How to Make Alcatra, the Ultimate Portuguese-Style Beef Stew

Host Bridget Lancaster shows host Julia Collin Davison how to make the ultimate Portuguese-Style Beef Stew.
Make Our Portuguese-Style Beef Stew: cooks.io/2CQTJ0V
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[@bostonterriermom]

This show is recorded in New England... a part of The US where there is a very large diverse group of Portuguese people.... myself included.... by the way Azorean food is Portuguese food for those making a distinction. They do have a lot of their own recipes. Just like different parts of the US have different kinds of food. still American food (New England Chowder vs BBQ vs Tex Mex)

[@joeymama4666]

Yes that's true, Fall River is lousy with Portuguese people. Lots of good Portuguese food there.

[@bostonterriermom]

Or Rhode Island where I live.... hahahah

[@bobb74ysmith]

Wow you are so smart

[@4shehadeh]

Thank you ATK for yet another doable simple yet, I am sure, delicious dish! I will definitely be making this.

[@kellydesilva6733]

My husband and his family are from Terceira, Azores which is the island where this recipe originated. It is traditionally cooked for many hours in a well buttered clay pot with no top or covering. There is never chourico but it does have pork belly cut in cubes. It includes a few cuts of beef and shanks that are layered with the onions, garlic and spices until it reaches the top of the clay pot. My sister in law makes it the best i have ever had. She tried to teach me but did not have a lot of answers on amounts and such. Portuguese people cook by sight and feel with no written recipes and hers is always better because she always knows she has the right amount of ingredients but does not know measurements. Even when asked the names of the cuts of meat she does not know what they are in English. I don't know where you would get the cut you call for. I am going to try yours and see if it is good as hers.

[@Sazed0]

How was it?

[@Andrelix67]

Stop bashing them. Title says “Portuguese style” and not “Authentic Portuguese”. Also, these so-called “authentic” recipes always have minor variations, according to who is making them. My Portuguese family may cook it in one way, yours may cook it another way.

[@ellengregory8002]

America's Test Kitchen has always and will always adjust recipes to make it easier for the average American to cook it.

[@lja64]

Im trying this tonight - although I don't ever remember my Grandmother making it, she made very similar things and used shanks a lot - especially for soup. It smells like her kitchen, so I'm so excited to try it. The warm spice profile is similar to what she would use. I make her Pork and Clams and her Cocolia also, not as good as hers, but they are good. thank you for another easy Portuguese inspired recipe.

[@PaulSiami]

looks great. Beef and onions is so pure. Nice.

[@hollym5873]

This looks delicious. Thanks for these videos

[@DavidMFChapman]

I made this without chorizo and it was still excellent!

[@buzzbeauchamp4631]

Got most of the Ingredients! (Just need the All Spice Berries) - had to but a 7.5 Qt Oven! SO This IS today's Feast! Can NOT wait to assemble & roast! THANKS for the Great Recipe & Inspiration!

[@susanross1670]

love this receipt!

[@arunavagreen]

Thank you I cooked this last night with chuck and beef shank. I added juniper berries instead of allspice berries and it came out beautiful

[@melvin7591]

That stew looks delicious; I'm salivating. Can the same recipe be prepared in an InstantPot? If so, what's the InstantPot equivalent of 3.5 hours in the oven? Thanks.

[@semco72057]

That stew is looking great and must be so delicious as well. I was hungry while looking at the video.

[@RetiredSchoolCook]

LOOKS SO DELICIOUS SO TASTY GREAT SIMPLE EASY RECIPE THANK YOU APRIL 2 2019

[@bconni2]

look forward to making this. but i'll try and get my hands on the Portuguese chourico

[@buzzbeauchamp4631]

Made this the Second time! Wonderful! I used 3 onions, but did not get very much "Broth" = guess the Suace went into the Onions! Next time I'll hunt for the Long Shank strips ( 1st time Round was dry, this time Chuck &Very Tasty!)

[@rdvqc]

I have loong preferred shank for stewing as did my mother before.

[@kricketflyd111]

My grandmother made that with silva ling. She would cut the ling. in 2 inch lengths and it would cook the whole way through. With chicken and rice or potatoes and those pimento olives for a kick. That has always been a staple for me.... Yum Yum...

[@mikejadis]

How about Portuguese Clams and Pork - Carne de Porco à Alentejana ...So good!

[@buzzbeauchamp4631]

Yikes! - Made my mouth water, just watching! Now off to the Grocery for ingredients!

[@emme8658]

So it's been 8 months! How was it?

[@mckenyon]

Why Spanish Chourico? This is a Portuguese dish and Portuguese Chorizo is available. I am from Masachusetts and the Fall-River area is heavily Portuguese. Mello's or Gaspar's is available not very expensively shipped. I imagine there are other labels in other parts of the country.

[@anniegoldmann9325]

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing the recipe. The sausage however, really looked like Portuguese chouriço - why call it “Spanish chorizo” ?!

