Beef stewed in Cabernet Sauvignon
02-13-10 · Mighty meaty Tags: beef, Kitchen experiments, red wine, stews, wine
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It was one of those nights. I had parboiled beef in the fridge and I was just planning on throwing it with some veggies for dinner. A couple of days ago, I dredged over a kilo of beef cubes in flour, browned them in a mixture of butter and olive oil, poured in water, threw in a whole onion, a whole garlic and some peppercorns and I just let everything simmer for two hours. Half of the beef, I cooked later that day with some fresh mushrooms and gravy. Half went into the fridge.
So that remaining half was the beef I had earlier tonight. And I was really planning on making something simple. It turned out we didn’t have any good combination of veggies. But we had sweet peas, carrots and potatoes. For some reason that I still can’t quite explain, I decided to pour in about three quarters of a cup of cabernet sauvignon into the pot. The bottle was already open, it was just lying there on the counter where it would probably stay indefinitely because we opened a new bottle of wine, a Marsala, and it was much better in the mouth than cabernet sauvignon.
So I used the cabernet sauvignon for cooking. And the result was so, so good. The color of the sauce turned into a dramatic red that tomato sauce alone can never do. And the flavor… ah, the flavor. I’ve cooked with red wine many times before but not with results as good as this.
I don’t know what happened. I know that cabernet sauvignon is high on tannins and tannins go well with fatty meat, and that’s why when you talk of wine pairing, meat dishes and cabernet sauvignon go together. If you were drinking the wine. But cooking with cabernet sauvignon? It was new to me. I normally drink it, not cook with it.
Now, please, don’t think that I’m getting high-brow with the cooking. I’m not really and this is a very simple recipe. But I’m still starry eyed with how much differently a plain beef stew turned out all because of three quarters of a cup of cabernet sauvignon.
For four people, you need:
1/2 k. of fatty beef cubes, cooked (details follow)
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsps. of olive oil
2 tbsps. of butter
3/4 c. of cabernet sauvignon
1 c. of diced tomatoes (I used canned)
1 large potato, cubed
1 carrot, cubed
1/4 c. of sweet peas
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
1 tsp. of sugar
I already said I had already browned the beef in olive oil and butter and simmered it with a whole onion, garlic and peppercorns until tender. Then, I scooped out the beef cubes, placed them in an airtight container and kept them in the fridge where they sat for a couple of days.
Now, I’m willing to concede that if you do all that on the same day that you want to cook the beef stew, there won’t be any problems. The refrigeration part can be omitted.
Note that when cooking with wine which is acidic, you have to avoid using reactive pans like aluminum. I normally use Corningware (which is glass and ceramic) when cooking stews.
Heat the olive oil and butter in a pan. Add the onion and allow cook gently until softened.
Pour in the wine. Boil for about five minutes, uncovered.
Then, add the beef and continue boiling for another five minutes.
Pour in the tomatoes, potato and carrot cubes and sweet peas. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer, UNCOVERED for about 30 minutes or until the vegetables are done. Remember to stir and scrape the bottom of the pan every five minutes or so.
Why simmer uncovered?
1) To reduce the sauce to avoid a soupy stew.
2) Because you want to get rid of the taste of alcohol. When cooking with wine, all you really want to go into the food is the concentrated flavors that remain after the alcohol has burned away. It is those concentrated flavors that make the stew so delicious.
As I’ve heard/read many times, it’s a good idea daw to cook with wine that you actually drink. Your recipe reminded me so much of Jacque Pepin’s own recipe for beef bourguignon–he doesn’t use any stock or water to cook it. Instead, yung liquid nya is a whole bottle of red wine. I tried it once. To my dismay, nagmukhang dinuguan, prob because of the tannins nga in the wine! (Am not a diniguan fan LOL.) But it was good.
I’ll try your version soon–this is something my hubby will like.
Wow, a whole bottle of wine? Sounds good already.
