There is a company in Merigold, Mississippi called McCarty Pottery. It has been around since the 1950’s founded by Lee and Pup McCarty, and is a treasured Made in America product. What makes it unique is their signature squiggly line on each of their pottery designs that depicts the Mississippi River.
Recently my daughter Kara, who lives in Mississippi with her family, is an avid collector of the pottery, decided to drive a couple hours to Merigold for the estate sale of Lee and Pup McCarty. While many people who waited in the long line to attend were interested in their antiques and art work, Kara headed straight to the kitchen. For a food person (like her mom and sister) she hit the jackpot. She found recipe boxes, scrapbooks, and cookbooks all over the kitchen. Kara called me from the car on her ride home giddy with excitement.
When Kara, her husband, and four children drove up for a visit a couple weeks ago, she brought along the scrapbooks and recipe boxes. I couldn’t wait to go through all the family recipes and clippings and did just that for several days. I found so many recipes to try but settled in on one. With our very cold weather and lots of snow we have here at this time, a pot roast is always the perfect meal.
There was one very yellowed and wrinkled recipe for “Bavarian Pot Roast with Potato Pancakes.” I love finding recipes for pot roast like I do for yeast breads; can’t get enough of either. This pot roast has a rub of ginger, allspice, and cloves, plus a sauce including red wine, apple cider vinegar, and tomato sauce. I could hardly pass it up, especially with its added bonus of crispy potato pancakes to be served alongside.
See the squiggly signature of the Mississippi River? You know that is McCarty Pottery!
- For Pot Roast:
- 3 pounds beef chuck roast
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1-1/2 teaspoons table salt
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 Tablespoons canola oil
- 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
- ¾ cup water
- ½ cup dry red wine
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 medium onions, sliced
- 2 Tablespoons granulated white sugar
- 1 bay leaf
- For Potato Pancakes:
- 2 cups cooked mashed potatoes
- 4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
- ½ cup minced onion
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley
- Butter or oil for frying
- For Pot Roast:
- Mix the flour with all the dry seasonings and rub all over the roast. Heat the oil and brown the roast well on both sides. Drain off any excess fat and add all other roast ingredients. Cover and simmer for 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender. Remove roast to a platter. Add some flour to the pan to thicken it for gravy. (I started with a few Tablespoons and added more until I liked the consistency.) Pour some over meat and pass extra in a gravy boat.
- For Potato Pancakes:
- Mix all the pancake ingredients together until well-blended. Form into desired size rounds and flatten slightly. Heat butter or oil and fry until crispy on both sides, turning once.
- To Serve: The recipe says this meal is good served with cooked wedges of red cabbage, or cooked carrots.
Serve with some of the red wine in a beautiful McCarty cup!
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