Help: I Think I Accidentally Made Soup With a Roast

It’s been a year since my last pot roast, and already I’m second-guessing every step. My wife isn’t a fan of “swimming” roasts, she wants slices, not stew. Determined to get it right this time, I tried to be smart.

I started with the usual suspects: caramelized onions and garlic, a good sear on the meat, a splash of red wine, Worcestershire, a dash of soy sauce, and a spoonful of brown sugar. Normally, I’d slide the whole thing into the oven and let it do its thing. But today, work called, so into the slow cooker it went.

Here’s where the anxiety sets in: I only added about a quarter cup of broth, thinking the meat would release plenty of its own juices. Now I can’t shake the feeling that my slow cooker is plotting against me, and I’ll come home to a pot of beef soup instead of a proper roast.

For the slow-cooker veterans out there: do you go easy on the liquid to keep that classic “roast” texture, or do you just accept the broth and reduce it later? Is there a secret to keeping things roast-like and not ending up with a ladle instead of a carving knife?

Right now, I’m bracing myself for beef stew. Any wisdom from the slow-cooker trenches?