Breakfast Pulled Beef

As temperatures get a little lower (which I am extremely happy about), and autumn peeking around the corner, I am in the mood for something different for breakfast. Something warming, comforting and hearty, keeping me satieted many hours. I like my easy cheesecake, but now I’m not cutting anymore and can afford to eat something different. However, even if you are cutting at the moment, this recipe could be for you: you just have to be smart about the cut of meat to use.

This recipe is very similar to my summer roast. It is easy to prepare, time efficient and budget friendly as you will use cuts of meat that need long stewing times and are therefore quite cheap.

To be honest, I can’t call this even a serious recipe, it is more of a guideline that leaves plenty of room for experimentation.

You will need a large stewing pot with a heavy lid that traps all the humidity inside and prevents the meat from going dry and grainy. Or you wrap your meat in baking paper and a double layer of tinfoil. I’ve tried both and they work equally well. Personally, I prefer my stewing pot as it generates less waste and lets me feel like a barbarian when I heave it into the oven.

Go to the butcher and get some nicely marbled beef for stewing. I like to add some ox tail and/or beef ribs as the bones give a wonderful flavour to the resulting broth. Most of the time I shoot for something about three kilogram of beef (including the bones). Place your meaty loot into your stewing pot.

Now the fun part begins: seasoning! I like to add granulated and/or fresh onions and garlic as a baseline as it adds character to your meat (umami, baby!). A generous amount of salt and pepper are a no brainer. From there you can take it into almost any direction:

• American style with lots of smoked peppers, chili, coriander and sugar
• Chinese with ginger, five spices, soy sauce and fermented black beans
• Mediterrean style with tomatoes, oregano, thyme/basil and if you have, a piece of parmesan rind
• Japanese with dried shiitake, some wakame and lots of miso
• Indian with coconut milk and a good spice blend or past of your choice
• Northern European with bay leaves, mustard and worcestershiresauce

If you didn’t use liquid ingredients, I suggest you adding a little broth/water/wine just to get things started and prevent them from drying out.

Make sure your beef is nicely packed/the lid fits the stewing pot firmly and put the meat in your oven around 10 o’clock PM. Turn the temperature to 80-100°C, depending on your oven and the selected cuts. I use 100°C and the pulled beef is ready at 6 o’clock in the moring. Now you only have to take two forks and shred the beef into little pieces. Or if you don’t like to do this, you can also chop it up with a knife. Maybe you have to adjust the seasoning, but most of the time I am happy with the result just like it is.

As you can imagine, the possibilities for variation are endless! I also like to mix pork and beef, as the porky parts are a little fatter. Feel free to add vegetables to the pot to give you something more like a traditional stew. I also would like to experiment further with the seasoning: something spicy with ananas is crossing my mind. Or maybe more traditional and sweet with cranberry jam? And of course, this isn’t only a breakfast: you can enjoy your pulled beef any time of the day.

Feel free to experiment and make sure to let me know in the comment section what you tried and how it turned out!

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