Sous Vide Grill-Seared Chuck Steak — The Slow Kind, Browned First, Three Hours In

April, properly spring now. The pastures are green and the calves are kicking up their heels and the horses are shedding their winter coats in great handfuls that blow across the corral like tumbleweed. I've been grooming the horses twice a week just to keep the shedding manageable, which Juniper tolerates and the gray gelding — whose name is officially Number Seven but who Patrick calls Buck when he thinks nobody's listening — endures with the stoicism of a horse who has accepted that humans will do strange things to him periodically and the best policy is to wait it out.

I had my ninetieth-day chip at the Thursday AA meeting. The trucker from Laurel who shook my hand at thirty days was there again and he shook my hand again. He said, "Ninety days. Now the real work starts." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "The first ninety is brute force. After that it becomes a life." I thought about that on the drive home. A life. Not a streak to maintain. A life.

Gary told me something similar this week — he said recovery is not a program, it's a practice, the way yoga is a practice or prayer is a practice, something you come back to every day and that changes the person doing it over time without announcing the changes. I said I wasn't sure I believed in something that didn't announce the changes. He said, "That's okay. You'll notice eventually."

I made beef stew this week from the last of the winter beef supply — the slow kind, brown the meat first, build the vegetables in, let it go for three hours. The kitchen smelled like the end of winter and the beginning of summer and something in between that doesn't have a name but that lives in beef stew cooked in April when the snow is gone and the grass is green.

That stew — the one I mentioned, from the last of the winter beef — is the recipe I’m leaving here. It’s nothing revolutionary. You brown the chuck, you build the vegetables in layers, and you give it three hours because three hours is what it asks for. I think I liked making it this week because it felt like what Gary was talking about — a practice, not a performance. You come back to the pot, you stir, you adjust. The stew doesn’t announce what it’s becoming either. You just notice eventually.

Slow-Braised Chuck Steak Stew

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 3 hours | Total Time: 3 hours 25 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds bone-in chuck steak, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup dry red wine (or beef broth)
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch rounds
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup frozen peas, added in the last 10 minutes
• Fresh parsley for serving

Instructions

1. Season and flour the beef. Pat the chuck pieces dry with paper towels. Toss with flour, salt, and pepper until evenly coated.
2. Brown the meat. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches so you don’t crowd the pot, brown the beef on all sides — about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove to a plate and set aside.
3. Build the aromatics. Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion to the pot and cook in the rendered fat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and tomato paste and stir for 1 minute until fragrant and the paste darkens slightly.
4. Deglaze. Pour in the red wine and scrape up every browned bit from the bottom of the pot. Let the wine reduce by half, about 2 minutes.
5. Layer the vegetables. Return the beef and any accumulated juices to the pot. Add the broth, potatoes, carrots, celery, bay leaves, thyme, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir to combine.
6. Slow simmer. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover with the lid slightly ajar and let it go for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. The meat should be falling-apart tender and the broth thick and rich.
7. Finish. Stir in the frozen peas during the last 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Serve in deep bowls with parsley scattered on top.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 410 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 780mg