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Presidents/Gerald Ford

AT THE TABLE WITH GERALD FORD

Sunday pot roast

Choose a marbled braising cut rather than a lean roasting joint.

Dinner3 hr 30 minServes 6
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Sunday pot roast — a little vintage colour
A little vintage colour · Serving illustration

THE STORY ON YOUR PLATE

Pot roast, according to his own library

More about Gerald Ford →

The thirty-eighth president grew up in Michigan.

Family or White House tradition

The Ford Library names pot roast and red cabbage as Ford’s favourite meal and points to chef Henry Haller’s cookbook. Our roast adapts that preference to a single covered pot with vegetables.

The president & the table

The Ford Library’s Facts and Favorites names pot roast and red cabbage as Ford’s preferred food and butter pecan ice cream as his dessert. It even points readers to White House chef Henry Haller’s family cookbook for the roast and cabbage recipes.

Behind this story

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, “Facts and Favorites”; Henry Haller, The White House Family Cookbook (1987), pp. 176–179.

APRON ON. HISTORY CAN WAIT.

Make it at home.

Serves 6

What you’ll need

Let’s make it

  1. Heat the oven to 160°C / 320°F. Season beef and brown on all sides in oil in a heavy lidded pot. Remove.

  2. Soften onions for 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, stock, thyme and bay. Return beef; liquid should come about halfway up the meat.

  3. Cover tightly and cook in the oven for 2 hours. Add carrots and potatoes and cook for 1–1½ hours more until the beef pulls apart easily.

  4. Remove bay leaves. Rest the meat for 10 minutes before slicing or pulling into chunks; serve with vegetables and juices.

Cooking notes

Metric and US measures are approximate equivalents. For baking, use weights when you can.