Catalan Beef Stew

Jeff the Chef
"Catalan Beef Stew," from Make It Like a Man!

You’ll not believe what the orange does for this Catalan Beef Stew. And it’s beautifully balanced by the olive. Together, they flavor the dish and yet hold on to just enough of their independence to dazzle your taste buds.

Ingredients to serve 6

2 Tbs olive oil, plus more if needed
10 pieces thick-cut bacon, diced
3-3½ lbs. boneless chuck roast, sliced into 2-inch cubes
2 large yellow onions, peeled and chopped (about 4 cups)
3/4 tsp salt, plus more to taste
Freshly-ground pepper, to taste
Peel from one medium orange, julienned
2 bay leaves
3 small cloves garlic, peeled
2 cups + 2 Tbs red wine, separated, plus more if needed
2 cups beef stock, plus more if needed
2 cups Spanish olives, pitted
1½ tsp cornstarch
Saffron (or yellow) rice, for serving

How to do it

  1. Preheat an enameled, cast-iron casserole. Add olive oil, adjust heat to medium, and wait for the oil to shimmer. Add bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until it’s fully browned, about 7 minutes. Transfer the bacon to a large mixing bowl, leaving as much oil as possible in the casserole.
  2. Increase heat to high. Add the beef to the casserole, working in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan, and brown the pieces on all sides, turning every 2½ minutes. Add the browned beef to the bacon. You may need to add oil in between batches.
  3. Add onion to the casserole and caramelize, about 25 minutes over med-high heat, diminishing to med-low about half-way through. Toward the end of the cooking time, preheat the oven to 325°F.
  4. Stir salt and pepper into the onions. Add the bacon and beef back to the pan. Add orange peel, bay, and garlic. Pour in 2 cups of the wine and all the stock. The beef needs to be fully submerged; use more wine and stock if necessary. Bring to a boil. Cover the pot, and place it in the oven. Bake for 1½ hours. Periodically check to make sure that the beef continues to be submerged in the liquid. As you do this, check for seasoning and add more as needed.
  5. Add olives and continue baking until the beef is remarkably fork tender, about 1 hour.
  6. Remove the solids from the pot. Pick out and discard the bay. Strain the liquid into a fat separator. (You should have 2 cups.) While you’re waiting for the fat to separate, whisk corn starch and remaining 2 tablespoons wine together in a small bowl. Pour the defatted liquid back into the pot, and add back in 1 tablespoon of the fat. Over a high flame, whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Bring to a vigorous boil. Correct seasoning. Pour the sauce into a small bowl. Return the solids to the pot, pour the sauce over it, and cover until ready to serve. Serve with rice.
"Catalan Beef Stew," from Make It Like a Man!

Notes

If the pan is preheated, the oil should come to a shimmer in just a few seconds.

Cooking the bacon will produce a fond; this is perfectly fine. It won’t interfere with the beef browning. You’ll deglaze the pot it in the onion phase.

For such a meat-centric dish as this, it seems to me to be worthwhile to splurge on a purchase from the butcher, rather than the grocery store. Your butcher almost certainly stocks cubed beef; you can buy that for the sake of convenience. However, I like to buy a roast and cube it myself – mainly because I think very large cubes look so amazing in a beautiful stew.

If your roast has been tied, cut and discard the strings. Once you’ve cubed the beef, set it on paper towels, cover it with more paper towels, and mush it together somewhat so that the towels soak up as much liquid as they can. The beef will brown better if it’s dry when it goes into the pot. The beef will produce a good deal of spatter; it’s worthwhile to consider using a spatter guard. As you go from batch to batch, the oil will get dark. Don’t worry about this. There’ll be tons of steam as well – but realize that this is steam, not smoke. If for any reason the pan begins to produce smoke – which is quite dramatically different from steam (it smells burnt, is denser than steam, and is acrid) – remove the pot from heat immediately and let it cool before proceeding. This can happen toward the end, if your last batch contains significantly fewer cubes. Because the beef browning will go on for quite some time, consider opening windows and turning on a fan.

A sharp, high-quality knife will make cubing the beef flat-out pleasurable. A low-quality, dull knife will make it frustrating and dangerous.

While you’re browning the beef, if you have fat that you’ve saved from previous baconings, feel free to use it instead of more olive oil if you find that you need more as you go from batch to batch.

When you add the onions to the pot, you’ll be able to deglaze the pan. It will seem as first like this’ll take some muscle, but if you let it take its time, it will happen easily.

Make sure to remove as much pith as reasonably possible from your orange peel. One orange’s-worth of peel is great. I wouldn’t go more. You could go less.

It should go without saying that you’d use a Spanish wine for this dish. I used “Campo Viejo” Rioja, Gran Reserva 2012. I have to be honest with you: I didn’t love the first sip. I thought it was tasty, but too acidic. However, I had another sip and liked it. I loved the third sip. So, go figure. It has a gorgeous scent. Fruity with wood tones. When wine forms such a significant part of a dish, I like to serve the same wine with dinner. This one works well in and with food.

