It can be a balmy spring Sunday, or one where the wind is banging on your house and whipping shrubbery to and fro. If it is the latter, you’ll be glad to be indoors. You’ll be even more glad if you have Julie’s Roast Beef ready to come from the oven. You’ll have the people at New Salem Baptist Church near Sumter to thank for it, and you will need a pencil and paper to chart how I got the recipe.

New Salem Church is a new version of the original church, which was organized in 1913 as Salem Avenue Baptist Church. In 1978, the church (at the time, located in Sumter) closed, moved to a new building outside of town, and changed its name to New Salem. The current membership, which includes both resident and non-resident members, is 284. The pastor, Rev. Kevin Massey, new to the congregation, began his duties in December.

New Salem has most of the Southern Baptist programs, but has a Bible study instead of a worship service on Sunday evenings.

Julie Tuttle, whose recipe is here, is a Baptist, but not the South Carolina version. She and her husband, Rev. Terry Tuttle, live in Georgetown, Ky., and he was conducting a revival at New Salem in Sumter when the committee there was working on a cookbook. Her brother-in-law, Johnny Tuttle, and his wife, Sharon, were members of New Salem.

I don’t usually state whether the recipes for Sunday Dinner are taken from cookbooks or submitted, but this one was straight from the cookbook. While Julie and her husband were there for the revival, the cookbook committee asked her to give them a recipe, and she did. Julie has had the recipe for years, and, like many cooks, doesn’t recall where she got it.

Some time after that, the other Tuttles — Johnny and Sharon — moved their membership from New Salem to Dalzell Baptist Church in Sumter, where they are active members.

Julie’s Roast Beef is a substantial recipe — rich, filling and satisfying. It is not much different, perhaps, than one you have used, but the dry soup mix and the mushroom soup may give a new and different flavor for you. Try serving it with a green salad that has lots of crisp, fresh vegetables in it and hot rolls.

The day before I did my testing of this recipe, I made a quiche for lunch. This is a fact: Quiche will never replace roast beef!

After getting the two groups of Tuttles, two ministers, and three churches in the right order, I can say this is a good recipe for a roast that can serve a few or many. Put it in the oven early in the morning before church, and you’ll have a great meal waiting for … Sunday Dinner.

Julie’s Roast Beef

3- to 5-pound chuck roast
Potatoes (as needed)
Carrots (as needed)
2 10 1/2-ounce cans golden mushroom soup
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 large onion
1/2 can water

Peel potatoes and cut into halves or thirds. Scrape carrots and cut into thirds crosswise, or purchase the ready-to-use baby carrots.

Set oven to 325 degrees. Put roast in center of roasting pan.

Arrange potatoes and carrots around sides. Spread the 2 cans of soup over the meat and vegetables. Evenly sprinkle the dry soup over that. Peel and slice the onion, and lay the slices on top of the roast. Add the half can of water to the sides.

Cover and cook for 4 hours or until tender.

Note: A couple of readers have called, saying that the Deviled Crab Casserole (featured in the February 2014 issue) seemed a bit dry. I checked to see that I had copied the recipe correctly, and I had. I talked with Mrs. Griggs, who contributed the recipe, and she suggested decreasing the amount of bread crumbs if you wish. When I made the dish according to the recipe, I thought it was good — but you may want to make this change the next time you bake it.