In this video, learn how to make Chef John's comforting Amish Beef and Noodles, a hearty dish perfect for any family dinner. This recipe combines tender, slow-cooked beef with homemade egg noodles in a rich, flavorful gravy. It’s a traditional Amish comfort food that’s easy to prepare and packed with savory goodness.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Amish Beef and Noodles.
00:09That's right, as a little kid I always got excited when I heard the grown-ups talking
00:12about traveling to Amish country, since I knew that meant they'd be bringing back all
00:16kinds of amazing pies and breads.
00:19But what I wish they had brought back is this.
00:21And if you're looking for a bowl of comforting, satisfying goodness, this should be the next
00:25thing you make.
00:27And to get started, we'll cut up some beef chuck, which comes from the shoulder and is
00:31perfect because it has lots of connective tissue, which makes it perfect for braising
00:35and stewing.
00:36And what we'll do is cut this up into pieces, ideally somewhere between one and two inches
00:41in size.
00:42Alright, you pick, but no matter the exact size, try to get them as uniform as you can.
00:48And we definitely don't have to trim the fat off, but if I do get to a large, solid piece
00:52of fat, I generally will remove it.
00:55But I would probably err on the side of not trimming enough versus trimming too much.
01:00And once our beef is cut up, we'll go ahead and season it by sprinkling over a mixture
01:04of kosher salt and some freshly ground black pepper.
01:08And we'll give that a thorough tossing and a little bit of a massage on the cutting board.
01:12And by the way, my rule of thumb for something like this is one teaspoon of kosher salt per
01:17pound of meat.
01:18And while we'll definitely taste and adjust later, that's going to get us very close to
01:22the perfect amount.
01:24And then once that's set, we can head to the stove, where we have a Dutch oven placed over
01:28high heat, in which we've drizzled a little bit of vegetable oil.
01:32And what we need to do here is brown this meat very well, which is why I'm going to
01:35do it in two batches, so as not to crowd it.
01:38And we want to make sure we don't turn that meat until it has a very nice brown crust
01:42on it.
01:43Alright, whenever we're doing simple recipes like this that only include a few ingredients,
01:48it is absolutely critical that we use the proper techniques.
01:52And getting a beautiful brown crust on these pieces of beef is one of those techniques.
01:56And if everything's gone according to plan, we should have a beautiful fond on the bottom
02:00of our Dutch oven, which as you probably know is all that caramelized goodness created when
02:04we browned meat.
02:06So like I said, I did that in two batches.
02:09And once the second side of the second batch is done, we'll turn off the heat, and we'll
02:14set that beef aside and reserve it until needed.
02:17And what we'll do is toss in a chunk of butter, and we'll turn our heat back on to medium
02:21high, and we will toss in a very generous amount of sliced onions, along with another
02:26pinch of salt.
02:28And we will cook this stirring for about five minutes or so, or until the onions soften
02:32up and start to turn golden.
02:35And once we feel like that's happened, we'll toss in a couple tablespoons of flour, and
02:39we will cook that stirring for a couple minutes.
02:42And while this amount of flour is really not going to make for a thick sauce, it will add
02:46a little bit of body to the broth.
02:48And by the time we're done, as you'll see, we should have a perfect, not too thick, not
02:52too thin texture.
02:54And that's it.
02:55Once we've cooked our flour for a few minutes, we will stop and toss in some garlic powder,
03:00as well as one generous spoon of beef bouillon paste, and then we'll finish up by pouring
03:04in the best beef broth, or beef bone broth we can find.
03:09And we will give that a stir, and then wait for it to come to a boil, at which point we'll
03:13transfer our beef in, along with any accumulated juices.
03:18And if you're wondering when we're going to put in all the other ingredients, we're not.
03:21Right, this really is a ridiculously simple dish, which, as I'll discuss later, is kind
03:26of the secret.
03:27But anyway, once our beef is transferred in, we will reduce our heat to low and cover this,
03:34and then let it simmer gently for a couple hours, or until the meat is very, very tender,
03:39but not quite falling apart.
03:41And of course, the exact time will depend on how small you cut your beef, but don't
03:45go by time, go by testing.
03:48And once we've tested it, and determined our beef is tender enough, we'll go ahead and
03:52use a slotted spoon, or one of these spider web strainers, and we'll remove the beef to
03:57a bowl, since our next step is to boil egg noodles right in this broth.
04:01And generally, it's not a great idea to boil beef that's already perfectly cooked.
04:06So let's go ahead and turn our heat up to high, and because our noodles are going to
04:10absorb a lot of this broth, it's probably not a bad idea to add a little more in.
04:15So we'll pour that in, and wait for this to come up to a boil on high heat.
04:19And once it does, we will add our noodles, and give this a stir.
04:23And it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to cover this as the noodles cook, but I don't,
04:28and I think if you keep stirring, you're going to be fine.
04:31And depending on the brand, this is going to take about seven minutes to cook tender,
04:35and it's fine if you go the full time, but when I think this is about 30 seconds away
04:39from perfection, what we'll do is add our beef back in, and give everything a stir,
04:44and then reduce our heat to low.
04:47And that's it, once we have everything stirred together, and we've given that probably still
04:50warm beef a minute to heat through, we are definitely going to want to give it a taste,
04:55to not just double check our noodles are tender, but since we added some extra broth, we might
05:00need to season it up again.
05:02But I'm happy to report mine was perfect, so I went ahead and served up.
05:07And as far as garnishing goes, my Amish culinary sources tell me a generous sprinkling of freshly
05:12ground black pepper is traditional, but I was in kind of a reckless flamboyant mood,
05:17so I also added a few freshly sliced green onions.
05:21And that's it, my take on Amish beef and noodles was ready to enjoy.
05:25So I went ahead and ladled some up, making sure I was getting plenty of everything.
05:30Right, that beautiful beef, those beef broth infused noodles, and of course plenty of that
05:35gorgeous broth itself.
05:37And after repeating the whole garnishing routine, I went ahead and dug in.
05:42And that, my friends, really was heaven.
05:44Right, you know me, I love anything beef, and pretty much have a noodle fetish, so there
05:49was no way I wasn't going to enjoy this.
05:52And I don't know about you, but I always feel like it's a good thing when we think we need
05:55a fork and a spoon to fully enjoy a dish.
05:59And I think this is definitely one of those dishes.
06:02And by the way, if you wanted a slightly thicker version that you could just eat with a fork,
06:06all you really have to do is not add that extra broth.
06:09But personally, I thought this had the perfect texture, but I always like to mention that
06:13kind of thing, since you might enjoy yours a little bit differently.
06:17But as comforting and satisfying and flavorful as this really was, it's also for me a very
06:22frustrating dish to make, since as you might have noticed, I love throwing lots of things
06:26into recipes.
06:28But that is not this dish.
06:30Right, this dish serves as an important reminder of really how little we need to do to produce
06:35something incredibly delicious to eat.
06:38And yes, it was very, very difficult not to add cayenne.
06:41But of course, if you feel like a few shakes, go ahead.
06:45I mean, you are after all the commish of this amazing Amish dish.
06:48Oh, and before I sign off, there's one thing I have to mention.
06:52Apparently, lots of my Amish friends like to serve this on mashed potatoes, which as
06:56you can see, I did not do, or even I have limits.
07:00But whether you serve this as shown, or spoon it over some mashed potatoes for some hot
07:04carb-on-carb action, this is simple, rustic American food at its finest, and I really
07:09do hope you give this a try soon.
07:12So please follow the link below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
07:17more info as usual.
07:19And as always, enjoy!