[@thepassionfruitdiariessuzi6978]

Smoked bacon id definitely an important element to this traditional recipe, as well as baking in a clay pot with butter. But this is a good Americanized version

[@shashakeeleh5468]

QUESTION: Is the "allspice berry" the same as whole nutmeg? I have lots of whole nutmeg, but want this dish to turn out correctly, so need to make sure. Anybody? Thanks!

[@sissypissyrapper23]

shashakeeleh No allspice is completely different than nutmeg. A whole nutmeg would ruin this recipe. You can find the whole berries in some upper end grocers or specialty stores/online.

[@shashakeeleh5468]

@@sissypissyrapper23 Thank you, Andrew! Much appreciated!

[@ellengregory8002]

@@shashakeeleh5468 But a lot of people do substitute allspice for nutmeg. The flavor isn't hugely different, especially in smaller amounts.

[@shashakeeleh5468]

@@ellengregory8002 thanks Ellen. This is whole nutmeg, literally, a hard nut. I'll work it out. Thanks very much for the reply.

[@gregjohnson720]

I use gauze instead of cheesecloth because you can find it in any pharmacy without having to search for cheesecloth.

[@tonym1012]

IIRC, and I'm sure I may be totally wrong, but I remember that Alcatra is not Portuguese, it's Azorean. Maybe Alcatra is made all over Portugal now, but it came from Terceira Island in the Azores. I was stationed there once, and fell in love with alcatra. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I'll be trying it soon!

[@bostonterriermom]

Tony M Azores is part of Portugal.

[@steve1253]

Read a bit, even if it is just wikipedia ".... one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira)."

[@lja64]

My family is from St. Miguel in the Azores. The Islands are part of Portugal, although very different from the mainland. I've been many times, and with minor variations, the food is pretty much the same - but there are other Azorian Islands that the food is more French - richer, lots of butter, sauces, gravy etc. - so they can be quite different.

[@gilliandidierserre4190]

Hello America's Test Kitchen. .what a yummy easy recipe. .will make this for a couple Portuguese friends and surprise them👍 BTW what are your names..it would be nice to say a hello to a name 💕

[@erg2]

Bridget Lancaster (on left), and Julia Collin Davison(on right).

[@timdog555]

This recipe is not a true Alcatra from Terceira Island, however I'm sure this take is delicious as well.

[@pcouto19]

Homemade chourico? My uncle used to make it.

[@roberttelarket4934]

Wasn't this done years ago when Chris Kimball was around?

[@lylegorch5956]

Do not mention that name, Infidel!

[@philomenadacunha6546]

I wouldn’t call it a beef stew but more like pot roast. The Alcatra should be layered with onions, meat, bacon, spices etc. and keep layering the last layer is onions then add enough red/white wine (you can add a cup or so of water if you want) to cover the meat. Also, it calls for cooking clay pot but a dutch oven can be used. Please, please if using clay pot don’t use the ones sold at garden centers. I recommend you watch KZbin Just Cook With Michael Santos or any other KZbinr that cooks Alcatra.

[@lylegorch5956]

Wouldn't linguica work?

[@Community56sunshine]

This could almost be a Saturday Night Live episode....

[@emme8658]

All spice berries and cinnamon won't be added traditionally. I will attempt this recipe as it does look delicious.

[@cstz]

I'm usually pretty chill about different cultures doing what they can with regional recipes, to make up for what might not be available and unknown techniques, and I'm probably one of the few portuguese that don't have a problem with the infamous pastel de bacalhau + queijo da serra combo. So it's not lightly, or as an easily offended person, that I say this is lazy and disrespectful. I'm not judging the quality of the dish, but the things they changed or took out are exactly what would make this recognizable as portuguese, or even just "portuguese style." Yes: even accounting for the obvious variations that will exist in the way each portuguese cook will make any given typical dish. It's true we typically don't brown the meat, but we brown the onions in "refogado": it's the portuguese version of "sofritto", made with chopped or sliced onions, minced or sliced garlic and bay leaf, and one of the most portuguese things ever. Ask anyone, and they'll tell you how evocative and central it was in their childhood, the smell of refogado as mum started to make dinner. Then you'll throw the meat in. Allspice (as well as "fancier" peppers like rose pepper) only appeared in portuguese supermarkets recently, in this last decade's wave of cooking becoming fashionable); the traditional would be only black or maybe white pepper. The art of portuguese cooking is a lot about just using a few staple (mostly mediterranean-style) ingredients as seasoning (when compared, for example, with the amount of spices used in mexican or oriental cuisines) and still make it as strongly-flavoured and savoury as it gets. Cinnamon is not used in portuguese savoury dishes, period. Keep it for pastries and desserts, where it features heavily and is much loved. Most portuguese stews are known for being heavy on vegetables: at least potatoes and onions, and sometimes peas also, maybe a bit of bell pepper, though that's not as usual. There are also others that are based on chickpeas or beans. Portuguese stews are mainly done in the stove top. Some might have been traditionally made in a wood oven, but the modern everyday substitute is stove, not oven. "Chanfana", a goat stew heavy on red wine where the meat is marinated for days before cooking in the oven, is one of the few exceptions that quickly come to mind. Portugal also has its own kinds of chorizo, called "chouriço". I appreciate that it's probably very hard to find outside of Portugal, and they're similar but decent hosts would have told the public that the typical thing to use would be portuguese chouriço, but that it's okay to use other kinds if you can't get it. (and I really don't personally care about the stupid rivalry that (unrequitedly, I might add) Portugal has against Spain, but oh, the cultural deafness and ignorance of just recommending a Spanish chorizo to a portuguese-styled dish without any acknowledgment... wow.)

