afoona
Pulled Beef on a Bun
Meat

Pulled Beef on a Bun with homemade tomato paste

Beef shoulder braised for hours and pulled into shreds in barbecue sauce.

⏱ 8 hr 21 min🍽 8 servings 🌍 Mediterranean👩‍🍳 Afoona

👨‍🍳 Method

For the homemade tomato paste ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

  1. 1
    Wash the tomatoes, remove the cores and quarter each tomato.
    KnifeCutting board
  2. 2
    Put the tomatoes, the salt and half of the olive oil in a wide pot, cover and cook over medium heat about 20 minutes, until the tomatoes soften and release their liquid.
    StoveWide, shallow pot
  3. 3
    Pass the tomatoes and their liquid through a food mill or sieve and return the purée to the pot: the skins and seeds stay behind.
    Food millorFine sieve
  4. 4
    Cook uncovered about an hour at a lively simmer, stirring now and then, until the purée reduces by half.
    StoveWooden spoon
    💡The paste burns easily as it dries: stir and scrape the bottom and edges, and once it is thick, don't walk away.
  5. 5
    Preheat the oven to 110°C (230°F).
    Oven
    💡Put things in the oven only once it's reached temperature, after the heating light has gone off: an oven that hasn't reached temperature changes baking times, and the bake burns outside or stays underbaked.
  6. 6
    Grease a wide baking dish with the rest of the olive oil and pour in the purée in a thin layer. Dry in the oven about 3 hours, stirring and scraping the edges every 30 minutes, until the paste is thick, sticky and brick red.
    OvenBaking sheetSilicone spatula
  7. 7
    Let the paste cool.
    Jar

For the Oven Roast

  1. 8
    Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F).
    Oven
  2. 9
    Sprinkle the smoked paprika, sugar and salt over the meat on all sides.
  3. 10
    In an ovenproof pot, set the meat on the onion and add the tomato paste, vinegar and water.
    Cast-iron pot
  4. 11
    Cover the pot and bake 4 hours, until the meat is very tender.
    OvenCast-iron pot
  5. 12
    Shred the meat with two forks and stir into the pot sauce.
  6. 13
    Serve in the buns.
924calories
60 gprotein
144 gcarbs
11 gfat
● protein 26%● carbs 63%● fat 11%

Per serving, servings (calculated for this version)

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⚖ About the ingredients

🔧 Tools needed (2) · 🍳 One cooking vessel

  • Oven · 💡 Workaround, changes the dish: Toaster oven (Fits one small pan; good for small batches) · Air fryer (Small batches only, no runny batters) · Pot (Only for covered stews on the stovetop, no browning on top)
  • Cast-iron pot · Also works: Pot (Holds less heat, burns on the bottom) · Glass / ovenproof baking dish (In the oven, covered with foil)

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