Westphalian Beef with Onion Sauce

Onion beef is a traditional dish made from beef and onions that comes in different regional variants. The Westphalian onion beef that I am going to show you today is often served as part of the menu at a traditional Westphalian wedding feast.

For the preparation, the beef (e.g. boiled fillet) is boiled in water with soup vegetables, then sliced and served with a sweet and sour onion sauce. Have fun cooking!




Cooked/Baked today: Westphalian Beef with Onion Sauce
Difficulty: Medium
Preparation Time: 2 hours & 30 minutes
Category: Main Dishes, Recipes with Meat, Recipes with Beef, Recipes with Onions, German Recipes
Our Recipe rating:

Ingredients for 4 – 6 servings:

• 1,5 kilograms beef for cooking/stewing (e.g. boiled fillet)
• 1 bunch of soup vegetables (carrots, celery, leek)
• 3 – 4 large onions
• 75 grams butter
• 1 heaping tablespoon flour
• 1 heaping teaspoon mustard
• White wine vinegar & sugar for the sauce
• Salt & pepper
• Parsley for garnish

Required kitchen gadgets, helper & preparations:

• Large pot for cooking beef
• Large pan for onion sauce
• Skimmer

Instructions:




…for beef with onion sauce:

Peel the soup vegetables (celery, carrots & leek) & roughly cut into cubes or pieces. Put the vegetables together with 1.5 kilograms of beef in a large pot, lightly salt everything & then pour in water until the meat is completely covered with liquid. Bring the beef to a boil & then simmer very gently over low to medium heat for at least 2 hours until the meat is tender.

Tip: If you like, you can use a skimmer to skim off the foam or turbidity that rises during cooking, so the broth stays clear later, in my opinion it makes no difference in taste, if you do not do that.

For the onion sauce, peel 3 – 4 large onions & cut into strips or roughly chop. About 15 minutes before the end of the beef cooking time, heat a large pan with a good piece of butter, add the onions to the pan & sweat for 12 – 15 minutes over medium heat, turning occasionally. The onions shouldn’t take on any color, they should just get nice and soft here.

When done sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of flour over the glassy onions, stir in & then fill up with 4 – 5 ladlefuls of the hot beef broth (in which the meat was cooked). Let everything simmer for a few minutes while stirring occasionally and add more broth if necessary.

Tip: Serve the remaining beef broth the next day, for example, together with pasta squares or Swabian pockets.

Finally, season the onion sauce to taste sweet and sour with 1 heaped teaspoon of mustard, a good dash of white wine vinegar, a good pinch of sugar and of course salt & pepper. Cut the beef into slices about 1 centimeter thick with a knife, add to the sauce & heat everything together in the pan for a few minutes.

Spread the beef with onion sauce on plates & together with boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes or potato salad. Garnish the beef with onion sauce with chopped parsley and serve. Bon appetit & have fun cooking!




Video Tutorial:

Watch the video tutorial to see the recipe and the preparation method precisely (German Audio only, English Subtitles available):