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Zuurvlees, the movie

Picture the scene: I arrive at my brother’s house on Christmas Eve and, like any good foodie, get to work on the family evening meal. I’m still trying to find the chopping boards when my brother appears with his camera: “Hang on a sec, can you start again? I’m going to film you…” So here I am, star of blog and youtube, replete with un-show-biz ginger hair and slightly posh accent, umming and erring my way through the cooking of zuurvlees in my own sweet amateur way… Nigella, I am not. But then again, neither am I BBC-programmed to pout for 50 seconds out of every minute. La-la…

The ingredients (for 8 people):

  • 1.2 kg stewing beef, cubed
  • 6 onions, roughly diced
  • 200 ml wine vinegar
  • 200 ml water
  • 8 bay leaves
  • 8 juniper berries
  • 8 cloves
  • 4 thick slices ontbijkoek, roughly diced
  • 6 tbsp appelstroop

The method:

  1. Season the beef and brown it off in a little oil in a pan large enough to hold all the ingredients. Put to one side.
  2. Fry off the onions in the same pan for five minutes until soft but not caramelised. Then add the meat back into the pan.
  3. Add the vinegar, water, bay leaves, juniper berries and cloves. You may need to add a little more water – it should just cover the meat. Bring to the boil, and then turn down to a simmer. Cover and simmer for one hour.
  4. Add the ontbijtkoek and appelstroop, stir in thoroughly, cover and simmer for another 1.5 hours.
  5. During the last half hour, check the consistency of the sauce; by the end, it should be a thick gravy. If it’s too thin, leave the lid off and turn the heat up a little.
  6. Traditionally, it’s served with thick chips, but I served mine with buttered gnocchi and broccoli.
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