Corfiot Sofrito

Ingredients:
1 ½ kilos beef topside, cut into thin slices
3/4 cup cooking fat
1 tbsp flour
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small coffee cup vinegar
1 small coffee cup white wine
1 beef stock cube
4 tsp finely chopped parsley, salt and pepper

Method:

Put the meat in a pot and sauté over medium heat with a little butter. When the meat is browned, sprinkle the flour into the pot and stir the meat with a wooden spoon so it doesn't stick. Add the garlic to the pot, and when it starts to fry, deglaze with the vinegar and wine. Add the stock cube, parsley and 1 ½ cups of water, and simmer for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. When it's ready, serve with a little boiled rice</p

Tips

-Leave the meat on the kitchen counter for 30′ to come to room temperature.
-Cut the beef for sofrito into evenly sized thin slices.
-Sofrito should be arranged in a single layer, so you'll need a wide, shallow pot or a large frying pan.
-Thoroughly blot any moisture from the meat with paper towels.
-Sofrito doesn't need much flour, or it will become heavy. After coating the meat in flour, shake off the excess so that only a very light coating remains on each slice of beef.

-To keep the meat tender, juicy and soft in the sofrito, take care when frying it. Fry a few slices at a time in the oil so its temperature doesn't drop. If you put too many slices in the pan, the oil temperature will drop, and instead of browning, the meat will start to simmer in its own juices, making it dry and tough after cooking.

-If you're cooking a lot of beef, it's a good idea to change the oil partway through frying.
-Don't pierce the meat with a fork in the pan, or you'll lose all its precious juices.
-Don't pull the beef to loosen it from the pan. Once it's cooked, it will release on its own without pulling.
-Don't use high heat, or the sofrito will stick to the pot.
-After cooking, leave the sofrito covered to rest and become wonderful. The best sofrito I've ever eaten was cooked and left in its sauce for a few hours. Like savoro, this dish needs time to absorb the flavors and aromas and become wonderful.