minute differences worth knowing all the same. If you want to choose an easy dish that you can pretty much ad lib then go for pot roast; an entirely more casual thing. Stew A stew and a casserole are interchangeable; stew being a method and casserole being a pot. For clarity's sake, we can say a stew gets done on the stovetop but a casserole is cooked in the oven. Stewing almost invariably uses small pieces of meat rather than a joint or large cuts. The liquid covers the ingredients and is served as part of the dish. Most stews have browned ingredients but there are certain instances when they are not. Browning does not seal in flavour juices nutrients or any other such nonsense. It simply adds lots of lovely flavour and a good colour for the final dish. Although you can follow the trend for lean meat the best stews have enough fat and connective tissue to keep them moist and add flavour. Allow at least 90 minutes for a good stew; low and slow is the way to go. Longer is better so that the liquid can reduce down to something that coats the back of a spoon. And lovingly swathes mashed potato. Essentially other than tenderising the meat it is about reducing the whole lot down until it makes you go weak at the knees.