Asado negro is an incredibly flavorful Venezuelan beef dish caramelized in piloncillo and simmered in red wine, herbs and vegetables. It is warm, comforting and beautifully balanced between sweet and savory.
If you are looking for a wonderful way to get the best out of an eye of round roast or simply interested in adding a great Venezuelan recipe to your repertoire then I would love for you to give this one a try!
Let’s get started…
Begin by trimming most of the fat off of a 4 to 5 pound eye of round roast (leave just a little bit of fat on there) and use a sharp knife to poke holes all over the roast.
Place the roast in a large glass bowl and add 2 cups of red wine (a good Malbec, Syrah or Merlot work great here!), a cup of beef stock and 1/4 cup of worcestershire sauce. Cover the bowl tightly and chill for anywhere between 4 and 24 hours.
Notes: Personally, I feel like 8 hours is the sweet spot for marinating an eye of round in wine. While 4 hours is enough, I feel like anything over 8 hours is unnecessary. I also like to flip the roast over a few times through the marinating time if your schedule allows it.
When you are ready to start cooking, let the marinating beef sit at room temperature for an hour before placing it on heat. This is an important step in preventing a tough roast.
While the beef is coming to room temperature, slice up a large yellow onion and a large sweet bell pepper, dice up 2 roma tomatoes and mince 6 large cloves of garlic.
Place a roomy dutch oven over medium low heat and crumble 2 ounces of piloncillo throughout the base. Let the piloncillo begin to caramelize undisturbed and reduce the heat quickly if the sugar starts to burn.
While the sugars are caramelizing, transfer the beef out of the marinade (set the marinade aside for now) and pat the roast dry with paper towels.
Once the sugars are all bubbly, carefully place the dried roast into the dutch oven and sear for 30 seconds at a time turning the roast until it is deeply browned and covered in the sticky caramelized piloncillo all over.
When the roasted is deeply seared and all glossy, add your sliced vegetables, the tomatoes, garlic, 2 bay leaves, a tablespoon of fresh oregano leaves and a big pinch of salt and black pepper. Pour the marinade over everything, cover the dutch oven and simmer over low to medium low heat (whatever you need to maintain a low simmer on your stovetop) for 3 1/2 – 4 hours or until the beef is nice and tender.
When the beef is tender, carefully transfer the beef onto a cutting board. Strain the gravy, set the vegetables aside and increase the heat to bring the gravy up to a simmer.
Slice the beef into thick rounds and transfer them back into the gravy.
The goal is to simmer the gravy until it thickens, but I will say that sometimes it thickens in just a few minutes and other times, I just can’t get it to thicken up. If you are having trouble thickening the sauce, whisk 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into 2 tablespoons of water and stir it into the gravy. The cornstarch will help thicken it up quicker.
The only thing left to do is to nestle a few slices into some creamy mashed potatoes or over fluffy rice and top with as much of that delicious gravy as your heart desires.
The first time I made this, I was definitely nervous about have caramelized sugar in gravy, but once you taste it… all doubts will be squashed for good.
The flavors are so well balanced and the combination of red wine, herbs and vegetables with that deeply caramelized brown sugar is something I am confident you will love as much as I do….
Asado Negro
Ingredients
- 4-5 pounds of eye of round beef roast, mostly trimmed (leave just a little fat)
- 2 cups of red wine (Malbec, Syrah or Merlot)
- 1 cup of beef stock
- 1/4 cup of worcestershire sauce
- 2 ounces of piloncillo, crumbled
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 1 large sweet bell pepper, sliced
- 2 roma tomatoes, diced
- 6 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon of fresh oregano leaves
- salt and black pepper
Instructions
Marinade your beef…
- Use a sharp knife to trim most of the fat off of your beef and poke holes all over the roast
- Place the beef in a large glass bowl and top with 2 cups of red wine, 1 cup of beef stock and 1/4 cup of worcestershire sauce
- Cover the bowl and chill for 4-24 hours
Prep the roast…
- Let the marinating roast sit at room temperature for an hour before cooking
- Place a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium low heat
- Crumble 2 ounces of piloncillo into the skillet and let it warm undisturbed until it begins to caramelize
- While the piloncillo is warming, transfer the roast out of the marinade (set the marinade aside for now) and dry it with paper towels
- Carefully place the roast into the caramelized piloncillo and reduce the heat to low
- Cook the beef, turning every 30 seconds or so, until it the entire roast is deeply browned and the piloncillo is dark and sticky
- Add the marinade, 1 large sliced yellow onion, 1 large sliced sweet bell pepper, 2 diced roma tomatoes, 6 cloves of minced garlic, 2 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon of fresh oregano leaves and a big pinch of salt and black pepper and stir to combine everything
- Cover the skillet and simmer over low heat for 3 1/2 - 4 hours or until the beef is tender
Prep the sauce…
- Transfer the beef into a cutting board and slice into thick slices
- Pour the sauce through a strainer and reserve the vegetables
- Bring the sauce to a simmer and transfer the roast slices back into the sauce
- Simmer until the sauce has reduced to your preference (if the sauce is not thickening, whisk 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in 2 tablespoons of water and stir it into the sauce to help it thicken)
Serve and enjoy...
- Serve over rice or mashed potatoes with some of the reserved vegetables
