If you like the beef and beer stew (page 146), Dorie’s recipe before the subtly spicy, softly hot, slightly sweet beef stew (page 149) in the book Everyday Dorie, you would like this one as well. Beef stew has never been popular in my kitchen for one reason and another… It’s red meat. It takes about three hours to cook until the meat is tender. But when they serve up something of beauty and scrumptiousness, you nod your head with enthusiasm.
It’s tough to find delectable recipes back to back in one book. However, Everyday Dorie is not an ordinary cook book. Dorie Greenspan is a seasoned pro who regularly helps us put together delightful meals. Making a stew like these is not without effort, but it’s simple and approachable enough you want to do it again.
Unlike the beef and beer stew, the approach of the subtly spicy, softly hot, slightly sweet beef stew is far from traditional. In stead of using beer, the recipe calls for a marinade with some rather unusual ingredients. Have you ever mixed together red wine, soy sauce and gochujang (Korean red pepper sauce) in a marinade? I haven’t but it works!
Besides the umami-packed marinade, there are the standard aromatics in French cooking (onion, garlic, carrot, bay leaf) and an Asian inspired mix of spices (ginger, star anise and cinnamon). Wait, there are more surprising touches.
As you’d expect as the name of the dish implies: spice, heat and sweetness. The slightly sweet part of the flavor derives from, of all things, the fresh cranberries (I used dry ones) and a good number of carrots after hours of simmering. To top it all off, Dorie garnishes the stew with a gremolata (Italian inspired herb mix of scallions, cilantro, ginger, garlic) and grated orange zest.
There are so many unconventional ingredients in this beef stew. However, I’m not surprised the cross-cultural mash-up as Dorie has intended comes together brilliantly. She nailed it!
Subtly Spicy, Softly Hot, Slightly Sweet Beef Stew | Everyday Dorie
A cross-cultural mash-up using gochujang and ginger to flavor the beef stew. The aromatics are standards in French cooking. However, the sweet tart flavor comes from another unexpected ingredient: cranberries. The gremolata is similar to the herb mix you sprinkle over osso buco, the classic Italian dish.
Ingredients
- FOR THE BEEF AND MARINADE:
- 1 bottle (750 mL) red wine, preferably fruity but dry
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) soy sauce
- 3 tbsp (45 mL) gochujang (Korean red chili paste), or more or less to taste
- 5 quarter-sized slices peeled fresh ginger
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
- Cilantro stems, reserved from gremolata, below (optional)
- Scallion greens, reserved from gremolata, below (optional)
- 3 lb (about 1.5 kg) beef stew meat (see note below)
- FOR THE STEW:
- 3 tbsp (45 mL) canola or other neutral oil
- Fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 large onion, trimmed, cut into 8 pieces, rinsed and patted dry
- 6 carrots, trimmed, peeled and cut into 4 pieces each
- 3 garlic cloves, germ removed and sliced into slivers
- One 1-inch (2.5-cm) piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into slivers
- 1/2 cup (50 g) fresh cranberries
- 1/3 cup (75 mL) water
- 2 cups (480 mL) beef broth
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) honey
- 2 points star anise
- Pinch of black peppercorns
- A small sliver of cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- A strip of orange peel (save the orange for the gremolata)
- FOR THE GREMOLATA:
- 3 scallions, white and light green parts only, finely sliced
- 2 tbsp (30 mL) minced fresh cilantro
- 1 tsp (5 mL) finely grated peeled fresh ginger, or more to taste
- 1 tsp (5 mL) finely grated or minced garlic, or more to taste
- Finely grated zest of 1 orange (orange reserved from stew)
- Fleur de sel or fine sea salt
- Cooked rice, quinoa or egg noodles, for serving (optional)
- Note: You can make the stew with boneless stew meat or you can mix it up with a few chunky bone-in cuts, like oxtails and short ribs, which will add more flavour and texture to the mix. Play around and see what you like, remembering that bony cuts usually have less meat and more fat, so you might have to increase the amount you need for the stew.