"Catalan Beef Stew," from Make It Like a Man!

If your beef stock is salty, you may not need much added salt.

Substitute black olives (in brine, strained) for the Spanish olives if you like. I bought a can of olives, and scooped up an equal amount of olives from the Expensive Olive Bar at my fancy, local supermarket. No comparison. The expensive olives were far, far superior in texture and flavor.

A Chinese spider is perfect for removing the solids from the pot, although a very large slotted spoon would also work, as would a large colander.

When it comes to thickening the sauce, feel free to substitute wine vinegar for the wine.

The backstory

There doesn’t appear to be one and only one Catalan Beef Stew. More disparate than variations on a theme, Catalan Beef Stew recipes run such a gamut that they seem almost unrelated to one another. In that sense, it reminds me of meatloaf: everyone knows what it is, but no one agrees on what goes in it. A good number Catalan Beef Stew recipes include cinnamon and chocolate, which sounds fantastic. The recipe that I used as a launching point for this post came from The Culinary Institute of America, Lebhar-Friedman Books, NY: 2008; pg. 134.

As with most stews, it’s better reheated. An overnight in the fridge and then an hour in a preheated, 300°F will do it. You may want to add a few tablespoons of water as you do this. Be aware, however, that if you refrigerate the reheated stew, and then reheat it a second time, it will downgrade somewhat – not in flavor, but in texture. The meat will start to dry out. If this happens, coarsely shred the meat, toss it all together with the rice, and it’ll turn right back into something that you’ll absolutely love to eat.

Catalan Beef Stew

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! Thank you, Kesor. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything.

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48 thoughts on “Catalan Beef Stew”

  1. Interesting! I’ve never had Catalan Beef Stew. So sad huh? Especially after reading your recipe. I’m gonna have to give it a go. Sounds fantastic.

    Reply

    • Well, join the club! I hadn’t, either. I’ve made many others (and posted about them), from traditional, to beer-versions, to pasta-versions … this one struck me because it was so different. And I really liked it.

      Reply

    • Yes, it sure is! It seems, at least in my part of the world, that winter may be behind us now, but I was able to get through it with dishes like this.

      Reply

  3. Altho’ I have a couple of friends well versed in Catalan cooking and have enjoyed Rick Stein’s exhortations regarding the same, it has been awhile since this dish graced my table. Interesting to read ! I use pancetta as a rule . . . most recipes are pretty heavy-handed with that as you are with bacon . . . and I have always included cinnamon and chocolate . . . orange naturally at all times. A dear friend gets away with a tad of mild pimenton to boot . . . . yes, more than one accepted way . . .

    Reply

    • This was all new to me. I’ve not cooked a Catalan dish before, and can’t say that I’ve ever had one at a restaurant. I really enjoy that kind of cooking: when the outcome is a complete adventure. The cinnamon and chocolate both sound so good! I will definitely try them next time.

      Reply

  4. This dish looks amazing, I will have to try your recipe and link it back to you, The orange peel sounds very interesting and I bet it’s as good as you say it is.

    Reply

  6. Just having spent over a month in Spain, I’m disappointed that we didn’t visit the Catalan region this time. Definitely on the list next year!
    This looks and reads like a wonderful recipe. The combo of the orange and olives is intriguing; I’m hoping that I have a few grams in my luggage left for some Spanish olives, they are absurdly expensive at home.
    Eva Taylor recently posted…Ensalada de Aguacate y Atún

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  8. It’s funny how wine works like that. The more you drink, the better it tastes. Haha! I suspect this beef stew would fall into that category, too. The only difference is I’d like it from the first bite. The orange is a fun twist on this one, Jeff!
    David @ Spiced recently posted…Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

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  14. I’ve never had Catalan Beef Stew, but one look at the ingredient list, particularly that orange zest, and I’m intrigued. Definitely will be my next stew! Can’t wait to give it a try. Thanks for the Rioja reminder, too!
    Laura recently posted…Peanut Butter Banoffee Pie

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  17. I studied cooking in Madrid several years ago but never came across this dish before- the combination of orange and beef sounds great! I suppose the addition of saffron, olives and red wine gives the dish its ‘Catalan’ flavor?

    Reply

    • I really don’t know. This is new to me, and I’m under the impressions that to many people, it would be the addition of chocolate and cinnamon that would give a dish like this a Catalan flavor.

      Reply

  19. That flavor combination is also characteristic of Provencal beef stews, which always use some orange zest and often bacon (but the milder French cured bacon). You have a good point about avoiding the white pith of the orange, normally by using a vegetable peeler to peel the orange. We had an especially delicious version in Arles.

    best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  21. I love the use of the orange. I’m loving how perfectly cooked your beef is — I bet (know!) this is amazing and exactly what the world is craving just about now — really delicious comfort food. Stay well! 🙂 ~Valentina

    Reply

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