I was thrilled that this recipe won the survey! This is in fact the first recipe I ever developed, before I knew what developing a recipe was.
The method of cooking beef in a pressure cooker I learned from my mom, and the method of methodically submerging each slice of beef in the sauce I learned by watching my dad, who did it with the patience only he possesses.
I developed this sauce over the years – it has gone through multiple variations and changes until it reached its current (and for me, final) composition.
Ingredients
1-1½ kg. (2-3 pounds) beef shoulder roast
4 large carrots, peeled
2 large onions, peeled
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 bay leaves
3 all-spice berries
2 tbsp. cornstarch
salt
2 packet peeled and cooked chestnuts
1-2 tbsp. Demerara sugar
Preparation
Place the meat, onions, carrots, bay leaves and all-spice in a pressure cooker.
Cover with water up to ¾ of the height of the meat.
Close the lid, but leave the valve open.
Bring to a boil until steam comes out of the valve.
Close the valve and wait for steam to come out again.
Reduce to low heat and cook for about 1¼ hours.
Remove from heat and set aside for 5 minutes.
Open the valve and release all the steam completely.
Open the pot, remove the meat, carrots and onions, strain and keep(!!) the cooking fluids in another container.
***If you are not using a pressure cooker, cover the meat completely in water, and the cooking time will be 2-3 hours until meat is thoroughly cooked and soft enough to easily poke with a fork…***
Let meat cool completely.
Chop the onions and slice the carrots into rings.
In your now-empty pressure cooker, pour olive oil and sauté the onions until golden.
Mix the cornstarch into your beef stock (cooking fluids) and add to your pressure cooker.
Add the carrots, season with salt to taste, add the sugar and stir well.
Slice the now-cool roast (the thinner the slices, the better they will absorb the sauce and its flavors).
Add the slices of beef to the sauce.
Close the lid, but leave the valve open.
Bring to a boil until steam comes out of the valve.
Close the valve and wait for steam to come out again.
Reduce to low heat and cook for about 1 hour.
Remove from heat and set aside for 5 minutes.
Open the valve and release all the steam completely.
Open the pot, add the chestnuts and stir.
Serve with plain rice or garlic mashed potatoes.
