For me, it started back in December of 2010 when I saw a recipe for this easy roast on a blog of a young mom named Laurie. (Laurie lives in Arkansas and I enjoyed following Laurie and her sweet friend Kelly; two lovely Christian young moms.) I tried it and it was good so I shared the recipe with some friends. I did not want my friends to call it "Candis' roast" since it wasn't my recipe. Laurie got it from her husband's Aunt. So I sent a message to Laurie (who I did not know, actually) and told her I liked the roast and my friends liked it too, but it needed a name. She responded nicely "let's call it a Mississippi Roast." So I called it that on January 9, 2011 on my blog.
Apparently someone put my blog post on pinterest... and it got saved ("pinned") again and again and again. I had no idea it was going all over pinterest and internet. However, the New York Times food editor Sam Sifton discovered this Mississippi roast, somehow learning it was the most "pinned" roast on pinterest so he set out to find out its origins.
His search went through pinterest back to my blog post. And then from my blog back to Laurie's blog.....
Here is the full story.... starting with a gal named Robin, in Mississippi, who tweaked some ingredients and made the tasty roast. Next, Robin's friend Karen put it in their church cookbook. Next, a gal from the church named Judy (she saw it in the cookbook) made it for her nephew and his wife Laurie who were visiting Mississippi from their home in Arkansas. Laurie came back to Arkansas and wrote about it on her blog. I read her blog, tried it and posted it with the name Laurie suggested. And it went viral. And the New York Times food editor wrote an article about it. And then Good Morning America did a feature segment on their show with Robin and Karen from Mississippi. (I imagine those two ladies were completely shocked when they were told about this amazing roast and then they got to be on Good Morning American! No, they did not call it the Mississippi roast but I'm pretty sure they do now!)
This is Laurie holding up the NY Times article. She also got her picture in there!
. This is a picture from my original blog that was saved over and over on pinterest.
If you look to the left of Robin Roberts you will see the picture from my blog.
And the recipe? Oh my, this is easy peasy.
Place a 3-4 pound chuck roast in your crock pot. Sprinkle one package of McCormick's Au Jus mix on top of the roast. Then sprinkle one package of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix on top. Place an entire stick of butter on the roast (I use unsalted) , add about 5-6 pepperoncini peppers around the roast and cover, cook on low for about 8 hours. DO NOT ADD WATER.
Trust me. You will love it. Apparently people nationwide do!
