Trinchado
(Spicy South African Braised Beef)
based upon a recipe
by Patrick Fish
South Africa
Serves 4
Some people request recipes, others demand them, but those who wrote me about Trinchado pined for it. Many of them had recently been to South Africa on vacation and wanted to recapture the taste of this spicy beef dish.
I'll admit I was flummoxed. I had never heard of it. So I poured through my resources but came up empty-handed. Eventually, I came across an Internet message posted by Patrick Fish. One look at the recipe and it was clear that I had to post it.
As is common with peasant food, the origin of such a dish is hard to verify. Patrick believes it's popular in South Africa because of the Portuguese immigration from nearby Angola and Mozambique. To the best of Patrick's knowledge, the dish is traditionally served with a heap of chips, a.k.a. French fries. (When I asked him if this was a holdover from colonial days, he replied no.) He went on to point out that the Portuguese serve trinchado with chips at their own cafés (small delicatessens) throughout the country. I still have my doubts whether this is a British influence, but it's delicious either way.
Trinchado is meant to be spicy. But be extremely careful when preparing the hot peppers: Wear rubber gloves if you have sensitive skin and don't touch your face or eyes. When finished, wash your hands thoroughly with hot, soapy water.
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Ingredients |
| 1 tablespoon | |
unsalted butter |
| 1 tablespoon | |
olive oil |
| 1 2-pound | |
rump roast, cut into 1-inch cubes |
| 2 large | |
yellow onions, chopped |
| 3 or 4 small | |
hot red chile peppers, stemmed and chopped (retain the seeds) |
| 4 cloves | |
garlic, minced |
| 2 tablespoons | flour | |
| 1 cup | |
beef stock |
| 1 cup | |
red wine or 1/2 cup brandy |
| 1 | bay leaf | |
| 24 | |
oil-cured black olives |
| Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste | ||
| Bread for dunking | ||
1. Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add the butter and oil. Once the butter is melted and sizzling, add the beef cubes in 4 or 5 batches and brown well on all sides. Don't crowd the pan or rush this step; this is what gives the dish its flavor. Remove the cubes with a slotted spoon to a warm plate and set aside.
2. Lower the heat to medium, add the onions, chile peppers and their seeds, and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir until the flour's fully cooked, about 2 minutes.
3. Pour in the stock and red wine (or brandy). Stir until the sauce thickens a bit, about 3 minutes. Add the bay leaf, olives, browned beef cubes and any juices that may have accumulated on the plate. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours. Check every 15 minutes or so until the meat is very tender. Season with salt and pepper.
5. To serve, place the Trinchado in a large bowl and top with with French fries. Have lots of bread on hand for dunking.
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Reviews
On 4.9.02 Mike from Johannesburg, South Africa, wrote:
I remember something very similar to this in the early '70s when on holiday
in Mozambique — Beira in particular. The dish was served as a free
"snack" at most bars in the area when you ordered your first
drink. Generally speaking, it was almost like a ladle of stock from the
kitchen's trimmings pot that was spiced up a bit, thickened, and served
with a crusty (yesterday's) roll, which you broke up and dunked as you
drank. Being from the stock pot, it was never the same. For example, in
a seafood restaurant, you would get the odd crab or lobster leg, prawn
or fish tail; from a steak house, it would be closer to what you have
in your Trinchado recipe, with the meat trimmings forming the base.
As for the South African connection, my theory is Portuguese-style cooking became popular here several years ago. As Patrick Fish so rightly says, we have many immigrants from Mozambique and Angola now living here, and it stands to reason that some have started Portuguese-style restaurants. With many South Africans having visited Mozambique, I'm sure many remember this dish as well as I do, and have requested it at local Portuguese restaurants.
Anyway, a few friends and I have been making this type of dish for many years to serve at parties with drinks before the main meal. I've made it with chicken necks, gizzards, and livers, but the most popular version is beef. I use chuck, brisket, or whatever is cheap at the time, and cut it into small 1/4- 1/2-inch cubes, discarding the fat and sinew but retaining the bones to add body to the sauce. I also use more onions and garlic than your recipe suggests, as well as the addition of finely diced green peppers and, occasionally, potatoes cut into small cubes for bulk. As I use the tougher cuts, I use a bit more wine or sherry to soften the meat. The sauce must be coating thickness to cling to the bread roll, and the consistency is adjusted with corn flour before serving. Everything else appears almost exactly the same as in your rendition, with the exception of the olives — I'll try that next time.
