2014 Cooking Club Week 15: Slow Cooked Beef in Espresso Bean BBQ Sauce

reallyrose

First of all, apologies for my late post. (especially when you see it...)
Life has been busy recently so the Cooking Club slid under the radar.

BUT HERE IS THE RECIPE

I got it from a book of paleo slow cooker recipes but like any recipe, it's evolved in response to local ingredients / laziness of the cook / amount of paleo dedication going on.

You all still have your slow cooker from Spark's Pulled Pork recipe, right?

Now, trust me on the coffee. I don't know much fancy cooking words but the coffee really works. It adds depth, I think. Or something. Just DO IT.

Ingredients:

Meat:

2 1/2 lbs beef pieces (the nice cheap ones(

Not Meat:

1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp butter for sautéing (or oil. or ghee if you're going all the paleo way)
tin of tomatoes + about 2-3 tomatoes chopped and deseeded.

Spices, etc.
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup honey
Chilli pepper in the format of your choice. I used chipolte in adobo!
1 tsp smoked paprika
cube of fresh ginger
1/4 cup espresso or a 1/2 cup of strong coffee
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsps chili powder

So, in the recipe, you'll need to add the chilli when appropriate for your format. I added the adobo just before the tomatoes to let it get nice and fragrant for a moment.

1) Sauté the onions in over medium heat, until translucent, chuck in the garlic.
2) Add tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes.
2.5) The original recipe said to puree the mixture. I didn't and didn't really notice much different. S'up to you.
3)Add the rest of the ingredients. (except the beef)
4) Give everything a good stir and cook on a low heat for about half an hour. It'll thicken up and go a nice browney-red.

Meanwhile... in BeefTown

5) Brown the beef in a clean pan. Until it is brown.

6) Once your beef is brown and your sauce is all nice.

7) Go on, give it a taste. It's your chance to adjust it. ... sure add more chilli, what hard could it do? Once when I made this, actually, I was tasting it and thought "that's a bit sharp. It needs .. something." I was drinking a can of coke at the time and figured "why not?" Added about half a can of coke. The sauce was amazing. True story.

8) Put the beef in the slow cooker, throw in a few ladles of BBQ sauce until it's covered, put the cooker on low, and leave it to it.

9) Go away for 6 or 8 hours.

10) Come back and eat it with the remaining BBQ sauce. Also some rice if you're not doing the paleo thing. Or it's really good in a burrito if you're REALLY not doing the paleo thing.

Nom nom.

ibarelycare

No duck this time?

Malari

Adding this to my "when I get a slow-cooker" list of recipes!

Moody_mona

This sounds great, will put it on the weekend menu!

reallyrose

ibarelycare wrote: »

No duck this time?

The duck is on holidays.

Faith

:eek:

The Black Oil

reallyrose
With the knife
In the kitchen

emaleth

I think I'll be doing this at the weekend - if anyone's interested, Troy's butcher down on Moore St in the Big Smoke has shin beef off the bone for €6.99 a kilo.

hdowney

Ooh I really like this. me thinking perhaps for Saturday or Monday. Excellent.

hdowney

question. how many greedy folk would this feed?

reallyrose

hdowney wrote: »

question. how many greedy folk would this feed?

Beef volume / appetite.

It's pretty filling. I got about 4 meals from it.

hdowney

I gathered that today when I asked the butcher for 2 and a half pounds of beef and he handed me half a cow chopped up :P!!!!

It's gonna be mega filling

I also bought hunny for the first time EVER!

Mrs Fox

OP, do you think lamb would work well with this recipe?

reallyrose

Mrs Fox wrote: »

OP, do you think lamb would work well with this recipe?

I think it would be ok. If I were using lamb, I would decrease the amount of chilli and knock up the honey to make a more sweet BBQ sauce. I'm open to opinions!

Make sure to use some tough ass lamb though.

juke

Been off the radar for a while - but hope to get back to recipes after next week. This will definitely be on the list.

hdowney

This was devine. Everyone loved it

Makood

It's on-Used "Spanish Cider Vinegar" and hoping it's ok. Sauce was a bit tarty so i threw in a few extra spoons of honey.

And 1/2 bottle of coke that was siting in the car for a few weeks

reallyrose

Makood wrote: »

It's on-Used "Spanish Cider Vinegar" and hoping it's ok. Sauce was a bit tarty so i threw in a few extra spoons of honey.

And 1/2 bottle of coke that was siting in the car for a few weeks

yessssss

juke

Would this work with a joint of beef - like housekeepers cut, that I could just pull apart when cooked?

reallyrose

juke wrote: »

Would this work with a joint of beef - like housekeepers cut, that I could just pull apart when cooked?

I don't know. Try it and report back? I'm not sure how much the sauce would get in to the meat.

Padraig Mor

Had this tonight. Lovely - a real flavour riot! Savoury, hot and sweet all at the same time.

juke

Only 4 months later :eek: I had this tonight.

I used regular stewing beef, and didn't bother browning it, just lopped all ingredients into the slow-cooker cold, and ate it 13 hours later.

Loved the strong flavours. Thanks OP

squonk

Going to break out the slow cooker for this next week! Looks fab! Good excuse to use up a lot of stuff I've got lying around in the larder!

reallyrose

I'm going to make it again too. My boyfriend got a new bag of coffee so I'm going to road test it the only way I know how!

oscarBravo

After cooking the beef in the sauce I blended the sauce and added the beef back in and served with rice. Delish!

Insect Overlord

I'm making this tonight! The sauce is nearly ready, then everything goes into the slow cooker until the middle of tonight. Really looking forward to this.

The Black Oil

I'm making this tonight. The injection of coffee has me a little concerned. :pac:

reallyrose

The Black Oil wrote: »

I'm making this tonight. The injection of coffee has me a little concerned. :pac:

Trust meeeeee.... *soothes*

:pac:

Carawaystick

emaleth wrote: »

I think I'll be doing this at the weekend - if anyone's interested, Troy's butcher down on Moore St in the Big Smoke has shin beef off the bone for €6.99 a kilo.

but why would you not want the bone in??

emaleth

Carawaystick wrote: »

but why would you not want the bone in??

It's what they had in the shop that week, and the recipe is for diced beef off the bone. Buckleys up the street almost always have it on the bone, cut osso buco style, if that's what you'd prefer.

Bawnmore

I made this last night, but managed to make a balls of it somehow. I didn't have any fresh tomatoes, an used an extra 1/2 tin instead. I think I might have left it in the slow cooker too long though (about 9 hours overnight), as the meat was very dry. Will try it again for sure, as the sauce was very tasty. Had it for lunch with brown rice today tough, and will by having this evening and possibly tomorrow too.