The Pot Roast Experiment Pt. ll

Success!!!
The brining did embue the meat with a salty, almost pastrami like smell, which isn't a surprise because that is what pastrami is. I then made a makeshift steak rub with very little salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder and anise seed for a twist. Then in a roasting pan seared the meat, removed it from the pan, added 2 sliced onions 3 min. added some wine, maybe 1/2 cup to deglaze the pan, then 3 carrots broken into big chunks and quartered sweet potato (next time I'll go with a stronger white potato, this one turned to mush in the cooking. I had some turkey stock I made in the freezer about 2 cups, so I added that and the meat and into the oven it went for three hours, I think I turned the meat every hour and by the end of the time and by the end. Wonderful. I then strained the beautiful cooking liquid and made a gravy by adding it to a roux. Other than the veggies being too mushy for my wife a total success meat and gravywise.

So what do I think of pot roast now? I'm happy with the outcome, generally I think beef should not be braised because it may flavour the sauce but the meat is left bland. The extra step of brining helped immensely and as for cooking beef, I don't do it often and at home, barbeque is my first choice, but I'm happy to have this under my belt and will try this again if I have a hunk of meat and it's not BBQ season, maybe I'll add a touch of liquid smoke to it in the cooking phase and make it in a pie form next time.
I must remember to take photos for my next experiment.