Beef recipes

Browse our tasty collection of beef recipes, which includes Marcus Wareing's cheese burger recipe, Tom Aikens' steak tartare recipe and Bryan Webb's steak au poivre recipe, plus text from Matthew Fort on some of the best breeds.

Fort on Beef

Every caring cook should dread the phrase ‘killing weight’. It means that animals, eating cattle in particular, are raised to ‘killing weight’. In other words, they are brought to the point of slaughter as quickly as possible (12 to 24 months, usually) with no regard to their natural development. They aren’t allowed to mature quietly, develop fat and flavour, at their own pace.

In practice this means we are eating adolescent animals. This may suit most fast-growing Continental breeds, such as Simmental, Charollais and Belgian Blue, but traditional British breeds, such as Belted Galloway, Red Devon, Gloucester, Highland, Welsh Black, are all slow-maturing beasts. It takes them 6,7,8 years to come to full maturity.

Some cows will live as long as 30 years, although I wouldn’t necessarily want to eat one. And then there’s the hanging and butchering, which can ruin a decent carcass. There’s a fabulous amount of rubbish talked about what breed makes the best steak, and how long beef should be hung for. Until we routinely grow our own animals to full maturity we’ll never know. For the record, probably the best steak I ever ate in open competition at a blind tasting turned out to be an 8-year old Friesian milk cow.

Article written by Matthew Fort

What Beef Goes With

A mainstay of British cuisine, beef is traditionally served with a variety of greens or root vegetables, which complement the natural tenderness of the meat.

Artichokes, cabbage, carrots, broccoli all line up perfectly next to the meat and the trick is knowing how best to cook the veg in order to get the best out of the combinations.

As for sauces, beef is often served with or cooked in a red wine or Madeira sauce. Marcus Wareing opts for a hybrid sauce, using both brandy and red wine in his roast sirloin of beef recipe.

If looking for something slightly different to serve with beef, why not use Luke Holder's recipe as inspiration, which pairs the meat with Dorset snails or even Mark Jordan's recipe which uses lobster as a partner to beef – both of which demonstrate the versatility of Beef’s flavour.

For a less fancy beef dish - look no further than this steak tartare recipe or this homemade beef burger.

Beef recipes

Beef fillet with roasted shallots, sauté potatoes and green peppercorn sauce Mark Dodson

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	50 minutes
Serves:	4

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Beef short rib and onion cottage pie Adam Byatt

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	4 hours 50 minutes
Serves:	4

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Beef stew with mash and leeks Shaun Hill

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	45 minutes plus 2-3 hours braising time
Serves:	8

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Campfire chilli and coffee con carne Matthew Tomkinson

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	2 hours 10 minutes
Serves:	6

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Fillet of beef with braised oxtail, textures of onion and morel Madeira sauce Simon Haigh

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Medium
Cooking Time:	3 hours
Serves:	4

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Rib-eye of beef with polenta chips Robert Thompson

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	1 hour 20 minutes plus 4-6 hours chilling time
Serves:	4

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Braised beef in bitter beer, with mushrooms and green peppercorn pie Paul Heathcote

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Medium
Cooking Time:	2 hours
Serves:	6

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Fillet of beef with braised oxtail, textures of onion and morel Madeira sauce Simon Haigh

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Medium
Cooking Time:	3 hours
Serves:	4

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Hatchet Herd Dexter beef with Jerusalem artichoke gratin Matthew Tomkinson

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	1 hour 10 minutes
Serves:	4

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Grilled rib-eye with watercress purée Richard Corrigan

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	45 minutes
Serves:	4

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Mini beef and hummus burgers Marcus Wareing

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	1 hour
Serves:	6

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Fillet of beef wellington with parsley root purée mini fondants, sautéed kale and rosemary jus Graham Campbell

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Medium
Cooking Time:	2 hours
Serves:	6

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Roast beef sirloin with mushrooms, brandy and roasted potatoes Marcus Wareing

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	2 hours 30 minutes
Serves:	6

