This is one of my favorite things to make during the winter. It’s a simple yet time consuming labor of love, but I promise that it’s really really really worth it.
Ingredients
- 1 - 2 tB vegetable/high smoke point oil
- 1 - 2 lb cut of well-marbled beef chuck
- Two or three yellow onions, diced
- A lot of freshly minced garlic, measure with your heart
- Tomato paste
- 2 - 3 quarts 2x concentrated homemade beef stock
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 2 - 4 tsp Worchestshire sauce
- Fresh rosemary
- Corn starch
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300 F. Pat the chuck dry with paper towels, then season generously with salt and freshly ground pepper.
I like to use an enameled dutch oven for this. In a deep, oven safe pan with a good fitting lid, add a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil. Turn the heat to high to get the pan ripping hot (but not to the point that the oil smokes), then place the chuck in the pan, reduce the heat to medium high, and sear for about 5 - 6 minutes on each side.
Once both sides of the chuck are well browned, remove it from the pan and add the onions. Cook on medium until they brown, then add the garlic and cook until very fragrant. Push the onions to one side and add a generous dollop of tomato paste. Let it cook over medium heat for just a minute or two.
Pour the beef stock over the onions and tomato paste, then add the wine and Worchestshire sauce. Toss in a few sprigs of fresh rosemary (you can add whatever herbs you like as long as they are woody, thyme is another good choice here). Put the seared chuck into the broth and turn the heat up to high. Heat until the broth is simmering, then cover the pan with its lid and put in the preheated oven.
Cook it in the oven for at least 3 hours. I wouldn’t leave it for longer than 4 hours though.
When the roast is finished, remove it from the braising liquid and set aside. Fish out any woody herb stems, and then blend the braising liquid with an immersion blender for a minute or two until it is completely homogeneous. If the liquid is still to thin to be served as a gravy, make a corn starch slurry, add it to the pan, and simmer the braising liquid for 5 - 10 minutes until it becomes syrupy and thickens.
Pull a piece off and serve it over mashed potatoes with maybe too much butter, garlic, and gravy.