Eight hours in the slow cooker turns chuck steak into the kind of beef that falls apart at the touch of a fork.

Why you should cook this

Sunday afternoon dinner, ready when you walk in. Chuck steak in five-centimetre chunks, browned hard in olive oil before anything else happens. Onions, carrots, celery, garlic, a tablespoon of tomato paste, a glass of red wine reduced to a syrup, beef stock, fresh thyme, bay. Eight hours on low. The chuck shreds at the touch of a fork. The vegetables hold their shape. The gravy is the colour of a country pub bar.

Brown the meat in batches in a hot pan. This is the maillard step everyone wants to skip and that nobody should. Five minutes per batch, dry pan, hot oil, do not crowd. Then deglaze with the wine and pour the wine over the meat in the slow cooker. Don’t add the potatoes if you want a stew (they go to mush over eight hours); serve over mash instead. If you do want a one-pot, add the potatoes for the last two hours only. Cracked pepper at the table. Crusty bread for the gravy. Open a robust shiraz from McLaren Vale or anywhere south of the Adelaide line.

What to drink with it

A robust shiraz, a Boulevardier (our recipe), or a glass of Côtes du Rhône. Crusty bread for the gravy.

Notes from the kitchen

Brown the beef first. Yes, it’s an extra step. Yes, it transforms the dish. The maillard reaction is the difference between proper stew and grey-meat soup.

The recipe

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 8

Total Time 8 20

Servings: 6 serves

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: British, French

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

1.2 kg chuck steak, cut into 5cm pieces
3 tbsp plain flour
3 tbsp olive oil
2 brown onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
3 carrots, chunked
3 potatoes, cubed
300 mL red wine
500 mL beef stock
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper

Method

Toss beef with flour, salt and pepper. Heat oil in a heavy pan over high. Brown beef in batches, 3 minutes per side. Tip into the slow cooker.
Same pan, cook onions 5 minutes. Add garlic 30 seconds. Tip into cooker.
Add wine to the pan. Boil 2 minutes scraping the bottom. Pour into cooker.
Add carrots, potatoes, stock, tomato paste, mustard, thyme and bay to the cooker. Stir.
Cover. Cook on low 8 hours (or high 4-5 hours).
Taste. Adjust salt and pepper. Discard bay and thyme stems. Serve in deep bowls.

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What to pour with it

Cocktail

The Boulevardier

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Cocktail

Old Fashioned

The Old Fashioned is the cocktail equivalent of a well-cut blazer. Four ingredients, no hiding place, looks like a million bucks, takes thirty seconds. It is what you…

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Two things that go wrong

Grey beef

You skipped the brown step. Browning gives the maillard layer that defines the whole stew.

Watery gravy

Stew never thickened. After the cook, transfer to a wide pan and simmer uncovered 15 minutes to reduce.

Variations worth knowing

Boeuf bourguignon

Replace half the wine with red. Add 200g of pearl onions and 200g of mushrooms in the last hour. Add 100g of bacon lardons at the start.

Beef and Guinness

Replace half the wine with Guinness or other dark stout. Add a tablespoon of brown sugar.

Hungarian goulash

Add 2 tablespoons of sweet paprika and 1 of caraway seeds. Skip the wine; use beef stock plus 1 tablespoon of vinegar.

Leftovers and make ahead

Better the next day. Three days fridge, three months frozen. Reheat low and slow.

Recipes

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Why you should cook this

What to drink with it

Notes from the kitchen

The recipe