Thirteen ingredients and seven and a half hours, only twenty-five minutes of which are hands-on.
It opens at the hob rather than the cooker. Two and a half pounds of chuck are seared in batches before anything is switched on.
Why This Recipe Works
- Searing in batches browns the beef rather than crowding it into steam.
- Cooking the aromatics in the same skillet lifts what the beef left behind.
- Thirty seconds of paprika and tomato paste in hot fat deepens both.
- Five hours on LOW breaks chuck down without boiling it dry.
- Adding the potatoes for the last two hours keeps them as pieces rather than mush.
Ingredient Notes
- Sweet Hungarian paprika
- Three tablespoons, and sweet Hungarian rather than smoked or hot. It is the largest dry measure in the recipe and most of the sauce colour.
- Beef chuck
- Two and a half pounds in inch-and-a-half cubes, seared in batches. Chuck is what survives seven hours and comes out in pieces rather than shreds.
- Yukon Gold potatoes
- A pound and a half in chunks, added with two hours left. Any earlier and they break down into the sauce.
- Caraway seeds
- A teaspoon, bloomed with the paprika. Small, and one of the things that makes this read as Hungarian-style rather than as a general beef stew.
How to Make It
Sear the beef in batches
Season beef. Heat oil in a skillet and sear beef in batches until deeply browned; transfer to the slow cooker.
Onion and pepper, then paprika and paste
Cook onion and red pepper in the same skillet 3 minutes. Add garlic, sweet Hungarian paprika, caraway, and tomato paste for 30 seconds, then add to the slow cooker.
Broth in, five hours on LOW
Pour in beef broth and stir. Cook on LOW 5 hours.
Potatoes for the last two hours
Add potatoes and cook 2 hours more, until beef and potatoes are tender and the sauce is glossy red-orange.
Parsley, and nothing else
Finish with parsley. Do not add carrot, peas, sour cream, noodles, oregano, or red wine.
Seven Hours, and What Goes In When
A slow cooker cannot brown anything and it cannot hold two textures at once. Both problems are solved by timing rather than by technique: the browning happens before the cooker is switched on, and the potatoes arrive with two hours left.
Before the cooker is switched on
2 1/2 lb of chuck cubes with 1 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper, seared IN BATCHES in 1 tbsp of oil
In batches, and until DEEPLY BROWNED. This is the only chance the dish gets: seven hours of moist heat will never darken beef, and you want browned chunks. Crowding the skillet drops its temperature and steams the meat instead.
Still at the hob - 3 minutes
1 large sliced onion and 2 sliced red bell peppers
In the SAME skillet, so the fond the beef left is picked up rather than washed away. The peppers are sliced rather than diced because they are a visible component in the finished bowl.
30 seconds, and no longer
3 garlic cloves, 3 TBSP sweet Hungarian paprika, 1 tsp caraway seeds and 2 tbsp tomato paste
Three tablespoons of paprika is a large amount and it is the colour of the whole dish - but paprika scorches and turns bitter fast, which is why thirty seconds is the ceiling. Use sweet Hungarian rather than smoked or hot.
0:00 to 5:00 on LOW
3 cups of low-sodium beef broth, stirred through
Five hours with no potato in the pot at all. Chuck needs this long to break down; a potato would not survive it.
5:00 - the second addition
1 1/2 lb of Yukon Gold potatoes in chunks
Two hours is exactly what a chunk of Yukon Gold needs to come out tender and still be a PIECE. Added at the start they would dissolve and thicken the sauce into a puree; the potato pieces should stay visible.
7:00 - the finish
2 tbsp of chopped parsley
The sauce should be GLOSSY RED-ORANGE by now rather than a brown gravy. And step 5 leaves out carrot, peas, sour cream, noodles, oregano and red wine by name.
Success Tips
- Sear in batches — crowding the skillet steams the beef and there is no second chance at colour.
- Give the paprika only its thirty seconds; it scorches and turns bitter quickly.
- Hold the potatoes back until the five hours are up.
Serving Ideas
Six servings in white bowls, the dark braised beef chunks with golden potato pieces and red pepper strips in the glossy deep red-orange sauce, scattered with chopped parsley. No noodles and no sour cream.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which paprika should I use?
Sweet Hungarian paprika is what this recipe uses — not smoked and not hot. Three tablespoons of it is where the sauce colour comes from.
Can I skip the searing step?
The deeply browned beef is a defining part of this dish, and a slow cooker cannot brown anything. The twenty minutes at the hob are what produce it.
Should it be finished with sour cream?
Not here — step 5 rules out sour cream along with carrot, peas, noodles, oregano and red wine.
