Trinchado

Many years ago I was taken to lunch to the original Diaz Tavern in Harrington Street, around the corner from where it is now, I was fascinated by the many Portugese dishes on the menu and decided to try the Trinchado. I have been back many times and a while ago decided to try and re-create my own recipe.

Now, I like my steak medium rare at most, and I googled "Trinchado Recipes" and got lots of results. However, on going through the different pages, all of them were really only recipes for a beef stew, telling you to add the cubes of steak to the sauce and simmer for anything from 20 minutes to an hour. Now experience tells me that this will result in overcooked and very tough bits of meat, no matter how good the quality of the steak you use.

I decided to experiment and this is what I came up with.

Ingredients. (For 2 as a main course or for 4 as a starter)

450 grams of top quality, well hung sirloin or rump steak, cut into cubes.
2 onions coarsely chopped.
1 or 2 chilli's finely chopped (according to taste and heat of the chilli's)
1 red pepper seeded and coarsley chopped (Optional)
1 level Tablespoon flour.
1/2 bottle good red wine.
250ml beef stock
3 bay leaves. 
I small tin or 1 heaped Tablespoon or 1 x 50gm sachet tomato paste.
Olive oil.
Salt and pepper for seasoning.
2 or 3 large cloves of garlic crushed.
French bread or Ciabatta.

Method. 

I use a flat bottomed Potjie to cook this in on a gas cooker outdoors.

Heat the Olive oil in the pot until very hot and then sear the cubes of steak in batches so that they are browned on the outside and still very rare/raw on the inside. Do not overcook. Keep the browned steak cubes aside in a cool dish while you make the sauce. Do not try and keep them warm as this will cause them to overcook.


Cook the onions in the pot after adding a little more olive oil if necessary until browned/caramelized, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and add the chopped chilli's and red pepper (If used) and cook for another minute or so. Add the Tablespoon of flour and cook for another minute or two, stirring often. Then add the red wine, stock, bay leaves and tomato paste and simmer for 1/2 an hour for the flavours to develop and the sauce to thicken up. (Add a bit of water if it gets too thick).

Season the sauce to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Add the seared steak cubes and the crushed garlic to the sauce in the pot and allow to cook for a minute or two for the steak to warm up and cook a bit more. This step is crucial as if you let it cook for too long, the steak cubes will be well done and tough and too little and they will still be cold and raw. I find around 2 minutes is fine.

Serve in bowls with french bread or ciabatta to mop up the sauce.