Sous Vide Chuck Roast with Mushrooms, Madeira, and Black Garlic
By Saskia Poulos, Chef and Organic Farm Assistant at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation
(Serves 6)
This recipe calls upon two ingredients which have deep caramel notes—black garlic and Madeira. Black garlic is a Korean ingredient that has exploded in popularity; it’s a jet-black umami bomb that tastes like a sweeter deeper roasted garlic. Madeira is a fortified wine from Portugal that has layers of burnt sugar, hazelnut and orange peel. The Chuck Roast benefits from a long sous vide cook time (we went 30 hours here!), but don’t let that daunt you! Most of the cook time is totally hands off—set it up at lunch and enjoy it for dinner the next day. Enjoy with whipped potatoes, or a celeriac puree.
Ingredients:
1 Chapel Hill Chuck Roast, about 4 pounds
1 head black garlic, peeled, (about 12 cloves)*
6 sprigs fresh thyme, or ½ teaspoon dry, divided
1 bay leaf
1 onion, sliced
8 ounces trimmed mushrooms (oysters, maitakes, button mushrooms, or a mixed pack all work well)
4 cloves regular garlic, sliced
1 ½ teaspoons flour
½ cup Madeira wine (dry to medium dry)
2 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
*Black garlic is extremely sticky! Wear gloves when peeling to make this an easier process.
Preparation:
Season your Chuck Roast generously with salt and pepper. Place the roast into a vacuum seal bag, then add ¼ cup oil, the cloves from half the head of black garlic, the bay leaf, and half the thyme. You don’t have to be exacting with this placement, just scattered around the meat is fine. Seal the bag with a vacuum sealer.
Set your immersion circulator to 145 F. Because this is cooking for so long, make sure the container is large enough to accommodate the beef and a lot of water. Drop your bag into the water, then plastic wrap the container (do not wrap the circulator) to prevent evaporation.
After the beef has finished cooking, open the vacuum bag and remove the Chuck Roast. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve and reserve. Pat the roast dry with a paper towel.
Heat some about two tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan, then sear the beef on all sides. Set aside to rest somewhere warm while the sauce is prepared. Tent the roast with foil if you are worried about it getting cold.
Return the pan to the stove, and drizzle in a couple more tablespoons of olive oil. Add the mushrooms, and cook over medium heat, scraping up any bits on the pan as you occasionally stir. Mushrooms love olive oil, so add more to the pan as you need it. Once the mushrooms start to brown and caramelize add the onion, and cook until the onion also starts to caramelize. Hold off on seasoning with salt until the sauce is finished as the liquid from the Chuck Roast is already seasoned.
Add regular sliced garlic to the pan and cook for a couple minutes, until lightly golden and no longer raw. Throw in the rest of the black garlic cloves and break them up with your spoon into smaller pieces. They will continue to break down as the sauce reduces, but aim to have each clove in about 3-4 pieces.
Sprinkle in the flour, and stir for a minute.
Deglaze with the Madeira, scraping the bottom of the pan to release all the delicious caramelized fond. Pour in the reserved beef liquid from the vacuum bag, beef broth, the rest of the thyme, and the balsamic vinegar.
Bring to a boil, then reduce until the sauce is about half its original volume. Taste for seasoning, then swirl in the butter.
Cut the roast into thin slices and serve with the Madeira sauce.