Gyuvetch follow-up

Sadly, the gyuvetch was not the success I'd hoped for, although using a bit more oil and double amount of tomatoes at least resulted in it looking as it should. But the vegetables were too crunchy for my liking, in particular the French beans and if I hadn't pre-fried the potatoes, I suspect they'd have been half-raw too.

The meat was braising steak, so would require a longer cooking time, and the 14 h of slow cooking had tenderised it a bit, but not to the point where it melts in your mouth. Thinking back, just before I took the pot out of the oven, the thermometer in there was showing 90 degrees C. Combined with the long cooking time, this should have been sufficient to tenderise the meat, but no.

So experimentation will need to continue to work out how to do a good gyuvetch every time.

There are a couple of options I'd like to try out:

• Do the same I did the other day, but cook on a higher temperature for a couple of hours, before turning down to slow and leaving it overnight.


• Only slow cook the meat, then add the vegetables in the morning and cook on higher temperature for an hour or so.


• Do the same as the other day, but crank up the heat in the morning for the last couple of hours.

On the whole, I should experiment with smaller quantities, as there's so much two people can eat and the gyuvetch is not suitable for freezing.

Perhaps I should choose a nicer cut of meat and dice it, rather than use the ready braising beef they sell in the butcher's too.

So overall, a step on the way, but not quite as far as I'd hoped.