Greek beef stew “stifado” in the wood-fired oven

The stage of preparation is quite simple. Cut the beef into pieces that are 1/3 of a serving. Peel off the onions and carefully cut their bottom edges so that they can remain intact during cooking, otherwise, they’ll split. Make sure you pick onions that are the size of a walnut and relatively the same size. After you peel off the garlic cloves, cut them into quarters.

Take a large clay cooking pot and place the beef on its one side and the onions on the other side. They should take up almost equal space. Spread the pieces of garlic evenly. Divide the spices in half and add them on top of the beef and on top of the onions. Add red wine vinegar, red wine, tomato paste dissolved in a little water, and olive oil. The clay cooking pot should be filled about halfway with liquid because the onions will release more liquid. Shake the pot to mix the liquid ingredients and seal the lid using the simplest type of dough. Now, you’re ready to cook. 

According to tradition, meat and onions shouldn’t be sauteed. When cooking, you should rely on quality ingredients, on the proper use of spices and herbs, and, above all, on the cooking method. Through these recipes we want to point out the importance of the slow-cooking method and the cooking vessel, using traditional cooking methods that are absolutely unbeatable.

Before preparing the ingredients, preheat the traditional wood-fired oven, since this process will take time. Place thin pieces of dry hardwood in the oven’s chamber (back to the middle) on top of combustible kindling. Then, add thicker pieces of wood and initiate the fire. Leave the oven’s door open for a while to establish the fire. When the fire is established, close the door, leaving the chimney inside the oven, and a small gap underneath the door to provide enough oxygen. This way all the pieces of wood inside the traditional wood-fired oven will catch fire. Let them burn.

When they turn into embers and the oven’s dome turns white, you can remove the embers from the oven with a shovel. Close the door and saturate the oven. The temperature should be down to 250⁰C (482⁰F). Then, you’re ready to place the cooking pot with the “stifado” deep inside the oven. Cook for three hours approximately. It will be slow-cooked since the temperature inside the oven drops slowly and steadily.

Three hours later, remove the cooking pot from the oven, and without removing the lid, wait for thirty minutes, until the food is cool enough to serve it. Meanwhile, the slow-cooking won’t stop, because the clay vessels hardly lose heat. Don’t remove the lid too soon, because you’ll lose all the scents. Wait until it slowly cools down, as we mentioned earlier, so that you can keep all these delicious aromas in this recipe. 

This way you’ll make the best traditional “stifado” recipe, which is slow-cooked according to our tradition.

Happy cooking everyone!