What happens if you don't put flour on a roast before you cook it?

Question

All my cookbooks say to "roll the roast in flour" before roasting. I was out of flour, so I shoved it in, as is. Does it matter? What does the flour do??? Is it going to turn out okay?

Answer 1

All the flour does is turn the juice into gravy. I never use it. Your roast will be fine!

Answer 2

Doesn't matter one bit. Browning the meat without flour is my preference anyway in some oil, it makes a good base for the broth, add a flour and water mixture (wondra is easy, but regular flour and water in a blender and it won't lump) to the pan drippings at the end, and cook until thickened enough for gravy. The longer you can brown the roast in the beginning with the salt, the better it will be. Usually about 1/2 hr and turning often, but you can just stick it in the oven and not mess with it, who's going to compare if they are hungry and you are tired.

Answer 3

I salt and pepper the roast then dredge it in flour and brown it on top of the stove before putting it in the oven. This gives it a nice crispy outside. I've never heard of flouring it and then putting it immediately in the oven. Maybe when the juices start to cook out of it they mix with the flour and thicken the pan sauce a little bit?

Answer 4

You don't need to flour the roast before cooking. One thing you should do is braise the roast in either butter or olive oil. To do this just bring butter or olive oil to temperature, then put the roast in and brown on all sides. This will give you the base for a beautiful brown gravy. After browning, put in roaster pan and cook according to size of roast.

Answer 5

I've cooked well for a zillion years and I have never done it. I think you would do it if you were searing it in a pan in oil, for example, for crusting the outside before putting it in the oven. I find that with spices on top of a roast, it will crisp up the outside just fine. Hope yours turns out well...

Answer 6

No problems-most people in Australia do not use flour on a roast anyway, this is an English tradition as far as I am aware. As far as taste differences goes it is negligable.

Answer 7

ew, I have never done that before, that doesnt even sound good, I just put my roast and spices with 2 cups water in the pan cover and cook.

Answer 8

it should be fine,I have never floured mine.Make sure you baste a few times tho