An English roast is a perfect candidate for braising, which is what pot roasting is.
When a roast is braised, the fibers contract at first, as the collagen is dissolved into the liquid. After much time cooking, the fibers relax and reabsorb the liquid , producing a moist, flavorful meat which falls apart easily. So you may be serving the roast too soon. 8-9 hours in the crock pot on low would probably not be too long.
Another possibility is that you may be using too little liquid. Dry cooking will make tough cuts of meat tougher. I prefer a couple cups of beef broth and a cup of dark wine. (More liquid is okay). I thicken the juice afterward to a thick sauce and it tastes as good as that served in a fine restaurant.
When the English roast is done, cut it into thin strips across the grain. It will be very tender.
Jeff,
I’ve always seen the chuck roast spelled out that way at our grocery stores (3 lb. chuck shoulder roast, or chuck roast, or 7-bone chuck roast) but after researching on the ‘net, I’ve found English roast is a chuck roast. (Learned something new, cool!) :) So, absolutely, since English roast=Chuck Roast, it’s a great cut of meat for the crockpot. I still maintain that the 7-bone chuck roast is the best cut to use for the crockpot pot roast, though. :)
A couple years ago, I got a cut of meat that had the word English in it, can’t quite recall the exact words on that beef package, LOL, but the butcher assured me it would work for a pot roast. I cooked it on the stovetop in my Dutch oven using my tried and true pot roast recipe and it was awful. Used 3 cups of liquid, too. Very disappointing.
I will say that my experience with crockpot cooking is that generally you don’t want to add a ton of liquid (unlike stovetop, Dutch oven cooking)....this, coming from someone who years ago added too much liquid while changing up a crockpot recipe...LOL. :)
Jeff, thanks for alerting me to the definition of an English roast. :) Do you do your English roast in the crockpot?