I do believe that our beef is the best. We had roast sirloin for New Year’s Day and it was sublime. It is of such flavour and quality that even the lowliest of cuts, when cooked properly, are equally delicious.

Many, including Ben, would insist that the cheaper cuts of beef have the best flavour. Best braising is not the cheapest of cuts but it does require slow gentle cooking to bring it to its most desirable state - which is meltingly tender. While it cooks it shares its flavours with the
vegetables and visa versa to produce a beautiful casserole gravy. And almost as thirsty for gravy as stuffing balls is the suet dumpling! I find them sufficiently filling to not bother serving potatoes, but those of you with hearty appetites will want either boiled or mashed with this casserole too.

Ingredients - serves 4

600g braising steak
25g plain flour
30g butter
8 shallots, peeled
2 cloves garlic, crushed & chopped
4 medium carrots cut into batons
1 small swede, peeled & cut into large dice
150g chestnut mushrooms
2 bay leaves
1 small sprig of thyme
500ml bottle of beer or stout
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt, pepper

150 g suet
300g self raising flour
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp salt

Method

1 Set the oven to 170°C
In a heavy casserole pan, brown the shallots,carrots, swede and mushrooms in the butter over a medium heat and then remove with a slotted spoon, reserve. Dust the steak with seasoned flour and then fry off in the butter to brown on both sides over a medium to high heat. Add the beer to the pan and scrape around with a spatula to incorporate the flour and browned meat residues before returning the vegetables to the pan.Add the garlic, thyme, bay leaves and Worcestershire sauce, cover and transfer to the oven for 2 hours until all is tender. Discard the herbs.

2 Half an hour before the end of cooking time, make the dumplings. Place all the dumpling ingredients in a large bowl and gently stir together with sufficient ice cold water to form a dough. Do not overwork. Form into diumplings and sit on top of the casserole. Cook for the final 30 minutes without the lid or until the dumplings are cooked through. Serve on warmed plates.