Why you should cook this
This meal is definitely worth cooking because this has the highest deliciousness to effort ratio of any meal out there. It is deceptively easy and can feed you for a couple of days. It requires minimal knifework and only one pot. I’ve catgerozied the ingredients to just the bare necessary ingredients, a recommended full meal, and options to fit your personal tastes.
Ingredients
Necessary ingredients
- 1 lb – Chuck roast or Short rib.
- 1 Tbsp. High smoke-point flavourless oil
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- Beef stock or equivalent
- Salt & pepper
Recommended ingredients
- Hearty vegetables
- Mushrooms
- 1 Large onion
Optional Ingredients
- 50% or 100% firm tofu substitution
- Pork butt substituion
- Chicken thigh substitution
- Bacon
- Wine
- Fresh or dried herbs
- Warm Spices
- 1 Tbsp. Tomato paste
- Crushed tomatoes
- 2 teaspoon Soy sauce
- Cornstarch
Knifework
- Cut beef into boneless large bites. A little fat is okay, though do remove large pockets of fat. Set aside any bones for later.
- Dice onion
- Recommended: Cut hearty vegetables into large bites, crush garlic, and quarter mushrooms
- Optional: Substitute with tofu, pork, or chicken. Cut bacon into 1″ strips. Chop herbs up.
Instruction
- Salt and pepper the meat. Add oil to dutch oven or big enough pot, heat on medium-high heat until just beginning to see the faintests wisps of smoke.
- Add beef and sear a few of the meat’s sides until golden brown. Flipping the beef frequently minimizes chances you will burn the meat.
Optionally: add bacon in now as well - In this same pot, add the garlic. Add beef stock until the top of the meat is almost covered. If any bones were reserved, add them in now. They will add flavour to your dish. set heat on high until it boils.
Recommended: Sautee the onion a bit before adding it in. Add in hearty vegetables and mushrooms,
Optionally: Replace half of the beef stock with a dry red wine, or a can of crushed tomatoes; Add herbs, and/or warm spices. - Set heat on very low (1-3) and cover and simmer. Wait 5 minutes. Open the lid of your pot and adjust the heat. If it’s bubbling aggresively, lower heat. If not bubbling at all, raise it. The perfect simmer is bubbling gently. Your food will be ready in 1.5 – 2 hours. You can tell when your beef is done when it melts easily under a fork.
Optionally: add soy sauce once food is ready. This is a great hack to make dish more flavourful. - Food is ready now! You have two choices on how to serve it. As is for a soup or over a bed of mashed potatoes with gravy. Regardless of what you choose, don’t forget to take out the bones! To make gravy out of the liquid, you boil uncovered for 15 mins and thicken with cornstarch to desired consistency.