Beef Trinchao
Trinchado is a classic Portuguese dish that is spicy and very rich with a sauce that will keep everyone quiet for a long while! If you have never eaten Trinchado you want to do yourself a favor and try it. It’s simple enough and your family will love you… unless they are dieting.
What you need
1 kg rump steak cubed
1 large onion finely sliced
50ml Worcestershire sauce
1 cup red wine
3/4 cloves crushed garlic
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon paprika
2/3 small red chilies chopped
3/4 tablespoons flour
Butter and oil for frying
Water
The process
Create a marinade by adding the Worcestershire sauce, garlic, wine, salt, pepper, paprika, chilies and bay leaf and give it a mix.
Add the beef, stir to coat the beef and then cover with cling film and set aside in the fridge to marinade. You must let it marinade for at least 2 hours but overnight is best. This ensures that the beef is very tender and the flavors permeate right through the meat.
In a pot with some butter sauté the onions on a medium heat until translucent and then remove and set aside.
Dust the beef with flour and fry in a little oil on high to brown all over. Add the onions back into the pan with whatever marinade is remaining. Reduce the heat, add a little water to create the sauce, mix well and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.
Check on it every now and then and add water to make a nice amount of sauce.
The sauce will thicken from the flour the meat was coated in.
This is spicy and delicious and should be served with potato wedges, chips or a nice crusty bread to mop up the sauce.
Traditionally you should have a few Olives on the side but not the end of the world.
I had trinchardo at Adega Restaurant in Northcliff, and it was wonderful!
I recently had a Trinchado in a restaurant where they used white wine instead of red wine.
The dish just seemed a touch “lighter” while still being marvellous.
Worth an experiment, as soon as I’m done with this dieting thing.
Hope the diet works quickly Dave, that Trinchado is waiting.. G
Hi Graham
Just thought I’d give you some feedback – I looked at this recipe a long time ago, but carried on trying to make it with rare rump as they serve at the Dias Tavern in Capetown.
Here in Thailand the beef is lousy as the animals dont have much fat.
Anyway, over the weekend tried it again and chewy, so took the other half of the marinated meat and did it your way with a 2 hour simmer – also didnt have red wine had white – so used that.
Came out beautiful.
Thanks ! Will try with red wine next time!
Thanks for the feedback Rob, I know the Dias Tavern well which is a Cape Town landmark. You could also try it with Pork if the pork is of a better quality. Have a fantastic week G
What kind of red wine do you use? Dry red Shiraz or semi-sweet or off dry red wine? Is it possible to use beer instead if there’s no red wine?
Hi Clare, A Shiraz, Pinot Noir, or Zinfandel are lighter red wines which work perfectly. Happy holidays G
Thanks, Graham. I just recently discovered that I have some portuguese heritage and my boyfriend in the photo is mozimbican born portuguese. So it’s nice for me trying my hand at portuguese cooking – I grew up in a british english household (I was born in South Africa) with british / french grandparents.
Enjoy it Clare, I go up to Moz fairly frequently and just love the Portoguese food adventure over there but there is still nothing like a good old English roast Lamb or a toad in the hole! Have a fabulous Christmas G
My favourite “restaurant trinchado” is still Grand Slam Sport Diner in Edenvale.
It’s pretty basic and plain, pretty much the way I imagine the way the dish originated.
(The fact that it’s also the home of the Liverpool Supporter’s Club of South Africa doesn’t hurt, obviously.)
Cool, sounds like a place to visit very soon.. Happy holidays G
Hi. This is the way we do it (as taught to me by my Portuguese wife and mother-in-law). The recipe is originally from Mocambique.
The basic ingredients are:
(1) Rump/fillet steak
(2) Portuguese black olives (or calamata)
(3) Red peri peri chilli peppers
(4) Flour
(5) Garlic
(6) Bay leaves
(7) Salt/pepper
(8) Obcene amounts of red wine
(9) Copious amounts of olive oil
Season the meat (rump cut in 2cmx2cm cubes)with a bit of salt and pepper (I like the idea of marinading the meat overnight). Cut a large onion into very small pieces and caramalise using olive oil. When the onions are almost ready add a generous amount of red peri peri peppers roughly chopped as well as roughly chopped crushed garlic. Fry for another minute or two. It is important to get the onions nice and soft.
Next remove the vegetables you add a little more olive oil (we don’t use butter as its not very tradditional) and seal the meat on a high tempertature after coating them in flour. By now the pan should be getting bits of burnt flour stuck to the bottom – leave it there for colour. When the meat is sealed remove and place in a bowel to collect the juices.
Add the vegetables back to the same pan and deglaze with a cup of red wine. Then once simmering add the meat/juices and more red wine until the meat is almost covered (I can easily use a bottle). Finally add a few bayleaves and a cup of pitted calamata olives (or portuguese ones if you prefer but I like calamata).
Then the trick is to let it simmer on very low heat for at least 2 hours. This is a stew, the meat is NOT supposed to be rare. You need to check it every 10 minutes or so to make sure its not sticking and add little bits of wine/water as neccesary.
When finished it should have a GENEROUS amount of sauce almost covering all the meat. The sauce should be a dark purple colour, smooth and quite thick. You should see the red chilli pieces here and there and the black olives. The meat should be VERY tender.
Serve with peasant bread and redwine. South Africans that visited Mocambique during the days when it was a Portiguese colony used to enjoy it over chips with ice cold beer.
Enjoy.
Thank you JP, recipes handed down over the generations are always best, we appreciate you sharing
This sounds great, but it is not the original Portuguese recipe.
Hi Vanessa, we would love to have the real thing… sharing is caring 😉 Cheers for now G
Hi
Try this – Cut good Rump steak in big chuncks (4 x 4 cm) – Fry in butter until sealed. Remove. Make gravy, peri peri, vinegar and good gravy. Add steak, for rare, serve immediately etc. Important ingredient – pickled veg. Serve with Port roll and /or chips
Delicious
Hi danie, sounds very traditional, what are the quantities for the gravy.
Yes, this one. You have probably had it in a few great Portuguese restaurants. Its really good. Give it a try.
Or this one??
I marinade the meat for a few days…..
Sure winner