When I used to live with my momma-dukes, she used to honor an old tradition from when she was growing up on Sundays.
Sunday Dinner.
Sunday Dinner was the big dinner that cooked, practically, all day and brought us all together. We would go to church as a family, come home, cook and at around 3 or 4, have dinner.
One of the things she used to make was braised chuck. Chuck is cheap compared to the other cuts of beef. Its not the leanest of meats and because of the fat content, its amazing when its braised. It takes about 3 hrs to cook this baby and for those 3 hrs, you will surely torture yourself with the intoxicating aromas emanating from your kitchen.
What you need:
1-2 lbs chuck steak
Garlic powder
Onion Powder
Salt
1 tsp vinegar
1/4 cup water
Directions: Start by trimming the excess fat. I trimmed as much as I could. I seasoned both sides of the steak generously with garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Place the chuck steak in a shallow baking dish. Pour the vinegar onto the steak. Add water to the pan. The water should not pass the steak, but more like along the same line as the top of the steak. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 3 hrs at 300*.
The end result is a steak that yields to the gentlest pressure from a fork. No knives for this baby! It shrinks significantly as you can see but it’s a definite crowd pleaser.
I separate the meat from the drippings. Save the drippings to make gravy! simmer the drippings (after they have been strained) and whisk in a tablespoon of flour.
I served this with some garlic smashed potatoes and roasted baby carrots.
This steak is great the next day too! if you have leftovers, shred them into an omlette!
Enjoy!
Food Snob 2.0 
Wow, you weren’t kidding…The steaks have only been in the oven for about an hour and 20 minutes and my house smells fantastic!
Sounds fantastic! How did it turn out??? Fork tender? and most importantly…amazing? Hope it went well!
Yay, Monique! I’ll be back.
I had been given some lovely pieces of beef for the freezer by my niece, who’s raising a few animals on her farm in Upstate New York. The chopped meet, used in a shepherd’s pie, was pretty special. But the chuck was sort of iffy-looking (my first time with the cut). Your recipe looked simple enough for me, so I took a chance on it.
I added 2 T. low-sodium soy and 1/4 c. of beef broth w/ splashes of balsamic vinegar and light sherry. Used a Pyrex dish, tightly wrapped foil at 300F; set oven timer for 3.5 hrs.. At 2 to 2.5 hours there hadn’t been much smell, so I lifted a foil corner to cut a taste (it was gray, chewy, flavorless). Having no choice other than take-out, I cooked on. At 3-1/2 hrs, oven chimed “done”; the beef now looked as if it had been pan-browned (it hadn’t) and was — yes, indeed — fork tender, and delicious. Surprised us all.
There was not much meat on the 2-lb. steak (I’d trimmed carefully but left bone and trimmings in the pan), but it was very, very rich, and fed three hungry adults.
PM
I am so happy to hear that your first braised chuck steak went well! I haven’t made it in a while but your comment makes me think I need to change that! I like your additions too!
This looks yummy! When you say vinegar, do you mean white vinegar? Thanks!
Yup! White vinegar. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.
Thank you!