✤3 lbs beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat
✤ salt & pepper
✤2 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
✤5 yellow onions, thickly sliced (~735g)
✤1 tsp dried thyme
✤2 tsp ground ginger
✤1 ½ tbsp all purpose flour
✤1 cup hard pear cider, “perry”
✤1/2 cup chicken broth
✤3 ripe Bosc, Bartlett or Anjou pears, peeled and cut into 1-in pieces
✤1 tsp cider vinegar
✤1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
❖Set the beef on a cutting board, dry it with a paper towel, and sprinkle generously with salt & pepper.
❖In a large Dutch oven over med-high heat, warm 1 tbsp oil until shimmering. Add the beef and cook, undisturbed, until deeply browned on the bottom, 3-4 min. Rotate the beef and continue cooking until well browned on remaining 3 sides, 10-12 min more. Transfer beef to a large bowl.
❖Return pot to the heat and add remaining 1 tbsp oil. Add the onions & 1 tsp salt and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot occasionally, until onions begin to soften and release some liquid, about 4 min. Reduce heat to med-low and continue cooking 15 min, stirring and scraping the bottom occasionally and making sure onions aren’t scorching.
❖Add the thyme, ginger & flour and continue to cook, stirring, about 5 min more, until sticky and golden.
❖Add the cider, broth & 1/2 tsp salt. Stir and scrape the bottom to deglaze.
❖Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C) with the rack in the lower middle.
❖Nestle the beef into the onions, cover pot, transfer to oven and cook 1 hour 35 min.
❖Add the pears to the pot and continue to cook, covered, until beef is extremely tender and registers 200°F, about 2 hours more.
❖Transfer beef to a cutting board and spoon the onion & pear into a serving dish. Add the vinegar & most of the parsley to the liquid left behind in the pot, adjusting salt & pepper as necessary.
❖Cut the beef against the grain or pull apart into pieces. Serve all together with remaining parsley on top.
