Beer Braised Chuck Steak

Beer Braised Chuck Steak

Backstory

This story will read a lot like the one in my Honey Mustard Glazed Ribs post. On a tight budget, you buy what is cheap and chuck steak met that criteria when I was at the supermarket last week ($2 per pound), but I didn’t know how I was going to prepare it at the time. So, in looking for some inspiration, I consulted The Flavor Bible. It didn’t list any compatible ingredients for chuck steak, but it did note that it was good braised because chuck steak tends to be a very tough cut of meat. Braising tenderizes the cut. Chuck steak is also commonly ground and used as burger meat.

Recipe

This recipe was inspired by Annie of Forest Street Kitchen, however I also found the original on Cooking Light Magazine’s website, myrecipes.com.

Ingredients

2 to 2 1/2 pounds boneless chuck steaks, cut into half-inch wide strips

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 cup carrots, julienned

1 1/2 cups onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup chicken stock, divided

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

8 ounces sliced mushrooms

1 clove garlic, minced

1 12 fluid ounce beer

Ingredients Without The Beef

Method

1. Season steaks with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add steaks and cook 5 minutes per side or until browned. Remove steaks and set aside.

2. Add onions, carrots, brown sugar and 2 tablespoons chicken stock. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook 10 minutes. Stir in rosemary, garlic, and mushrooms. Cover and cook an additional 2 minutes.

3. Add beer, remaining stock and steaks. Bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 90 minutes, or until steak is tender.

Mixture Just Before It Was Brought To A Boil

4. Once steak is tender, remove from pan but keep warm. Increase to medium-high heat to thicken the mixture, approximately 5 minutes. Spoon mixture over steak and serve.

Baptism Evaluation

Taste: 7

Ease of Preparation: 7

Sophistication: 6

Bottom Line: Yes

Final Thoughts

This dish was pretty good for using only the ingredients I already had in my pantry. I only needed the beer, which my brother-in-law was able to provide. My wife definitely was impressed. I was a little surprised that the taste of the beer wasn’t the strongest flavor. My source is correct when she noted that it makes for a great cold weather meal. Out of all the ingredients, the mushrooms were the tastiest with the flavor of the braising fluid infused into them. From the standpoint of Project: Baptism, my only concern is the time needed to simmer the beef. If I were to use this recipe, I can easily solve this by using a different cut of beef. Finally, I had trouble with the camera on the night I prepared this dish (I wanted to take more pictures) but everything was done in the Dutch oven so most of the shots would look the similar anyway.

Enjoy!