Vietnamese Beef Stew

It’s stewing season so lets have fun and get complex. A little spicy and fragrant with French origins, this beef stew is in a league all of its own. Rich beef stock, aromatic spices, hearty vegetables, and brightened with complex herbs it’s a perfect nourishing dish to make on a grey day or a lazy Sunday.

Ingredients

• Beef Short Ribs  ·  1 pound 
• Oxtail  ·  2 pounds 
• Beef Stock  ·  2 quarts 
• Carrots, peeled and diced  ·  2 
• Large Turnip, peeled and diced  ·  1 
• Piece of Fresh Ginger, grated or minced  ·  1" 
• Yellow Onion, diced  ·  1 
• Lemongrass, cut into 2" pieces  ·   
• Williamson Wines Melange  ·  1 cup 
• Top Round Beef, cubed into 1" pieces  ·  2 pounds 
• All Purpose Flour  ·  1/4 cup 
• Salt & Pepper  ·   
• Vegetable Oil  ·  2 tablespoons 
• Herbie's Star Anise  ·  3 whole 
• Herbie's Cloves Whole  ·  1 tablespoon 
• Herbie's Cinnamon Quills  ·  2 whole 
• Herbie's Quatre Epices (Sweet)  ·  1 tablespoon 

Instructions

Pre- heat your oven to 325 degrees.

In a large saute pan heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium high heat. When the oil begins to shimmer add the short ribs and oxtail to the saute pan and cook for at least 2 minutes on each side to ensure that they have a nice deep brown color to them. If they do not fit in the saute pan together then you can sear them in two separate batches. When they are seared on all sides remove them from the saute pan into a large heavy bottomed pot preferably a dutch oven if you have one.

Keep the Large saute pan over medium high heat with all of the beef bits on the bottom called "fond" and add 1/2 of the chopped onion and 1/2 the Williamson Wines Melange. Scrape all of the bits of with a wooden spoon and reduce the liquid to about 1/3. Then add the onions and liquid to the large pot.

In a large bowl coat the top round beef cubes with the flour and season liberally with salt and pepper. Place the large saute pan back on the burner over med high heat and add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Once the oil begins to shimmer add the top round beef cubes and sear on all sides. They should take around 5 minutes to brown. Remove them from the saute pan and add them to the large pot with the oxtail and short ribs. Continue to deglaze the pan just like you did before with the other half of the onion and the other 1/2 of the wine.

Discard the saute pan and put the heavy bottomed pot with the seared beef on the medium high burner. Add the 2 quarts of beef stock.

Add all of the Herbie's spices, carrots, turnips, lemongrass and ginger. Bring all the contents up to a boil. Cover tightly with a lid. Once it reaches a boil remove the pot from the stove and place in the bottom rack of your oven and cook at 325 degrees for 2 1/2 hours. Check the tenderness of the meat after 2 1/2 hours. If it is not fork tender then you can cook it for another 1/2 hour. Once the meat is fork tender, remove the pot from the oven and discard the oxtail and bones from the short ribs. You should be left with the top round cubes, veggies, and a delicious broth.

Remove the round beef cubes from the pot with a pair of tongs and heat the rest of the contents over high heat. Reduce the sauce as much as you like until it reaches a thick stew like consistency. (If you like the consistency of the broth when it comes right out of the oven then you can skip this step).

Serve immediately with a bowl of rice and a glass of Williamson Wines Ravish Melange

Chef Tommy's Tips:

• If you would like to make your own broth: Take the oxtail, short ribs, onion, ginger, lemongrass and all of the Herbie's Spices and add them to a large stock pot. Cover them with as much water as it takes to just barely cover the contents in the pot. Simmer very low for a minimum of 6 hours. Make sure to skim all of the impurities off of the top as you go. You should be left with a rich, slightly reduced broth. Then continue with the recipe starting at step 4.
• Don't have time to cook? Need a good crock pot recipe? Prep all the veggies and cubed beef the night before. Set your crock pot to med-med high start the recipe at step 3 and cook all day long while you are at work, minimum of 8 hours.