Stewed steak is one of the things that remind me of being a kid back home in Pudsey, Leeds. My Mum used to do stewed steak with dumplings sometimes and it was delicious. It’s odd, however, that I’ve never had it anywhere other then my Mum’s; nobody else seems to eat it. I don’t what it has to do with Sussex either. This recipe is pretty much exactly what my Mum did, except for two main differences: this uses one big piece of steak and has additional flavourings. This is a very easy recipe and perfect for these times of filthy weather that seems to keep your socks permanently soggy and your mind on sunnier times. Give it a go.
Start off with a nice two to two-and-a-half pound slice of either top rump or chuck steak. Make sure it is well trimmed. Season both sides well with salt and pepper and coat with flour. Place it a well fitting ovenproof dish, and cover with sliced onion; use a large one. Now add six tablespoons each of stout and port and two tablespoons of either mushroom ketchup or wine vinegar. Cover tightly with foil and place in an oven preheated to 140⁰C for three hours. That’s it! Serve with mashed potato and field mushrooms, says Griggers.
#207 Sussex Stewed Steak. This took me right back to my childhood. The delicious thin gravy with a hint of rich booze and wonderfully tender beef cooked slowly – it’s what rainy November evenings were made for. 8.5/10.
Neil Cooks Grigson 
i think this is one of the highest grades you've given. i do like the simplicity of it. and i bet it makes the house smell toasty.
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It is a the best one so far for when you can't be bothered cooking! 5 minutes to prepare. it's what you want when it's completely miserable outside (as it always is in Manchester this time of year!)
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Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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Cheers! it's always nice for folks to say nice things. i recently looked over the old posts and was actually quite embarrasssed at how bad they read. i decided i should go back and re-write them, but then i thought that would be bad blog practise!
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I’ve started my Miss Amy Cooks Neil Cooks Grigson-ing with this one, because 1. it sounded delicious 2. I was really interested in the way it gets wrapped up and put in the oven! Having grown up with my mother’s crockpot recipes, this essentially sounded like something she’d make, but from a time from before the crockpot’s invention. I don’t think I’ve ever kept something in the oven this long, aside from meringues.
The good news is that the flavours are DELICIOUS. I don’t frequently cook with alcohol (probably because my mother also doesn’t), but I really liked the way the flavors of the port and stout mellowed into a pan sauce that tasted like something I might get at a restaurant. The onions were perfectly soft, too, and it went great with mashed potatoes (though I think I might stick some quartered potatoes in with the meat and onions in the future, + maybe some carrots, because that’d be even easier to make).
The bad news is that the beef definitely came out dry and overdone for me. It’s still edible, but it’s not nearly as tender as I might have hoped – I had a moment of utter despair when I pulled it out and checked the beef’s temperature, only to see it had crested 190F internally! I’m going to try making it again, but to be honest, I’ll probably do it in a crockpot. 😊
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Hello Amy. That’s some mixed results! I wonder if you used the wrong cut of meat? You need something fairly sinewy – roasting cuts wouldn’t work for example. Also: did you adjust for fan assisted oven? It’s a trickly one sometimes and I – like you – would choose a crockpot in these situations!
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You’ve solved it! I’m embarrassed to say that, looking back on my grocery order for the week, I went searching for an appropriate cut of beef (top rump) but accidentally ordered a cut that might not have been ideal (top round). (One of the tougher aspects of cooking these recipes is that – as you know, having lived in Texas as I currently do – some of the cuts Grigson recommends go by different names in the US, or simply aren’t very common here. It’s a good lesson for me to try to make time to go to a real butcher one of these days, instead of just relying on H-E-B!)
I’m already planning to make this again, because it really is a great flavor! I’ll just remember to be a little more cautious next time about what I order from the store. ♥
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I’m trying to remember US names for beef cuts…chuck steak might be a good choice? I could be wrong
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