Instructions
TO MARINATE THE BEEF: You can marinate the beef in a Dutch oven or a zipper-lock plastic bag. (I prefer a bag because it takes up less room in the refrigerator.) Mix the wine, soy sauce and gochujang together until blended, then add the remaining marinade ingredients and stir. Add the meat and turn it around so that it is submerged; cover or seal and refrigerate overnight. (The meat can marinate in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.)
When you’re ready to cook, transfer the beef to a plate lined with a triple thickness of paper towels. Cover it with three more towels and pat dry. Strain the marinade, into a bowl; discard the solids. If some of the solids have stuck to the meat, remove and discard them (without being too fussy).
TO MAKE THE STEW: Warm 2 tablespoons of the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the beef in batches — don’t crowd the pot — season with salt and pepper and cook, turning to brown all sides, about 8 minutes. Let each side of the beef get dark before turning it and browning another side. As the pieces brown, transfer them to a bowl.
Pour off the fat from the pot and add the remaining tablespoon of oil. When it’s hot, add the onion and carrots, season with salt and pepper and cook over high heat, turning as needed to colour the vegetables — don’t be afraid of getting a little char here and there. Add the vegetables to the beef. Lower the heat and toss in the garlic, ginger and cranberries. Cook, stirring frequently and taking care not to blacken the garlic and ginger, until the mixture is fragrant and the cranberries have popped. Scrape over the beef and vegetables and stir.
Return the pot to high heat, pour in the water and cook, scraping the bottom, until you’ve picked up all the browned bits and most of the liquid has evaporated. Return the beef and vegetables to the Dutch oven and stir in the broth and all the remaining ingredients, including the reserved marinade. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the beef is fork-tender.
Transfer the beef to a bowl — be gentle, you want to keep the pieces intact. Strain the broth and discard the vegetables, herbs and spices (they’ve done their job and they’re too tired to be good now).
If you’ve got time, put the broth in a shallow pan and freeze it until the fat rises to the top so you can skim it off and then reheat the broth when needed. If you want to serve the stew now, skim off as much of the fat as you can. Taste the broth for salt and pepper, return the meat to the pot and reheat. (The stew can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated.)
MEANWHILE, MAKE THE GREMOLATA: Stir all of the ingredients together. (You can make the gremolata a few hours ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator.)
I like to serve this in wide shallow soup plates, although bowls are fine. If you’re serving rice, quinoa or noodles with the stew, spoon it into the plates or bowls and top with the beef. Ladle over the broth and sprinkle with gremolata, or pass the gremolata at the table.
STORING: Stored in an airtight container, leftover stew can be frozen for up to 2 months.
Notes
https://nationalpost.com/life/food/cook-this-subtly-spicy-softly-hot-slightly-sweet-beef-stew-from-everyday-dorie Recipe is excerpted from Everyday Dorie © 2018 by Dorie Greenspan.
5 Comments
isthisakeeper
January 27, 2023 at 2:14 pmOK…first off, your plated dish looks AMAZING!!! Perfection! Second, couldn’t agree more with you on the quality of this cookbook…there are so, so many wonderful recipes and I continue to make many of them over and over again. Lastly, we had similar reactions…to the process and the final product! It was very delicious and had me thinking maybe I would make it again haha! Beautiful job!
Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)
January 28, 2023 at 5:40 pmOne to make on a special occation when I have loads of time to focus on the various steps!
Kim+Tracy
January 29, 2023 at 6:57 pmI saw your post after I made my beef stew and it is a great reminder that Dorie also has many great beef stew recipes! After trying Ina’s, I’d love to try the beef and beef stew you mentioned as well as this one! I love the addition of the noodles, as well as the cinnamon and orange – such a lovely wintery version.
The sprinkle of orange zest really makes it look pretty!
Diane Zwang
January 30, 2023 at 4:03 pmGorgeous photo as always. This was a lot of work but well worth it. Nice for a change.
steph (whisk/spoon)
February 1, 2023 at 9:42 pmI was kind of suspicious about the red wine going with the other flavors, but it all did indeed work well! your stew looks great with those twisty noodles.