Apple Family Farms, McCordsville

This weekend, on a visit to the Traders Point  Winter Farmers Market, I picked up a chuck roast from Apple Family Farms in McCordsville, Indiana. Their beef comes from grass-fed Scottish Highland Cattle and they do not use any antibiotics or growth hormones. Lisa, my wife, calls these "happy cows." The Apple Family also dry-ages their beef a minimum of 21 days. I prepared the roast this evening by altering my Stout-Braised Pot Roast recipe available here. I followed this recipe but made two additions. First, after searing the roast, I rubbed it with a whole-grain mustard. The second change was the addition of about a third of a cup of raisins in with the vegetables.

This turned out well. The roast was tender, flavorful, and did not reduce much in size unlike most traditional beef. The additions of mustard and raisins made some subtle differences to the dish. As you would expect, the raisins gave it a little sweetness and the mustard brightened things up a bit.