Red wine braised beef
- tastycorner
Braised beef without wine
- Difficulty: Average
- Prep time: 15 min
- Cook time: 4 h 30 min
- Serving: 4
- Cost: Average
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PRESENTATION
Braised beef without wine sounds like a contradiction until you taste it. Giuseppe Zen of Macelleria Popolare—a Milan butcher shop with its own kitchen, sourcing organic beef from small farms—makes the case with beef cheek, guancia di manzo: a cut that needs four hours over low heat and rewards that patience with deep tenderness and real flavor all the way through.
Meat broth replaces the wine, not as a compromise but as a deliberate choice—it travels with the meat through the long cooking without pulling focus. Celery, carrot, onion, tomato concentrate, and an original mix of aromatics and spices fill out the braise. The finish is what makes it. The cooking liquid is filtered and reduced separately into a tight, coating sauce with concentrated flavor—the direct payoff of starting with good broth and good beef.
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- INGREDIENTS
- Beef cheek 2
- Extra virgin olive oil to taste
- Tomato paste 1 tsp
- Oranges 1 slice
- Celery 1 cup (100 g)
- Onions 1.7 cups (250 g) - About 1 2/3 cups chopped
- Carrots 1 ½ cup (200 g)
- Anchovies in oil 1
- Salted capers 4
- Dates 2
- Bay leaves 2 leaves
- Cinnamon powder 0.8 tsp (2 g)
- Fine salt 1.7 tsp (10 g) - About 1 2/3 teaspoons (based on 1 tsp ≈ 6 g)
- Ground black pepper 6
- Cloves 1
- Meat broth 1.7 cups (400 g)
Preparation
How to prepare Braised beef without wine
To prepare the braised beef without wine, start with the soffritto: trim and chop the celery 1, the carrot 2 and the onion 3.
Also chop the desalinated capers 4 and cut the dates into pieces 5. Now heat a drizzle of oil in a pan 6.
Add the tomato paste 7, the orange slice 8 and the chopped soffritto mixture 9. Sauté the vegetables for 7 minutes.
Meanwhile, oil the beef cheeks 10, then transfer them to a hot pan 11 and brown them for 5 minutes on each side 12.
Meanwhile the soffritto has softened; add the anchovy 13, stir until it melts 14 and then add the chopped capers 15.
Also add the dates 16. Season with cinnamon 17 and add the browned beef cheeks 18.
Aromatize with the bay leaves 19, the peppercorns 20 and the crushed cloves 21.
Salt 22, pour in the beef broth 23, cover with the lid 34 and cook over low heat for 4 hours.
After the cooking time 25, set the meat aside and strain the braising liquid through a sieve 26. Transfer the braising liquid to a small saucepan 27.
Reduce the sauce over the heat for 15 minutes or until it reaches the desired consistency 28. Serve the braised beef without wine with its thickened braising liquid 29 30.
Storage
Tip
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