For how much beef would that be?
I tried this with Jack Daniels, sorry, did not have cabernet on hand. Wasnt sure if merlot was going to do the trick. I had Jack and wasn’t expecting to drink it anytime soon….Anyway, it came out well. My son liked it. My wife is back in Manila visiting so I’m putting in some kitchen time.
Merlot would do the trick too.
Yeah, I’m sure Merlot would have done the trick too. But I wanted to drink that…..
LOL
Two pounds! Here is a link to the recipe (where I first read about it actually):
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/beef-stew-in-red-wine-sauce
Don’t let the picture fool you–I was honestly shocked at how dark the stew turned out. Sabi ko, bakit sa picture, brown ang itsura?? It was kinda funny. The only changes I made: I used regular bacon, mahal kasi ang pancetta; substituted regular sliced white mushrooms for cremini; and used dried herbs instead of fresh ones.
yummmmmm!
The post reminded me of the Beef Bourguignon in the movie Julie and Julia.This will be nice for a valentine dinner!
I usually make stews with a Cabernet Sauvignon – it’s nice and heavy and when slow cooked the depth of flavour is amazing. It’s not too posh a wine really, in Australia you can get a really decent bottle for quite cheap
Julie, thanks. I’m going to try it.
Rose, same here — Cabernet Sauvignon is among the cheapest red wines in the market. Gotta stock up. And I think I’m going to do more cooking with wine.
Nobody in the family drinks so I have no idea what kind of red wine is good to drink. Can you please recommend a brand for the cabernet sauvignon? Thanks!
My husband and I are not really wine drinkers but we have so many bottles of red and white wine at home because a lot of suppliers and clients gift my husband with wine every Christmas season. I’ve read about cooking with wine but haven’t really tried it. So I’ll definitely be following your wine cooking recipes, starting with this one!
am drooling right now,miss connie.:) thanks for another mouth-watering recipe!
I bet this is another hit in the dining table.
Last week I tried cooking the boeuf bourguignon with my French Chef friend Bruno. It was absolutely a YUM…a classic menu.
But your version seems a lot easier to cook including parboiling! It took us 3 hours to finish cooking (2 hours in the oven and an hour on the stove.
I will try this next week!
Bon Apetit!
Yes, big hit. No leftovers at all. Speedy was even scooping out the excess sauce with bread.
niluto ko ito kanina, and it was good….pero maam connie, bakit mas maganda tingnan yung luto mo? parang purple kasi yung color so i put soy sauce instead of salt, and it makes it darker….thanks for the recipe….pero mas love ko yung cacciatorre….
Naku, soy sauce doesn’t go with it. If it was too purple, the tomatoes weren’t very red. But that’s okay, really.
ganun po ba? di bale, i have left overs sa mga ingredients so try ko ulit….maam connie, u think mas better kung canned tomatoes kasi fresh po yung ginamit ko….i really want it to look like yours so i’m not gonna stop trying….nad i used non stick pot(calphalon), you think it has something to do with it also?
been wanting to try this recipe since i saw it here. it is a bit similar to boeuf bourguignon without the marinating part and less veggies. yours is really simpleand easy to make. i was so happy with the result! it was very good, the sauce alone was really savoury. it was especially good to eat the sauce with the baguette, but a pinay that i am , i also ate it with rice. my husband was satisfied and he was even scooping the remaining sauce with the baguette. by the way, i also added some chili to add a little zing. and it was that good that i’m cooking it again this weekend when my in-laws come to see us. thanks a lot connie
Hi Connie,
I have been constantly following your site since 2004.
Do you think it’s safe to let kids have this? What age kaya?
Thanks so much for your untiring effort to share your recipes.
Regards,
Jo
Six or 7. So long as they can digest meat. If you’re worried about the alcohol, don’t. The alcohol evaporates. All of it. More worrisome is the fat content of the beef which can cause indigestion and / or diarrhea in young children.