Butter braised beef - Dutch "draadjesvlees"

[Chufi]

Butter braised beef - Dutch "draadjesvlees"

This dish has very few ingredients so they should be of high quality. Your beef should be not too lean (nicely marbled with fat).

Two other secrets to succes: the flavor of the gravy depends on your patience while browning the beef. You really need to do this very, very slowly.

And one other thing, do not be tempted to add any other aromatics. This dish is about the pure flavor of good beef.

perfect with brussel sprouts, green beans or braised red cabbage, and mash or steamed potatoes to soak up the lovely gravy.

• 1 lb stewing beef
  
• 75 g butter
  
• 2 bayleaves
  
• 2 whole cloves
  
• salt and pepepr
  

Leave the slab of beef whole or cut into chunks, whatever you prefer.

Choose a sauteeing pan that will accommodate all the pieces of beef lying flat. You are going to brown the pieces for a long time, so it's not very practical to do it in batches.

Make sure your beef is at room temperature, and season it with salt and pepper.

Melt the butter in the pan over moderate heat. When the foam is subsiding slip in the pieces of meat. Now brown them slowly over moderate heat until they pieces are deep brown and the butter is a dark golden brown. As long as the heat is not too high, the butter won't burn. Allow at least 15-20 minutes for the browning process.

When it's browned, I like to transfer the pieces and the butter to a pan that is not as good for browning, but better for braising (like a Creuset). But still make sure the pieces of beef are lying flat in a single layer.

(If you are making a larger amount and the beef cannot ly flat in the pan, just add enough water to come almost to the top of the meat. Your gravy will be more watery so it might be good to reduce it when the beef is done)

Now add the bayleaves and cloves.

Add lukewarm water to come almost to the top of the beef. Turn the heat to low (best to use an asbestos mat or something)cover, with the lid very slightly ajar (I use a lid that has a small hole in it) so that some of the steam can escape, and simmer for hours. 3 hours is good, 4 won't hurt.

By that time the meat should be so tender that it falls apart into shreds (draadjes - which is where it gets its name, draadjesvlees, thready meat).

From the Dutch Cooking thread

( RG1515 )

[MetsFan5]

What do you think “whole cloves” mean here? I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for months and just got high quality stew beef to do this with. 

[chefmd]

1 hour ago, MetsFan5 said:

What do you think “whole cloves” mean here? I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for months and just got high quality stew beef to do this with. 

Cloves spice

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clove

[liuzhou]

I'm going to take a wild guess and say it means 'cloves - two of', as opposed to any other number or amount of pre-ground cloves.

 

 

[KennethT]

I agree. 2 cloves, added whole, not ground.

Edited December 24, 2020 by KennethT (log)

[weinoo]

Yep, aS @liuzhouhas pictured. Close up!

 

[liuzhou]

9 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Yep, aS @liuzhouhas pictured. Close up!

 

 

That's not two!

[Tropicalsenior]

On 12/24/2020 at 2:29 AM, MetsFan5 said:

I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for months

Have you made this yet? With just two cloves, did the flavor even come through?

Edited February 20, 2021 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[CeeCee]

On 2/20/2021 at 9:26 PM, Tropicalsenior said:

Have you made this yet? With just two cloves, did the flavor even come through?

The meat is the hero of the dish, so two cloves should be fine. Especially if you use high quality cloves, which my oma definitely not had access to. If in doubt, you could always chuck an extra in. Eet smakelijk!

[Tropicalsenior]

1 hour ago, CeeCee said:

The meat is the hero

I have made this several times now. A few times with good steak and sometimes with some pretty tough meat. Hearing Costa Rica it is hard to get good meat. The cut that I like best for it is called giba. It is the hump of the Brahma cattle that they have here. I have found out that the secret to this dish is low, slow browning. I use a cast iron skillet and brown it for about 45 minutes. Then I followed the directions to the letter. The only concession to seasonings that I make is if it isn't salty enough, I add a little dark soy sauce at the end. I'll probably never make beef stew any other way.

[CeeCee]

18 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I have made this several times now. A few times with good steak and sometimes with some pretty tough meat. Hearing Costa Rica it is hard to get good meat. The cut that I like best for it is called giba. It is the hump of the Brahma cattle that they have here. I have found out that the secret to this dish is low, slow browning. I use a cast iron skillet and brown it for about 45 minutes. Then I followed the directions to the letter. The only concession to seasonings that I make is if it isn't salty enough, I add a little dark soy sauce at the end. I'll probably never make beef stew any other way.

 

I am glad you enjoy it so much!

 

[&roid]

I’ve had this bookmarked in Evernote for ages and am finally giving it a go today. 

I got some reasonably well marbled brisket and am currently about 25 minutes into the browning. 
 

I’ve got to say, it smells delicious already!

 

[&roid]

I tucked it up in the oven at 130°C and popped down to the pub for a Friday evening pint or two. Came back and the house smells amazing!

 

I let it go for 3.5 hours in total to get fully prove tender… it looks beautiful:

 

[AlaMoi]

I have done similar brown and braise beef dishes - they are time consuming and spectacular.

 

the one thing I would add for the cooks' consideration:

it all depends on dissolving the collagen holding the meat fibers together - and I have found by repeated experience over literally decades . . .

do the long slow braise. 

cool. 

refrigerate over night. 

next day do a 2-4 hour reheat.

for whatever reason(s) the cooling and reheating is mucho seriously more better at dissolving the collagen and making stuff 'fork tender'

[&roid]

What a great dish! Really enjoyed both the cooking and the eating of this one. 
 

For a sauce I took the cooking liquid/butter, added a little mustard and blended to emulsify:

The meat was so tender and delicious, incredibly beefy but with a really nice nutty, buttery edge. 
 

 

I served it with some Savoy cabbage cooked with cider vinegar to cut through the fat a little. This was a bit less of a success, not sure why as I used my usual cabbage method, just wasn’t keen on the flavour. Hey ho, can’t win ‘em all!

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I made the recipe over the last two days.

 

 

The meat was excellent but the gravy was disappointing.  As mentioned above the liquid should probably have been significantly reduced.  I braised in an open pot in the oven for about seven hours total, and there was no noticeable evaporation.

 

The recipe is one that I would make again.

 

[AlaMoi]

always keep chunks of a dark roux in the freezer.....instant gravy thickener-upper....