Slow cooker chuck steak

Fifteen minutes in the morning, eight hours on low, and the pot does the rest. The fat through chuck keeps it moist all day. Eight hours on low or five on high, and 1 kg feeds six.

Serves

6 people

Prep

15 minutes

Cook

8 hours

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From the shop

Start with 1 kg of chuck steak, cut into 4 cm pieces. Gravy beef works the same way in the slow cooker.

Brown the beef first. It is the one step people skip, and it is where most of the flavour in the gravy comes from. A slow cooker never gets hot enough to do it for you.

Ingredients

• 1 kg chuck steak, cut into 4 cm pieces
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 brown onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, cut into chunks
• 3 potatoes, cut into chunks
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 500 ml beef stock
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 3 sprigs thyme
• Salt and cracked black pepper

Method

1. Toss the beef in the flour with a pinch of salt and pepper.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat. Brown the beef in two batches, 3 minutes a batch. Put it in the slow cooker.
3. Add the onion, carrot, potato, tomato paste, stock, Worcestershire sauce and thyme. Stir.
4. Cover. Cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 5 hours, until the beef falls apart.
5. Take out the thyme stalks. Taste and season. If the gravy is thin, take the lid off and cook on high for 20 minutes.

Serve it

Serve in bowls with crusty bread, or over mash.