Tas Kebabı (Turkish Beef Stew)

How to Make Tas Kebabı

Despite the kebab in its name, tas kebabı is a spoonable Turkish meat stew rather than food cooked on skewers. Cubed beef braises with onion, garlic, tomato and a restrained amount of vegetables until the connective tissue becomes gelatinous. The red-brown sauce should cling to the meat while remaining loose enough for rice or bread. It is comforting food whose depth comes from browning and time, not an oversized spice list.

Use beef chuck and dry the pieces before working in uncrowded batches. Crowding drops the pan temperature and produces grey steamed meat, sacrificing the browned residue that builds the sauce. Soften onion and garlic after the meat leaves the pot, fry the tomato paste and paprika until sweet-smelling, then dissolve every dark but unburnt bit with hot unsalted stock.

Return the beef with tomato and bay and simmer it mostly tender before adding carrot and waxy potato. This delayed addition keeps the vegetables intact through the final cooking. The clock is less useful than a fork: beef should yield without springing back, carrot should be tender and potato should accept a knife while holding its corners. Add stock sparingly because an uncovered final simmer can loosen or concentrate the sauce.

Rest the stew for fifteen minutes before serving so the juices settle and fat can be skimmed if needed. Rice pilaf, bulgur or bread belongs beside the bowl. Tas kebabı improves after a night in the refrigerator, provided it is cooled quickly in shallow containers. Reheat to 74°C; when freezing, leave out potato and add freshly cooked pieces later to avoid a grainy texture.