Hachee (Dutch beef and onion stew) with potatoes and red cabbage
190 min · 37 g protein · 670 cals / serving
The Dutch grandmother's stew: beef braised slowly with a mountain of onions, a splash of vinegar, cloves, bay and juniper until it falls apart into a glossy, sweet-sour gravy. Served the classic way, with boiled potatoes to soak it up and red cabbage braised with apple.
Ingredients
Hachee
- 1 1/3 lb chuck roast, trimmed of hard fat, 4 cm (1 1/2-inch) chunks
- 2 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp butter
- 6 medium onions, halved and sliced
- 2 1/2 cups beef broth, low-sodium
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 leaves bay leaf
- 4 whole cloves
- 4 juniper berries, lightly crushed
- 1/2 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
- 3/4 tsp salt
Red cabbage with apple
- 1/2 medium head red cabbage, finely shredded
- 1 large granny smith apple, cored and diced
- 4 tsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp butter
- a pinch ground cinnamon
- scant 1/2 cup water
To serve
- 1 3/4 lb gold potatoes, peeled, halved
Steps
- Pat the beef dry, season with a pinch of the salt and toss with the flour. Melt the butter in a heavy casserole over medium-high heat and brown the beef in two batches until deep brown on all sides, about 8 minutes a batch. Lift it out.
- Lower the heat to medium, add the onions with a pinch of salt and cook, stirring and scraping up the brown bits, for 15–20 minutes, until soft and golden.
- Return the beef, pour in the broth and vinegar, and add the bay, cloves, juniper, pepper and remaining salt. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook very gently for 2 1/2 hours, until the beef falls apart when pressed with a spoon. Take the lid off for the last 20–30 minutes so the gravy thickens and turns glossy. Taste: it should be savoury with a gentle sweet-sour edge; add a little more vinegar if it is flat.
- About an hour before the stew is ready, put the red cabbage, apple, vinegar, sugar, butter, cinnamon and water in a pan, cover and simmer gently for 45–50 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and glossy. Season with a pinch of salt.
- Boil the potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes, until tender, and drain. Serve the hachee over the potatoes with the red cabbage alongside; Dutch families often crush the potatoes into the gravy on the plate.
Good to know
Which beef should I buy?
A braising cut with some marbling: chuck, blade or the Dutch riblappen and sukade. Lean steak cuts turn dry and stringy over 2 1/2 hours. Trim off any thick hard fat, but leave the marbling, which is what makes the meat fall apart.
Can I make it in a slow cooker?
Yes. Brown the beef and onions as in steps 1 and 2, then move everything to the slow cooker with only 1 2/3 cups broth, as nothing evaporates. Cook 7–8 hours on low and reduce the gravy in a pan at the end if it is thin.
Does it keep?
Hachee is better the next day. It keeps 3 days in the fridge and freezes well for 3 months; the red cabbage freezes well too.
Alternatives
Per
- Calories
- 100
- Protein
- (23%)
- 6 g
- Fat
- (35%)
- 4 g
- Carbohydrates
- (42%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 4 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 158 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2680 kcal goes into the pot and 3765 g of ingredients comes out as about 2670 g of food: 100 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.