067Beef stifado

Method

Classic beef and shallot braise. Serve with crusty sourdough bread, mashed potatoes, or thick pasta like hilopites.

You will need

• heavy Dutch oven or casserole pot
• tongs
• wooden spoon

1. Heat 30 ml of the olive oil in a wide, heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat and sear the beef cubes in batches until deeply browned on all sides, then transfer to a plate. 10 min Ready when: Deep mahogany crust on the meat pieces
2. Add another 30 ml of olive oil to the same pot, tip in the whole shallots, and sauté over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring gently so they turn golden without falling apart. 10 min Ready when: Shallots are glossy and lightly browned on the edges
3. Remove the shallots and set them aside on a plate with the beef to prevent them from disintegrating during the long initial meat braise. 2 min
4. Add the remaining 20 ml olive oil, sliced garlic, and tomato paste to the pot, frying for 1 minute until fragrant. 1 min Ready when: Paste darkens slightly and smells rich
5. Deglaze the pot with the red wine and red wine vinegar, scraping up any caramelised bits from the base, and let it bubble vigorously for 2 minutes to cook off the harsh alcohol. 2 min Ready when: Liquid reduces by about a third
6. Return the beef to the pot, add the tinned tomatoes, water, cinnamon stick, allspice berries, cloves, bay leaves, salt, and pepper, then bring to a gentle simmer. 5 min Ready when: Liquid is simmering gently
7. Cover tightly, lower the heat to low, and cook for 60 minutes until the meat is halfway tender. 60 min Ready when: Meat is starting to soften
8. Gently nestle the browned shallots into the pot around the meat, cover again, and continue simmering on low heat for another 45 minutes without vigorous stirring. 45 min Ready when: Shallots are meltingly soft but remain whole
9. Remove the lid and simmer uncovered for the final 10 minutes until the sauce reduces to a glossy, thick consistency that coats a spoon. 10 min Ready when: Rich, glossy sauce clinging to tender beef and whole onions

Tap a step to tick it off.

Make ahead and storing

Stifado tastes vastly better the following day as the vinegar and sweet onion juices settle.

Store chilled in an airtight container for up to 4 days; reheats excellently.

Substitutions

• rabbit or wild hare for beef chuck or brisket. The original rural meat for stifado, requiring thorough marination in red wine.
• stifado onions (kokkaria) for shallots or small pearl onions. Small round pickling onions are the standard Greek supermarket staple for this dish.

Common mistakes

• Adding the shallots at the very start with the meat. Shallots will break down completely into a mushy pulp during the two-hour simmer.
• Stirring with a heavy spoon towards the end of cooking. Aggressive stirring crushes the tender, whole braised onions; gently shake the pot instead.

Regional variants

• Corfiot stifado: uses extra vinegar and a generous pinch of cumin.
• Cretan stifado: traditionally cooked with wild rabbit and locally pressed dry red wine.

About the dish

Stifado is one of Greece's grand braised stews, characterised by equal quantities of meat and sweet shallots or baby pearl onions, scented with warming spices like allspice, cinnamon, and cloves. The name is widely traced to the Venetian 'stufato' (stewed), introduced during the long Venetian presence in the Ionian islands and Crete before spreading across the mainland. Originally made with wild hare or rabbit, modern home cooks frequently prepare it with beef, maintaining the crucial sweet-sour counterpoint of dry red wine, vinegar, and sweet onions.

Found in Ionian Islands, all of Greece. Cooked for sunday lunch, autumn, winter.

Cousins elsewhere

• Stufato (Italian). The dish name and slow-braising technique entered Greek cooking via Venetian rule over the Ionian islands.
• Stifado (Cypriot). Cypriot stifado follows the same sweet shallot and vinegar balance, often prepared with beef or pork.

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

878 kcal · protein 50.6 g · fat 52.7 g (saturated 16.3 g) · carbohydrate 43.6 g (sugars 20 g) · fibre 9 g · sodium 1192 mg

An estimate (summed from ingredient estimates) that varies with the exact ingredients. It is not dietary advice.

Written fresh by Epikouria editors from general culinary tradition. Recipe by the Epikouria editors. Following the classic mainland and Ionian approach of two-stage cooking to keep sweet shallots whole in a spiced wine sauce..

Read more

• Greek Food and Its Neighbours: A Shared Table in the Eastern Mediterranean
• Moussaka and Tselementes: How a Modern Classic Was Codified