Slow-Braised Beef & Root Stew with Red Wine Vinegar

This is proper cold-weather cooking. Rich, savoury, faintly sharp in the best way.

The red wine vinegar doesn’t shout, it murmurs, lifting the whole pot so it tastes like it’s been thinking about itself all afternoon.

Ingredients

• 800g stewing beef, cut into generous chunks

• 2 tbsp flour

• Salt and black pepper

• 2 tbsp oil or dripping

• 2 onions, sliced

• 3 cloves garlic, smashed

• 3 carrots, chunky pieces

• 2 parsnips, chunky pieces

• 1 tbsp tomato purée

• 2 tbsp Victory red wine vinegar

• 1 tbsp brown sugar or treacle

• 500ml beef stock

• 1 bay leaf

• A few sprigs of thyme or rosemary

Method

1. Toss the beef in flour, salt, and pepper. Brown it well in hot fat until deeply coloured. This matters. Colour equals comfort. Remove and set aside.

2. In the same pot, soften the onions slowly, scraping up all that good stuck-on business. Add garlic and cook briefly until fragrant.

3. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for a minute until it darkens slightly.

4. Splash in the red wine vinegar and let it hiss. That sharp note cuts through the richness like winter air through wool.

5. Add the sugar, stock, herbs, beef, and root veg. Bring to a gentle simmer.

6. Cover and cook low and slow for 2½–3 hours in the oven (160°C), or on the hob until the beef collapses at a nudge.

To Serve

With mash so buttery it barely holds its shape. Or hunks of bread torn, not sliced. This is not a neat meal. It’s a satisfying one.

Why the Vinegar Works

Red wine vinegar deepens the savouriness, balances the sweetness of roots, and stops the stew from feeling heavy. You don’t taste vinegar. You taste clarity.