Name: Kokkinisto (Greek Beef in Red Sauce)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 120 min
Total time: 140 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients: 1 kg beef chuck, in large pieces; 1 onion, chopped; 3 garlic cloves; 500 g chopped tomatoes; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 150 ml red wine; 1 cinnamon stick; 2 bay leaves; 90 ml olive oil; Salt, pepper

Instructions

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1Season and brown the beef hard in olive oil, in batches. Remove.

2Soften onion and garlic, add tomato paste and fry 2 minutes, deglaze with wine.

3Return the beef, add tomatoes, cinnamon, bay and a cup of water. Simmer covered 2 hours until the beef shreds with a fork and the sauce is dark. Serve over spaghetti or fries — yes, fries, as Greece does.

Chef's Tip

Hard browning builds the fond that becomes the sauce; skipping it leaves kokkinisto tasting flat.

More tips ↓

Tomato paste fried for two full minutes loses its raw acidity and gains depth — rushing it is the most common mistake.
Cinnamon in a savory sauce is Greek logic: it rounds the tomato's acidity without tasting sweet.

Kokkinisto (Greek Beef in Red Sauce)

Ingredients

Instructions

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