Having said that, I do agree that the French fries are
not authentic, although they were popular in the holiday resorts of Mozambique
that foreigners frequented, and are still readily available today in the
few remaining places worth visiting. I therefore concur that French fries
are most likely a colonial/tourist-requested addition.
On
4.18.02 Lorraine wrote:
Very good and informative, thanks!
On
8.27.02 T.S. wrote:
This is divine, will definitely make it again !!
On
11.22.02 C.B. wrote:
I will definitely make it again! I would add more garlic next time, though.
For bread, I used a very fresh French loaf. Worked out great!
On 11.30.02 C.C. wrote:
Trinchado, as we know it via one of the best restaurants for Portuguese
food, is liberally loaded with garlic — at least a whole bulb, not
just four cloves. The gravy is part of the dish, because Portuguese
rolls
are traditionally served with it. Chips are the diner's option, but they
are not the customary side order for trinchado. In Mozambique in the
'50s,
you couldn't get anything, not even fried eggs for breakfast, that wasn't
liberally flavoured with garlic. Piri-piri [spelled piri-piri
in Portugal] was the other ubiquitous flavour, and I hope you can get
this particular brand [Macarico], it is outstanding stuff and will probably
outsell Tabasco! It is made from chiles with outstanding flavour, and
it's not so hot that it will take the lining out of your hat!
On
12.19.02 Chris Day wrote:
I
was thrilled to find your trinchado recipe for braised beef, as I have
had it at many Portuguese/South African/Mozambique eateries.
Your featured recipe gets four forks from me. However, I tried a few
variations and would like to share these with you.
Firstly, on the stock. I believe it is important to go beyond the canned
stock because the stock is where you can add a lot more flavour. I use
1.5kg of veal
trimmings, chopped
100ml of oil
I medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
I garlic glove, peeled and crushed
100g mushrooms, wiped and chopped
I tablespoon tomato purée
6 black peppercorns, crushed
I bay leaf
I sprig of thyme
900ml water
10g arrowroot, diluted in water
Heat the oil until smoking, in a roasting pan, then brown the veal trimmings
for 8 minutes, stirring often. Add the onion, garlic and mushrooms, and
cook for another 5 minutes. Cook in preheated oven for 20 minutes 450°F.
Spoon out excess fat. Add purée, peppercorns, bay leaf, and thyme and
stir. Deglaze pan with 200ml of water, scraping all the bits from the
bottom. Whisk the arrowroot and water into the stock and bring to the
boil. Cool, then refrigerate and freeze. This is a lot of work, but you
can keep the stock frozen and use it often.
I also used whisky instead of brandy in your recipe, and this was great. Also you can have the meal with the Mozambique favourite tipple — Catembe. This is rough red wine topped with Coke. Wonderful stuff. Cheers. Chris Day, Johannesburg, South Africa.
On
1.31.04 Theresa wrote:
I am a South African living in Mozambique for
the past five years. I saw this recipe and knew that it was the one;
I have been
looking
for ages. We have the best pão (bread)...the recipe
for it I have yet to find. We still use potatoes, so the dish will
be a
winner.
Thank you.
On
10.30.06 B.R.R. wrote:
This is a great dish. Begin with beef, garlic, and red wine — and
it's hard to go wrong. I use beef shank or chuck, which I think are
superior stew meats. The olives are what put this dish over the top.
I like mixing up the oil-cured olives with some brined or marinated
kalamatas, which I add at the end to retain their piquant flavor.
I serve this with a nice crusty bread, but french fries would be great,
too. I don't know how recent an introduction it is, but every Portuguese
restaurant I've been to (in Massachussetts and the Azores) serves some
type of fried potato (usually the round-sliced type) with Portuguese
steaks and pork stews, both of which always have a garlicky gravy that
demands to be soaked up and consumed.
On 3.28.07 Otto Fobian wrote:
Absolutely wonderful. Omitted the chiles and used a teaspoon of hot,
spicy curry powder instead. Deglazing with Old Brown Sherry is a good
substitute for brandy. Thank you for a great experience.
