It's just a taste preference. I don't use celery with a pot roast. But I do use celery in vegetable beef soup or beef stew.

Suggestions? If you don't like celery with a roast don't use it. With regard to people "don't get it?" Hmmm ... people? Or is it just your husband? :-)

Just for fun why don't you cut the roast in half and bake two roasts. In one pan add the usual ingredients you use. In the other pan the usual ingredients plus the celery.

Report back on the outcome! Welcome to the CF. I don't recall seeing you here before - or maybe I just missed you.

Teresa in sub-zero Minnesota

I use celery with roast sometimes. My mom always did so I guess it's what I'm used to. Like teresa said, maybe try it and see if you like it. I don't find it to be sweet, onions can be sweet and carrots but not celery.

I often use celery when making roast beef (onion, carrots, potatoes and occasionally I'll add wedges of cabbage and fresh green beans as well - a good time to clear out the crisper drawer). I guess I like to do one-pan cooking and this combination is what is often called Yankee or New England Pot Roast. Was your hubby raised in the northeast where this type of recipe would have been common?

I also add celery to my Sloppy Joe recipe, another beef recipe.

-Grainlady

I haven't posted here before. I learned to cook from my mom, Chicago area. She had a Betty Crocker cookbook, and I see her recipe there. Standard onions, potatoes, carrots. She and her mom made beef soup with all kinds of veggies, usually with tomatoe broth, I made mine with beef gravy, a stew, and my mom loved it. Granny added cabbage and white beans to hers, it was wonderful. I tried it once, it turned out great. My hubby was raised in Kentucky, so he's used to southern cooking. We just never used celery with beef. I make sloppy joes with onions and green pepper, but for some reason, I have it in my head that celery is for pairing with chicken and turkey. Don't know where that came from. Thanks for the fast repiles. Sorry about your sub-zero temps, Minnesota, it's up to high 70's in Tucson, these days. Wish you were here! The desert is starting to bloom, yellow flowers on bushes and trees, wonderful to see, driving down the street.

I wish I was there too Carol! I read everyday but don't post very often.

I need to make a pot roast or some other comfort food. The high is 18 today and then we take the polar plunge for another week.

Welcome to the CF. Do stop back and let us know the outcome if you try the two method roast suggestion. :-)

Teresa

I use celery in my base mirepoix for everything. It is a pantry staple along with the basic onions, carrots, potato, garlic. Must be hundreds of pot roast and beef stew recipes. None exactly the same. It does seem to be not only regional, but what ones family heritage is.
Commonly a comfort dish on a Sunday and used what vegetables were easily had during off seasons and what stored well.
I made a beef stew wednesday and like grainlady i cleared out my veg bin. Last night it became a beef pot pie with even more veg topped with a sliced meyer lemon and used sliced sweet potato and reg potato as the top crust.
Oddly enough, having lived in NewOrleans, i've not used or bought green peppers in years but did back then. It is a special purchase when DH makes gumbo. Yet i use roasted red peppers all the time now.

"A mirepoix (/mêÃÂrÃÂpwÃÂÃÂ/ meer-pwah; French pronunciation: âÂÂ[miÃÂÃÂpwa]) is a mixture of chopped celery (either common pascal celery or celeriac), onions, and carrots. There are many variants, which may include just one of these ingredients, or include additional aromatics. Mirepoix, raw, roasted or sautéed with butter or olive oil, is the flavor base for a wide variety of dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces. The three ingredients are commonly referred to as aromatics."

Celery is pretty much a staple in my kitchen, too.
While I don't use it with a "regular" beef roast,
Such as a rump roast, etc,
I find it absolutely 'necessary' for a true pot roast,
Or beef stew, or soup, etc.
Just about anything made with beef, chicken or turkey.
For some reason, I don't use it with pork, though.
Don't know why,
Guess because that's how my mother did it.

Rusty

The classic French mirepoix is 2 parts onion, 1 part celery and 1 part carrot. These are often chopped fine so they nearly disintegrate when cooking. I always use celery in a pot roast.

I would make a celery and leek flan to serve with the beef. Saute the leeks, celery, onion, garlic, in a little oil, put in an oven dish, season. Mis an egg with some cream, season and pour over and bake until set.

Yes, welcome to the Cooking Forum!

A lot of times the tough top part of celery is very good to use for beef roast. Save some money.

I also sometimes sub. carrots using parsnips.

dcarch

And don't forget the leaves! Chopped celery leaves are a great addition to soups and salads. I add them and leftover ground ham to turn twice-baked potatoes from a side dish to an entree.

Sliced celery is always an ingredient in my beef stew and we also like it steamed and mixed with green peas and leeks as a side for fish.

Wow, thanks for all the replies and welcomes. I've already made the roast, so will not be able to divide it and try both with and without celery. Give it a shot next time.