[@jessstuart7495]

I am going to adapt this recipe for canning. 1. Sear the outside of the beef. 2. Cook the onions in the "beefy" skillet. 3. Deglaze skillet with white wine, and save the liquid. 4. Run liquid through a fat separator. 5. Add whole garlic cloves and dry spices to the sanitized jars. 6. Pack jars 2/3 full with meat and onions. 7. Add 1 tsp canning salt (quart jars). 8. Fill jars with hot wine/onion liquid leaving 1" headspace. 9. Pressure Can for 90 minutes (quart jars).

[@kellydesilva6733]

This maybe good, I don't know, but it won't be alcatra. My husband is from the island where this originated so I know quite a bit about alcatra.

[@addman]

a large tea ball works a lot better then the cheese cloth.

[@Sebastopolmark]

What's that secret ingredient?? Burnt cheesecloth. Adds that subtle smokey flavor.

[@DearHenryA]

Isn't this just part of a previous video that was posted before? It looks like the last several videos are parts of previous videos. Better than the podcasts but if you already have it out, why post another copy?

[@mnamous9823]

Because not everyone wants to watch an entire episode, or fast-forward through one to get to one particular segment; it’s handy to have this shorter video as a free-standing recipe.

[@roberttelarket4934]

Henry: I think this was also done years ago when Chris Kimball was around.

[@DrummingMan1]

What? How old is this actual footage? Here I am pining over two beautiful ladies and they're probably not even around anymore frown! Ha ha Ha cheers… Keith

[@ellengregory8002]

A year old? Maybe two?

[@michaelg9442]

I thought Alcatra meat "piece" in Arabic, not rump or round.

[@mrshbt1]

👅👅👅

[@luisaacs7838]

The alcatra is always, always made in a terracotta pot, that is what gives it flavor, its marinated for 24 hours

[@sanbytes7653]

Alcatra is made in a clay pot

[@michaelg9442]

Because Portuguese Chourico just wouldn't work.

[@MarleneSilva-qs6yn]

So true😅

[@silviopimentel7247]

That is so wrong! But guess everyone has they're interpretation! Never chorizo!!! & clay pot. Very only one region recepy

[@landrewb]

Isn't this a repost? I've already seen this on your channel.

[@Guilherme-nc5li]

Azorean Portuguese plz

[@fartsquirel880]

looks great, but that spanish chouriço is crap.

[@davidc8879]

These ladies can't cook Portuguese food..lol. Portuguese cuisine would use way more allspice (Jamaican pepper) for alcatra and clove is missing in the dish...also they forgot to add any form of hot pepper and we never use a cheese cloth for cooking....the gravy and meat should be much darker and thicker!

[@migasthepepino]

Portuguese here, WE mix the onion and the chopped garlic in a olive oil base first. Having them separated like that feels like a crime Also using Spanish / Mexican chouriço is close enough but it cannot replace portuguese chouriço

[@ron0126]

Welcome to “America’s” test kitchen.

[@canerbaykara4591]

America's TEST kitchen anyone

[@Texburrito03]

Portuguese Chorizo? Do you mean Linguiça?

[@migasthepepino]

@@Texburrito03 it's the same thing linguiça is the way Alentejo portuguese say chouriço. Some regions make a distinction between the two but they are essentially the same

[@bostonterriermom]

As a Portuguese person just happy that they are trying one of our dishes. Ok... linguiça and chouriço not exactly the same but you can’t get Portuguese chouriço and linguiça thru out the whole country... I’m lucky... living in New England I have a ridiculous amount of options (lucky me). People need to chill.... good lord

[@conniem.1722]

Nice to see but not the regional recipe for Alcatra from the Azorean island of Terceira. Nice try test kitchen. Chouriço or Linguica does not go in this dish.

[@v1antbo]

Thats not how my grandmother in the azores makes it. where are the potatoes !!

[@thepassionfruitdiariessuzi6978]

That’s interesting, my mom never put potatoes. I think family members will delete and add what they like but the base is always similar. But I always dipped sweet bread in it, you can’t go wrong with that