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Rib-eye steak with chunky chips, field mushrooms and vine tomatoes Josh Eggleton

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Medium
Cooking Time:	2 hours 20 minutes
Serves:	2

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Homemade beef burger with Stilton rarebit, burger sauce and chunky chips Matthew Tomkinson

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Medium
Cooking Time:	1 hour
Serves:	4

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Polenta, rib-eye steak, three artichokes, and smoked yolks Paul Ainsworth

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	4 hours plus overnight marinating
Serves:	4

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Beef fillet in burnt hay with smoked bone marrow, salt baked and raw beetroot Christoffer Hruskova

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Challenging
Cooking Time:	1 hour 30 minutes
Serves:	4

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Roasted sirloin of beef with a bone marrow sauce, salsify, mushrooms and red wine shallots Robert Thompson

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Medium
Cooking Time:	3 hours
Serves:	4

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Steak au poivre Bryan Webb

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	20 minutes
Serves:	4

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Cheeseburger with caramelised onions Marcus Wareing

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	1 hour 15 minutes
Serves:	4

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Hand-chopped rump steak burger with peppered bone marrow Richard Corrigan

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	1 hour plus chilling time
Serves:	4

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Sirloin of beef with braised oxtail, mushroom purée and spinach Mark Poynton

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Medium
Cooking Time:	2 hours plus roasting of oxtail and setting time
Serves:	4

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Beef braised in red wine with Provençal vegetables Geoffrey Smeddle

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	3 hours Marinate beforehand between 12 and 48 hours
Serves:	6

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Steak tartare Tom Aikens

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	20 minutes
Serves:	4

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Beef and bacon lasagna Paul Heathcote

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	1 hour 30 minutes
Serves:	4

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Fillet of beef, shallot marmalade, celeriac purée and essence of port Daniel Clifford

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Medium
Cooking Time:	2 hours
Serves:	4

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Fillet of Scottish beef with slow-cooked shoulder and marrow dumplings Phil Carnegie

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Medium
Cooking Time:	1 hour 30 minutes plus marinating & water bath
Serves:	4

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Heathcotes' steak au Poivre Paul Heathcote

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	40 minutes
Serves:	2

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Beef cheek and fillet, Dorset snails and parsnip Luke Holder

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	5 hours 30 minutes
Serves:	6

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Steak and ale pie with caramelised celeriac Paul Foster

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	4 hours
Serves:	4

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Beef fillet with blue cheese mousse Marcello Tully

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Medium
Cooking Time:	2 hours 30 minutes
Serves:	6

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Aberdeen Angus rib eye, mushroom purée and beef tea Kevin Mangeolles

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	55 minutes plus 6 ½ hours preparation
Serves:	6

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Jersey beef fillet with St Ouen’s Bay lobster ravioli and summer vegetables Mark Jordan

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Challenging
Cooking Time:	3 hours plus resting time
Serves:	4

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Kibbeh Nayee - beef fillet tartare Greg Malouf

Course:	Starter
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	35 minutes
Serves:	4

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Bresaola, gamble down farm short horn home cured, pickled vegetables Luke Holder

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Medium
Cooking Time:	20 minutes plus 7 weeks brining
Serves:	4

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Poached fillet of beef with salsa verde Geoffrey Smeddle

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	1 hour 30 minutes
Serves:	4

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Beef fillet, foie gras, parsley purée and Madeira sauce Chris Horridge

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	2 hours
Serves:	4

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Beef fillet, watercress and nastertium purée, bone marrow and red wine Adam Simmonds

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Challenging
Cooking Time:	2 hours
Serves:	4

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Steamed mutton and onion suet pudding with crushed swede Adam Gray

Course:	Main
Complexity:	Challenging
Cooking Time:	6 hours 35 minutes
Serves:	6

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Terrine of calves liver Bryan Webb

Course:	Starter
Complexity:	Easy
Cooking Time:	2 hours 30 minutes plus 1 day setting
Serves:	18

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