The Key To Cooking Perfect Mississippi Roast Is A Stick Of Butter – Tasting Table

Our recipe for Mississippi Roast calls for half of a stick of unsalted butter, and it is important to understand why we call for the unsalted variety. This is a dish with many components that are already well-seasoned — the roast is sprinkled with salt and pepper, the various powdered mixes contain salt, as does the pepperoncini — so the butter doesn’t need to up the salt. 

What the butter does in this recipe is twofold. The more straightforward contribution is the fat it adds and how that helps the jus, gravy, or whatever you want to call it, develop a texture that coats the meat and the tongue, becoming that much more savory and satisfying. Yes, the chuck roast contributes a good deal of fat too, but not all fats are the same, and the addition of butter builds layers in this roast. The butter also contains milk solids that toast during cooking, lending the dish a slightly-creamy nuttiness. 

Of course, you’ll see a range of different quantities of butter used across different recipes, from our recommendation of half of a stick up to a whole stick. There’s no right answer. You should feel free with a forgiving recipe like Mississippi Roast to modify the recipe to suit your liking and how you plan on serving it, whether it will be draped over mashed potatoes or stuffed into hoagie rolls.