Braised Beef & Polenta
Braised we mean a piece of meat cooked slowly in a little cooking liquid, often consisting of wine, the term braising, in fact, derives from the dialectal term “brasa”, or embers.
In the past, the pot containing the piece of meat and the rest of the ingredients was surrounded by red-hot embers and left to cook for a long time.
Before starting cooking, it is required to marinate for many hours in the alcoholic liquid, usually flavored with vegetables and herbs.
Cooking must be prolonged and carried out at a medium temperature in order to allow the collagen to dissolve and make the meat softer and tastier.
The cooking base is of main importance for the realization of the dish, filtered and reduced, it is placed on the braised meat cut into slices before serving.
In the notes at the bottom of the recipe you will find all the rules and important things you need to know for the success of the recipe and for a surprising result.
I recommend pairing this dish with one of these structured red wines:
Nebbiolo DOC or Nero d’Avola DOC, Italy
Syrah AOC Valais or Pinot Noir DOC Grisons, Switzerland
Chateauneuf-du-Pape AOC, France
Braised beef with Polenta
Ingredients
- 1 bottle of low acidity red wine
- 1 kg of beef (it is important that it has a good balance between the lean part and the fat part. A cut where there will be the grain in the center will be perfect.)
- 2 carrots
- 2 onions
- 1 celery
- 1 clove of garlic
- bunch of herbs (rosemary, juniper berries, bay leaves, nutmeg)
- salt
- pepper
For the polenta:
- 350 gr yellow corn flour for polenta
- 1 liter and 250 ml of water
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
For the braised meat:
- Put the meat to marinate in the refrigerator for 12 hours immersed in the wine with the vegetables and herbs.
- Strain the liquid from the marinade and keep it for cooking.
- finely chop the vegetables soaked in wine.
- In a pan, cook the sauté until it has browned, take them out and keep the vegetables separately.
- In the oil left in the pan, brown the whole piece of meat on all sides over high heat.
- When the meat is well colored on the outside, add the sauce and the red wine that you previously kept aside, and the spices (two bay leaves, two juniper berries, nutmeg, salt and pepper) to the pan.
- Lower the intensity of the heat, cover with a lid and cook over medium-low heat for 3 and a half hours.
- When cooked, remove the pan from the heat and let the braised meat rest for an hour.
- Remove the piece of meat and reduce the sauce over the heat until the sauce is thick.
For the polenta:
- Bring the water with the salt to a boil.
- Sprinkle in the flour, always mixing in the same direction to avoid the formation of lumps.
- You can help yourself by mixing with a whisk, it will avoid the formation of lumps.
- Cook for 45 minutes over low heat, always continuing to stir.
- In case the polenta becomes too hard, you can add hot water or butter to control the density.
- Serve the polenta.
- Cut the braised beef into slices and drizzle with the hot sauce on the plate.
Notes
- Reusing the wine from the marinade instead of replacing it with a new wine, it will give the taste that escaped from the meat in the marinade during cooking.
- Make sure when browning the meat in the pan that it is really well browned and has created the crispy crust, to obtain this it is important to use very high heat and a short browning period.This process will give you the crispy crust on the outside and an interior with a pink heart.
- Leave the braised meat to rest for an hour or more before serving, the result will be much tastier.
- Respect the cooking times without ever shortening them, it is a slow cooking so it is very important to respect these times for the success of the recipe and an unforgettable finished product.
- Do not rush the polenta, in fact it must cook for a long time over low heat as long as you get a creamy and smooth polenta.
- Prefer a copper or cast iron pot to make polenta, they have the characteristic of spreading the heat evenly without concentrating it on the bottom of the pot.
- The doses of polenta are variable, allow yourself the luxury of "going by eye", in fact the more the polenta is raw the more it will absorb water, the density and taste will also be at your discretion. For example, you can make it tastier by adding grated Parmesan cheese and butter.
- Stay light with the salt, because it is usually accompanied with very tasty foods so it is always better to leave a less savory polenta, you can always add salt in the final part of cooking.