A delicious barbecue stew is one of my favourite preparations over an open fire. Adding various ingredients in measured quantities in a specific order to a cast-iron pan ensures that all the flavours shine. The backyard fills with that delightful aroma as the stew simmers for a few short hours.
The added red wine in this Trinchado ensures that this aroma is truly present. Any leftover wine, of course, can be enjoyed in the sunshine while preparing this dish.
First, let me tell you a bit more about this Trinchado. This originally classic Portuguese stew is also famous in Africa after migrants took the recipe to Angola and Mozambique.
The beef stew benefits from marinating in soy sauce and, during cooking, from red wine, garlic, and red pepper. Like any good stew, the meat in this Trinchado becomes beautifully tender and falls apart.
I recommend using flank steak for this dish instead of traditional cuts like ribeye, or chuck. The slightly coarser texture of flank steak, combined with the tenderness from stewing, will surprise you.
Traditionally, Trinchado is served with Portuguese rolls, but thick-cut fries are also a great option.
This is Portuguese Trinchado. If you decide to make this delicious stew, let us know in the comments below. Even better, please take a photo and post it on Instagram. Tag @bbqheroes so we can see what you’ve created.
Ingredients
- 750 grams of bavette
- 2 tbsp of soy sauce
- 1 red pepper
- 1/2 tsp of pepper
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika
- 100 grams of butter
- 2 onions
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 3 tbsp of flour
- 200 ml of beef broth
- 500 ml of red wine (preverably Portuguese)flank steak
Instructions
- Cut the flank steak into cubes and place them in a bowl with soy sauce, pepper, salt, and smoked paprika.
- Remove the seeds from the red pepper and thinly slice it into rings. Add the red pepper to the bowl and stir everything with a spoon to ensure the meat is well coated with this marinade’s ingredients. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1-2 hours.
- Finely chop the onion and garlic.
- Prepare the barbecue for indirect cooking at 150ºC (302ºF). Place the grill grate and the Dutch oven. Adding a little water to the pan lets you immediately tell if it’s hot enough.
- Melt 50 grams of butter in the Dutch oven and brown half of the steak cubes. Remove this meat with tongs and then brown the other half. Keep the soy sauce and red pepper mixture in which the bavette was marinated.
- Add another 50 grams of butter to the pan and use a wooden spatula to scrape any bits from the bottom. Add the onions and sauté them until they become translucent in a few minutes. After that, you can briefly sauté the garlic.
- Sprinkle three tablespoons of flour over the onions and sauté briefly. Carefully add beef broth and stir for 2 minutes until a thick sauce forms.
- Pour in the wine and stir the mixture. Return the meat to the pan and pour in the reserved marinade.
- Once the stew begins to simmer, place the Dutch oven for indirect cooking. For a kamado barbecue, you may need to use a plate setter.
- The stew will gently simmer at a stable kettle temperature of about 150ºC (302ºF). Cover the Dutch oven and close the barbecue.
- After an hour, it’s essential to check not only for meat tenderness but also for the thickness of the stew and to stir everything. When the meat falls apart nicely, you can thicken the Trinchado by removing the lid from the pan and allowing it to simmer a little longer.
