Beef Casserole
Diced braising steak slow cooked in the oven for 2 hours with carrots, onions, mushrooms and stock until tender in a rich gravy.
Photograph credit: Beef Casserole by whatleydude · CC BY 2.0 · Flickr
Why does a casserole need 2 hours when the meat is already in small pieces? The answer is collagen. Braising beef is full of connective tissue, which is tough when raw but dissolves into gelatin with long, gentle heat, and that gelatin is what makes the gravy glossy and the meat soft.
Brown the beef in batches, and do not crowd the pan. Pieces that touch steam instead of searing, and lose the dark crust that gives a casserole its flavour. Dust the meat lightly in seasoned flour before browning, which helps the crust form and thickens the gravy as it cooks.
Keep the oven low, at 160°C / 320°F, and leave the lid on. A casserole that bubbles furiously will toughen the meat, while one that barely trembles turns it tender. Check after an hour, and add a splash of water if the gravy is getting thick.
Add the mushrooms halfway through so they hold their shape. A spoonful of Worcestershire sauce and a bay leaf deepen the flavour. Serve in wide bowls with mashed potato, because the gravy needs something to soak into.
How to Make Beef Casserole
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Heat the oven to 160°C / 320°F. Toss the beef with the flour, salt and pepper.
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Heat the oil in a casserole dish. Brown the beef in 3 batches for 4 minutes each. Remove it.
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Cook the onions and carrots for 6 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato purée for 1 minute. Pour in the stock and Worcestershire sauce, scraping the base.
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Return the beef, add the bay leaves and thyme, cover and cook in the oven for 1 hour.
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Stir in the mushrooms and cook for another hour until the beef is tender. Remove the bay leaves and serve.
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A Few Pointers
- Brown the beef in batches.
- Keep the oven low for tender meat.
- Add mushrooms halfway through.
Ingredient Swaps
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
- Fresh herbs work in place of the dried thyme at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.
Pairs Well With
Mashed potatoes · Crusty bread · Green cabbage · Dumplings
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Air Fryer Jacket Potato, Braised Red Cabbage, Bread Rolls.
Keeping and Reheating
Keeps for 4 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.
What's in a Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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