Draadjesvlees (Dutch Braised Beef)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy braadpan or Dutch oven, 4-liter or larger
• •Wooden spoon
• •Tongs

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the beef

   Pat the beef very dry and season it well with salt and black pepper. Dry meat browns; wet meat sulks. Let it stand while you slice the onions so the salt has a little time to settle into the surface.

2. 2

   Brown it deeply

   Melt the butter with the oil in a heavy braadpan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the beef in batches until it has a dark crust on both sides, about three to four minutes per side, then lift it to a plate. Do not crowd the pan. The brown on the bottom is not dirt, it is tomorrow's gravy beginning early.

   If the butter darkens too fast, lower the heat. You want nuttiness, not bitterness; a Dutch braise forgives patience more readily than smoke.
3. 3

   Soften the onions

   Add the sliced onions to the same pan and cook them for ten to twelve minutes, stirring often, until they are soft, golden at the edges, and picking up the beefy brown from the bottom. Stir in the flour and cook for one minute so the gravy thickens later without tasting dusty.

4. 4

   Build the braise

   Pour in a splash of the warm stock and scrape the bottom clean with a wooden spoon. Add the rest of the stock, the vinegar, bay leaves, cloves, and the brown sugar or appelstroop if using. Return the beef and any juices to the pan. The liquid should come about halfway up the meat, not drown it.

5. 5

   Cook until threaded

   Bring the pan just to a tremble, then cover and lower the heat until the sauce barely murmurs. Cook for three to three and a half hours, turning the meat every forty-five minutes, until it pulls into draadjes, little threads, when pressed with a spoon. If the pan looks dry, add a small splash of hot water or stock; if it boils hard, you are toughening what you came to soften.

6. 6

   Finish the gravy

   Lift out the bay leaves and cloves. If you want the old-fashioned thicker gravy, stir in the crumbled ontbijtkoek for the last ten minutes and let it melt into the sauce. Taste for salt, pepper, and vinegar. The gravy should be glossy, brown, gently sharp, and rich enough to cling to a boiled potato.

7. 7

   Serve simply

   Pull the beef apart in the pan with two forks or leave the pieces whole and let the table do the work. Serve with boiled potatoes or mashed potatoes and red cabbage. Make a kuiltje, a little hollow, in the potatoes for the gravy, because children understand architecture when sauce is involved.

Chef Tips

• •Ask the butcher for sucadelappen if you can find them. That central seam of connective tissue looks unpromising, for obvious reasons, but after hours in the pan it turns soft and gives the gravy its body.
• •Do not use lean steak. Lean beef becomes dry before the sauce becomes good, and no amount of polite slicing will save it.
• •The vinegar is not there to make the dish sour. It brightens the butter and beef, the way a clean window brightens a dark room.
• •Draadjesvlees is better the next day. Cool it in its gravy, refrigerate it, and reheat gently with a spoonful of water if the sauce has thickened too much.
• •Serve it with rodekool met appeltjes, red cabbage with apples, or plain boiled potatoes. This is not a garnish dish. It wants something honest to catch the gravy.

Advance Preparation

• •Can be cooked one to two days ahead, cooled in the gravy, and refrigerated. Reheat slowly over low heat until the sauce loosens and the meat is fully hot.
• •Freezes well for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm gently, adding a splash of stock or water if needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)