Eight in the morning, a wet winters day in the Sussex countryside. The sun is rising over the marshes and fields but the pink glow is quickly washed away by grey clouds of rain …
I walk trough a typical crooked path where the tops of the ancient trees lean towards each other creating an archway over the road, nature’s chapel.
Blissfully relaxed I listen to the bustling sound of busy birds in the hedges. Holding my breath, counting robins, coal tits and wrens. They don’t even seem to notice or care that I’m standing there.
Then it quiets down, the moment has passed and I walk on.
When I am at home but I have lots and lots to do during the day and not enough time to prepare a lovely meal, a Sussex Stewed steak is my dish of choice.
It really is the easiest dish you can imagine and it comes out of the oven as a warming meal with elegant flavors to enjoy with guests or just for your own family with plenty of leftovers for the next day. The Stout, port and mushroom sauce used, create a mahogany sauce with a deep flavour sometimes – depending on which Stout you use- you find some chocolate notes, and however a humble dish it turns out to be a feast for the palate every time.
For this dish you should use the chuck of beef, an economical cut of meat that has a deep flavour after slowly cooking it for a few hours. It is one of my favourite cuts of meat, it doesn’t cost the earth so I go for the best quality meat I can find. I buy grass fed Black Angus but I would love to try it with Sussex Longhorn beef one day. I suspect the Sussex Longhorn or the Sussex Red, will have been the kind of breed used for this dish decades ago.
I couldn’t find when the recipe first came to be but it is has been cooked in Sussex and beyond by generations of women. The most famous of women connected to this dish must be Elizabeth David who featured her recipe for the Sussex Stewed steak in her book Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen.
All the recipes I found were all very similar, did they all originate from David’s recipe or is this a far older recipe. Why is it called Sussex Stewed Steak? Is it because David gave the dish its name while she was living is Sussex? Or is it named after the breed used to cook this dish, the Sussex Longhorn or Red … Jane Grigson features her version of the dish in her book ‘English food‘, although similar it explains more how to prepare this recipe.
I cooked four different -although all very similar- recipes over the months, and this is the one I feel is the best, adapted from David’s and Grigson’s recipe.
David as well as Grigson suggests to serve the Sussex stewed steak with mashed potatoes and large field mushrooms. After trying a few other vegetable sides and potatoes, I agree the ladies are of course right.
The Sussex Stewed steak indeed pairs wonderfully with creamy mashed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms.
Sussex stewed steak
What do you need
- 1 kg of chuck steak in one piece
- Flour to dust the meat with
- 1 large onion, sliced in rings
- half a cup of stout
- half a cup of port
- 2 tablespoons of mushroom ketchup*
- freshly ground black pepper
To serve
Mashed potatoes, nice and creamy
sauteed mushrooms, a large variety.
* You can buy Mushroom Ketchup from Budgens, if you can’t find it you can substitute it with red wine vinegar.
Method
- Preheat your oven to 160° celsius
- Dust the meat with the flour and place in a baking dish that is just a little larger than the meat. If your meat has some fat, place in the dish with the fatty side down.
- Place the onion rings around the meat and a few on top.
- Pour in the Stout, port and mushroom ketchup, you might think it is not enough liquid but don’t add any more than instructed. Trust me.
- Season with freshly ground pepper
- Cover the dish with tin foil
- Put in the lower part of the oven for 3 hours then take off the tin foil leaving just a bit behind to only cover the top part of the meat. If your meat had a fatty side, turn it around now with the fat facing up this keeps the meat from drying out.
- Let simmer in the oven for another hour, this gives the sauce a chance of thickening slightly as you will see it is very runny, it will also color the onions.
Enjoy with a good pint of Stout, Porter or Ale!
You might also like:
Jo’s Lamb Hotpot >
Regula Ysewijn is a food writer, stylist and photographer, with a particular interest in historical recipes. he is a Great Taste Awards judge and a member of The Guild of Food Writers, as well as one of the two judges on 'Bake Off Vlaanderen', the Belgian version of 'The Great British Bake-Off'. A self-confessed Anglophile, she collects old British cookbooks and culinary equipment in order to help with her research. She is the author of 5 books: Pride and Pudding the history of British puddings savoury and sweet, Belgian Café Culture, the National Trust Book of Puddings, Brits Bakboek and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. 
Scrumptious British food! So comforting when the weather outside isn't friendly.
Cheers,
Rosa
thanks, as always Rosa x
Gorgeous. The country lane and the stew. I've never heard of this dish – probably because it's so regional. Love the sound of anything that braises beef for a long time with stout AND port!
This dish is perfect for you, it fills the house with beautiful smells…
Lovely lovely lovely reading. First of all, we could have walked that path together, and I am sure we walk along that path so many times in our dreams! One day we will walk there and enjoy the silence, I am sure.
Second, Elizabeth David. Full stop. Love love love. So nice to see how you reach the perfect recipe trying, adding, researching… I'm loving your blog more and more every day, and I am already loving it a lot!!
Would love to share this meal and a good (half) pint of beer!
Juls.. we have to work on you having a good (full) pint :)) {hugs}
Dear Giulia… I too think we often walk on that path together. I'm so happy to have you in my life 😉
I am very very tempted to make this with the big chuck of leg of lamb that I have in my freezer!! have you tried this with lamb?
Hi dear, no I haven't. I'm not sure the stout would work with lamb but if you do try, let me know how it went!
Mmmm, that looks good! I like anything that involves slow cooked meat.
agreed!! it's the best!
Looks fantastic – I could just imagine this being served in a cosy country pub after a walk down that lane.
oh yes, wouldn't that be nice and so it happens there is a pub down that lane!
Beautifully written article, Regula, and gorgeously photographed image. Having just been home to England for December/Jan, I relish how true to life the image is, and your accompanying description 🙂
Thank you Kara, I photograph with my heart 🙂
Lovely lovely lovely! And wonderful photos.
I shall be trying this before spring!
Thanks Helen, let me know how it went if you try it 🙂
That looks so very good Regula! The perfect dish for the current boringly wet weather!
Indeed! And perfect to warm the house!
BEAUTIFUL photo Regula and such a lovely post too…..I am a BIG lover of Sussex Stewed Steak in the same manner as you are! Karen
Thank you Karen, isn't this a beautiful dish indeed…
My first attempt at Sussex Stewed Steak is in the oven right now 🙂
I followed the Elizabeth David recipe, and I had a few questions. Do you reckon it is best to cook the dish for 4 hours all up? Elizabeth says 3, but I'm 2 hours and 40 minutes into the cooking process and the gravy is still very liquid. Do you find that the extra hour cooked mostly uncovered works better than just the 3 hours?
Also it might be because I am not so used to this kind of cooking, but is the alcohol flavour meant to be quite strong? I tasted the gravy after the dish had been cooking in the oven for about 1.5 hours, and the flavour was quite strong. I think it's quite nice, but it came as a bit of a shock
Best regards,
Sasha
Hi Sasha,
Sorry for my late reply, I was travelling.
The liquid should always be on the runny side but I suspect you might not have used enough flour to dust the meat. Also the onions make the gravy thicker.
It is an old recipe, not using corn starch and all that will leave you with a runny sauce. I hope it went well, do let me know if you have more questions! x R
Thanks so much 🙂 I hadn't thought of the flour, i'll try more next time. Great blog btw, it's just got cold where I am and I'm looking forward to trying out more of these recipes!