ben's notes

Weekend (weeknight?) braised beef

Okay so a braiser is admittedly not the most common kitchen pan. This is unfortunate; braises are a busy person’s best friend, really, and a dish that makes setting up a braise easy is good to have—and hardly a unitasker. My aunt bought me a Staub braiser years & years ago, and I adore it, but I understand that’s a lot to spend on a pan. While I will strongly advocate for trying to thrift for something, there are other options on the market. Serious Eats has a review of available braisers, and I know America’s Test Kitchen has also investigated this a few times.

The goal with this dish is maintaining a close, steamy cooking environment; the heavy lid and plenty of liquids, plus the very low temperature, makes for an environment that’s perfect for taking tough, sinewy & muscular cuts of meat, and rendering them loose & tender. I originally posted this recipe in March of 2024, but I’ve had a year & change to play with it, and so you’re now getting the revised edition.

I gave up on routinely using a bouquet garni, and just use a large shake of italian seasoning from a jar. Honestly, this has gone from “weekend” to “work from home weekday” for me. I’ll also scale this up to 2lbs of roast, easy. Just adjust the vegetables to match!

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 275°F, with a middle rack, and set the brazier over medium heat. Add oil partway through chopping.
  2. Wash & chop vegetables except the potatoes; cut beef into sections so that it can fit in your brazier. Pat the beef dry. Salt now, if you want to; the salt will have been drawn into the meat by the time you start browning. Optionally dredge the beef post-salting & resting in some flour. I’m lackadaisical about this step.
  3. Once the oil’s shimmering, begin browning the chunked roast. Cook in batches, make sure to give each side time for maillard reaction.
  4. With the roast out of the pan, pour off the fat and grease, and return about a tablespoon. The beef has almost certainly released some tallow, though top round may not offer much. Bring the pan back up to heat, then add all the vegetables (sans potatoes) in a batch, give them a fast brown.
  5. Now that the veggies have had time to get some color, add the tomato paste and stock concentrate; give it a moment to sizzle, then add the wine. Stir to deglaze the pan & really get all that fond up. (If using dry herbs, sprinkle them in now.) Nestle the chunked meat in amidst the veggies, then place the bouquet garni (if you’re using it) and the bay leaves in around and atop the beef. Pour in some more wine if necessary, though this should be about enough for this pan. It should be visibly partway up the sides of the chunks of meat.
  6. Cover the brazier, then place it in the oven to simmer; at hour 3 of 4, wash, cut, and add the potatoes to the pan. Stir in another large swig of wine to ensure there’s enough liquid, then cook for another hour.
  7. Optionally: Build a quick gravy once the meat is cooked. Remove the meat & vegetables to a bowl and cover, then dissolve 1 tsp or a bit more potato starch in water, before adding to the cooking liquid. Heat the liquid to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and stir until a glossy sauce forms. Serve separate; consider stirring in some Worcestershire sauce or Red Wine Vinegar for some acid in all the richness.

Notes

We like to serve this with mashed potatoes and a salad; the garlic is excellent mashed into the potatoes, and instant potatoes can be prepared while the gravy’s forming. I’ve also done a quick instant pot risotto as a side, really just you want some sort of grain or starch to go along with the dish.

I’d recommend storing leftovers in separate components, so you have the vegetables on their own, meat on its own, and possibly the gravy on its own—or combined with the meat, especially if you didn’t add a starch so it’s just the braising liquid.

Some ideas of what to do with leftovers: