SussexWay Organic Meat

Homage to Elizabeth David

Elizabeth David’s “French Country cooking” was written more than 50 years ago and yet it still holds its own among the throng of celebratory cook books of today. Rather than laying out recipes in the traditional format, her books are more of a journal or conversation with the reader. In 1950s Britain the diet was pretty bland and uninspiring. Elizabeth David’s books introduced a whole generation to new flavors and methods of cooking.

Her central tenet is to use simple store cupboard ingredients like wine, white white vinegar, olive oil, garlic and plenty of herbs to infuse flavor into meat and vegetable dishes. Though it may seem extravagant to use wine, when you consider the cost of all the pre-prepared seasonings and stock cubes you could dispense with, then using wine in cooking is really quite cheap. Saving some wine for cooking is a great way of stopping us finishing up the bottle too!

Below are some of her ideas which will turn our well hung beef into a mouth watering dish. Stewing beef or braising steak are ideal for slow cooked casseroles as the long cooking time tenderizes the meat.

Wine Marinade for Meat

Simply heat a wineglass of olive oil in a saucepan. Once hot add a sliced carrot, a sliced onion, half a head of celery cut into inch lengths. Let the vegetables brown slightly, then add a quarter of a pint of white wine and a small glass of wine vinegar. Add 4 or 5 stalks of parsley, 4 shallots, 2 cloves of garlic, thyme, bayleaf, a sprig of rosemary, 6 peppercorns and salt. Simmer for half an hour, then leave to cool and poor it over your piece of meat.

Slow cooked marinaded beef

She suggests you leave your meat in this marinade for up to 48 hours. As well as plenty of time in the marinade, many of her recipes involve slow cooking in a tightly sealed casserole dish on a low oven. With lean stewing beef, she recommends sautéing the beef in bacon fat. She adds bacon, stoned olives, carrots, more herbs and garlic but you could of course adapt this and add mushrooms, peppers, pumpkin cubed or cubed potato pieces as you prefer.

She serves this dish with ribbon noddles, a splash of olive oil and some grated cheese.

If you have other favourite Elizabeth David tips please email us