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Bloody Mary Beef

Source of Recipe

Rebecca at work


Recipe Introduction

This is my version of a recipe that was recommended by Rebecca. I thought it sounded pretty good, but needed a little punching up. The recipe was basically take stew meat, add some pearl onions, onion soup mix, flour, celery, bloody Mary mix, red wine – dump into a slow cooker and cook. That sounded like a good start to me, so I applied what I know: I browned the meat with some of the flour and Penzey’s French 4 spice, deglazed with some of the wine and reduced that. I added pepper and more onions than called for. When I tasted it after it was done, it didn’t taste very good – very flat and almost sour. It was too late to eat dinner anyway (the recipe calls for lean meat and I should have known better, so it took a LONG time to get tender). The next night when I heated it up, it tasted MUCH better, but too salty due to the onion soup mix. I need to find out what that really ‘brings’ and sub something else. I also need to use some meat with some fat (like a pot roast) so that the meat ends up tender AND moist. It was very dry. Anyway, I think it’s worth playing around with. Judiu at eGullet suggested that instead of the onion soup mix I add a caramelized onion confit, a touch of added salt, unsalted beef stock, a pinch of sugar, a good belt of Worcestershire sauce and maybe some celery seed or celery salt. I served this on top of egg noodles.

List of Ingredients

3 lb. stew or pot roast beef, cubed
Penzey’s French 4 Spice
A pinch of sugar
Freshly ground black pepper
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
2 T. flour + more for coating the meat
1 rib celery, cut into pieces
1 pkg. frozen pearl onions
6 oz. Bloody Mary mix
1 c. red wine



Recipe

Toss the beef with a little of the flour, pepper, a pinch of sugar and the French 4 Spice. Brown in a little oil in a large pan. Remove the meat and deglaze the pan with 1/2 c. of the red wine and reduce by half. Pour this off and set aside. Add some olive oil to the pan and brown the onions.

You can make this either in a slow cooker or in the oven in a Dutch oven.

If using a slow cooker, place 1/2 the meat on the bottom, sprinkle with 1 T. of flour, 1/2 package of onion soup mix, 1/2 of the onions and 1/2 of the celery. Repeat for the second layer. Cover with the Bloody Mary mix and wine. Cook on low for 6 – 8 hours. Taste and adjust seasoning.

If using the Dutch oven, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place all the meat in the pan and sprinkle with 2 T. flour, the onion soup mix, celery and the onions. Cover with the Bloody Mary mix and wine. Bake for 2 – 3 hours or until tender. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Serves 8 – 10.