Braised beef slices in their own gravy

Yesterday I had a huge craving for steak tartare. After watching this video, of course. The sauerkraut particularly intrigued me. Unfortunately, though, I couldn’t find beef fillet anywhere. Apparently they’re getting some in on Wednesday/Thursday. OK, I’ll wait.

Meanwhile, today I decided it was time to get some beef into me after all. I bought beef round. Originally I fancied making beef roulades, but decided these pieces of meat were better suited to braised beef slices.

And they turned out pretty, pretty good. With their own lovely gravy, without — and this is very important — either cream or flour. A gravy of onions and shallot, with mixed peppercorns and… fermented cucumbers (yes, that sauerkraut in the tartare inspired me ;)). It turned out a treat. Add potatoes and red cabbage. What more could you want? I recommend it.

At a glance:

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: up to 3 hours

Serves: enough for 2 people

How many calories: a whole legful of calories

Ingredients for tender braised beef slices:

• 2 pieces of beef round (I used roughly 40 grams of meat, two „steaks” about 1.5 cm thick)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 shallot
• 2 medium onions
• 2 fermented cucumbers
• 10 – 15 grams of pork belly (diced)
• freshly ground mixed peppercorns
• whole mixed peppercorns
• sweet paprika
• 4 bay leaves
• salt
• olive oil

Recipe for beef in gravy:

I washed the beef thoroughly. I cut it into small steaks (about 4 by 6 cm) and pounded them with a meat mallet. I sprinkled both sides thoroughly with freshly ground mixed peppercorns. I heated olive oil until very hot in a medium-sized pot and added the pieces of meat (I ended up with about 12 – 14 pieces).

I sprinkled them with salt and fried the small steaks for a few minutes, turning them over from time to time.

While the steaks were frying, I peeled the garlic (4 cloves), crushed them and cut each one into 3 – 4 pieces. I added the prepared garlic to the pot with the meat and stirred.

I prepared the onions and shallot, cutting them into large dice. I added them to the pot. I fried everything for another 5 – 7 minutes (the meat needs to be well browned), then seasoned to taste with sweet red paprika. I stirred and poured in roughly 300 ml of water (the meat must be completely covered).

I turned down the heat and let it simmer gently. After about 10 minutes, I cut two fermented cucumbers into small dice and added them to the pot with the beef.

From then on, I simmered it over a low heat for roughly 2 hours, perhaps even a little longer. After about an hour of cooking, I added the diced pork belly and stirred. I also put 4 bay leaves into the pot.

By the end of cooking, the meat should be soft and tender and the gravy should have thickened. Of course, during those 2 hours I topped it up with a little water several times. The important thing is that this version of the gravy needs neither flour nor cream. It’s delicious all by itself.

I serve the finished dish with potatoes (those wonderful little French new potatoes again, even in the middle of January :)) and red cabbage. Of course, it would also be perfect with cooked groats (any kind), and that’s how I’ll reheat it for myself tomorrow. Enjoy!