Spiced Beef in Red Wine Recipe (2024)

There's a very good reason for this. Boiling off the alcohol before the liquid comes into contact with the beef helps preserve the integrity of the cell structure of the beef, making for a less mushy stew. Wolfgang Keller teaches this, as a result I have been boiling all of my wine based marinades before using them.

Step 3 seems unnecessarily complicated. After sautéing the vegetables, just add the beef stock, wine, Worcestershire sauce, star anise, brown sugar and stir. Then go to step 4. Save a pan clean up and no multi-tasking.

How is it that the picture shows lots of chunks of veggies, yet the recipe calls for putting them in a food processor? Who would want the veggies processed anyway? Just cut them into pieces that make them an attractive part of the stew!

Just finished making my own version of this.... all the ingredients, including a couple of thin slices of ginger, and the meat whole, go in the slow cooker on low for a few hours. Easiest meal I make. Weekly. Kid insists on it. No flour. No food processor. No sauté. You could leave out the beef stock entirely too. Serve over mashed pots. Deeelish.

This looks a variation of a Vietnamese beef stew called "bo kho," which means stewed/braised beef. If you were to swap out the Worcestershire sauce for fish sauce (both anchovy based sauces anyway), leeks for lemongrass, parsley for cilantro, wine for minced ginger, bacon for chopped tomatoes, you would have a Vietnamese classic. Same method. I'm still nonetheless looking forward to giving this variation a go!

Anise. Cloves.

Why not sauté the veggies then deglaze the pan with the red wine? (I left them chopped; no food processor.) Reduce wine, cooking off alcohol, before adding beef stock and flavorings/spices. Odd instructions.

Is this a variant of boeuf bourguignon?
If yes I' suggest adding the sauteed carrots not at the beginning, but 1/2h before simmering ends. At least if they are supposed to look like in the photo.

Wonderful Valentine's Day dinner. We haven't eaten yet but I keep stealing tastes of the lovely sauce. Pairing with mashed potatoes and a green salad. Takes some time to chop the veggies but otherwise a very easy dinner. Will definitely add this to our cold and snowy day rotation.

Rather than putting the liquids in a pan on the stove I just microwaved it in the bowl I used after processing. I also added some garlic to the veggies.

That photo is a particularly blatant example of food-styling. Those colorful pieces have been placed one by one, dry, on top of the actual dish. Look—even the parsley bits are evenly distributed. I'm not complaining; I would have skipped right past this intriguing recipe were it not for the colors!

Good, not great. Don't process veggies; chop them roughly then strain sauce when meat is almost done. Defat, return to pot, and then add the pretty chunks of carrots, etc., shown in photo. Also, as with all braises, I think this is best done 2 hours in low oven (275F), in partially covered pot.

Was in a bind and ended up making a delicious dinner, no less. No leeks, bacon, or flour. Brown beef, set aside, soften onions and scrape pot with wine (montepulciano). Add bay leaves, cloves, and a star anise. Return beef, and cook for 1.5 hrs, then add carrots and chopped parsley, cooking 30 mins more. Gloriously tender meat and still-orange, tender carrots.

Fabulous recipe I adapted to the Instant Pot, especially over orzo on a cold winter’s night with a green salad or vegetable on the side. Used a bit of Red Boat fish sauce for added unami, then pressure cooked the beef chunks for 20 minutes after browning them, followed by a 10-minute release. Tip: if you don’t like cooked carrots (and my family doesn’t) but want to retain their lovely flavor in the sauce, grate them finely and add them in after the onions. They melt right into the sauce!

I'm actually not sure about this recipe. A lot of work for not really that much gain. It was just okay. Agree with a lot of comments about the food processor... I did them one by one: leeks, onions, carrots etc. and still ended up with kind of mush. And spiced? hmmm.... Overall, not a keeper.

Put all ingredients (save flour) in crockpot for about 7 hours on low. Added thyme and baby Bella mushrooms. Mixed flour in as soon as I turned heat off to cool. Served over garlic chive mashed potatoes. Makes 8 servings.

Cooked wine off BEFORE adding meat. Boiler onions disappeared so add MORE later in cookingAdded: sliced carrots, potatoes and celery at 45 min Added: cooked sliced mushrooms at 30 minute Put star anise in packet and remove before serving. No mushiness. Gravy was delicious.

OH MY GAWD so delicious. Only changes: used a Dutch oven, and after bringing to a simmer, covered & stuck it in a 300F oven for 2h. Before serving, I didn’t like the appearance so I removed the meat, strained/pressed the goop to retrieve as much liquid as I could, returning it to pot with the meat. Served w rice/leek pilaf and Julia Child’s grated zucchini. Sublime mealNext time I wouldn’t use a food processor as I like chunky stews - not grainy! Might also cook longer/pressure cook.

Didn’t hav leeks or bacon on hand but used some bacon fat and scallion tops as on hand substitutions. It was very, very good! I used the oven at 275 instead for on the stove to simmer and gave it double time to get tender - and it did. Great do ahead entree and will do it again with the proper ingredients. Thank you!!!

Picture shows veg that I’m pretty sure weren’t ever in a food processor.

This was absolutely amazing! I made it by the recipe except for a few additions. I felt it needed salt, some sherry and extra cooking time. My husband couldn't stop raving about this dish.

Nice flavors in my opinion. I didn't use a food processor, just cut the veggies into small dice.

Fabulous. Didn't have the star anise on hand so I just put in more cloves. Served on egg noodles. A perfect cold weather meal.

Good, not great. Don't process veggies; chop them roughly then strain sauce when meat is almost done. Defat, return to pot, and then add the pretty chunks of carrots, etc., shown in photo. Also, as with all braises, I think this is best done 2 hours in low oven (275F), in partially covered pot.

Using a food processor creates more of a mush than finely chopped veggies. And the star anise needs to either be strained out of the wine sauce when adding to the veggies or put in a cheesecloth so it can easily be removed before serving. Biting into it when eating is decidedly unpleasant. All in all it was interesting, but I think I prefer a straightforward bouef bourguigon.

Can this be increased by half safely? I'd want to serve 8 or 10 at a dinner.