{"id":9033,"date":"2026-09-10T02:19:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T02:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.malak.ca\/blog\/?p=9033"},"modified":"2026-09-10T02:19:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T02:19:39","slug":"making-pulled-beef-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.malak.ca\/blog\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/making-pulled-beef-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Pulled Beef — Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Similar to my pulled \/ braised pork<\/a>, I also make pulled \/ braised beef<\/a> — but mostly for my mom, who finds my pulled pork<\/a> a bit too sweet (a characteristic that, for the moment, I am declining to adjust)<\/em>. While despite personally liking this recipe for pulled beef<\/a>, I have decided that “Mom can have it while I enjoy my pulled pork<\/a>!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note that in this case I am using relatively inexpensive cuts of beef, and certainly some of it tougher than others. In today’s Canadian beef markets, “relatively inexpensive” is itself a fairly relative term, and in fact, through making pulled beef<\/a>, I noticed just how much more expensive beef is than pork, despite it normally being so anyway!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note that I got some advice from ChatGPT in how to make a more savoury version of my pulled pork recipe \/ process<\/a> using beef; I was quite surprised at just how much onions it suggested — approximately two pounds of onions to four pounds of beef!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note that as has become more common and customary with these posts, while all photos were taken in the same session, some may have been taken at slightly different points in time than presented here; the photos are presented here as per the progression below for the sake of the narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making the pulled beef:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The night before I made the pulled beef, some packages of beef were taken out of the freezer:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Two packages of beef taken out of the freezer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A bit of commentary on meat shopping:<\/em><\/strong> One of the packages I used had a fixed price for the package — as in, all the packages of the same beef from the same supplier were of similar weights and all had the same price — instead of being sold, strictly speaking, by weight, something I occasionally see at some stores. When I am presented with meat counters of prepackaged, single-priced flats of meat that are normally sold by weight and which normally would otherwise have slightly or not so slightly different prices depending on the weight of meat in each package, I normally go through all of the packages, looking for the heaviest packages (the stores normally still lists the weight on the packages!) and I look for the highest weights; surprisingly, I have often noticed non-trivial differences in the weights of the various meat packages being offered for sale at the same price!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to the cooking session: <\/strong> Before I went to bed, the meat packages were placed in the fridge, to continue defrosting overnight:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Frozen meat packages placed in the fridge to defrost overnight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The following morning when I began the cooking session, I took out a large soup bowl and placed it on a kitchen scale, setting the scale to zero so that it would only weigh the onions I was about to place in the soup bowl:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Soup bowl placed on scale, which was set to zero<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Onions were taken out and weighed:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Onions taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At this point, all the ingredients were taken out: <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
All ingredients taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The onions were transferred to a cutting board, and a kitchen knife was taken out:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Onions transferred to cutting board, and knife taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The onions were trimmed:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Onions trimmed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Onions trimmed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The onions were sliced in half:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Onions sliced in half<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The onion halves were sliced into half-coins:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Onion halves sliced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The onions were somewhat coarsely chopped:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Onions chopped somewhat coarsely<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A lidded cast iron pot was taken out and placed on the stove:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Cast iron pot taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The cast iron pot’s lid was removed:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Lid removed from pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Olive oil was taken out:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Olive oil taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The bottle of olive oil was opend:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Bottle of olive oil opened<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Olive oil was poured into the cast iron pot:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Olive oil poured into cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Olive oil poured into cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Olive oil poured into cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Olive oil poured into cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The chopped onions were transferred to the cast iron pot with the olive oil:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Onions transferred to cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Onions transferred to cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The onions and the olive oil were mixed a bit:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Onions and olive oil mixed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The beef and a pair of scissors were placed on the cutting board:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Beef and scissors placed on cutting board<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The meat packages were opened with the scissors:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Packages opened<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The beef pieces were removed from the containers:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Beef removed from packages<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The netting on one of the pieces of beef was cut with the scissors and was removed:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Netting removed from piece of beef<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Netting removed from piece of beef<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The pieces of beef were sliced into pieces that would fit more nicely into the cast iron pot:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Beef cut into pieces<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The beef pieces were placed in the cast iron pot with the onions and olive oil:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Beef placed into cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Concentrated beef bouillon and a measuring spoon were taken out:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Beef bouillon and measuring spoon taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The beef bouillon was measured out:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Beef bouillon measured out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The beef bouillon was transferred to the cast iron pot with the beef, onions, and olive oil:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Beef bouillon transferred to cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Beef bouillon transferred to cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Water was drawn into one of my clean drinking water bottles (although I have others, I love Nalgene water bottles<\/a>!):<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Water drawn into drinking water bottle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The water was brought over to the cast iron pot with the concentrated beef bouillon, beef, onions, and olive oil:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Water brought to cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The water was poured into the cast iron pot:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Water poured into cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Water poured into cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Once filled, the contents in the cast iron pot were stirred a bit:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Contents of cast iron pot stirred<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The stove burner was turned on to high:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Stove burner turned on to high<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The lid was placed on the cast iron pot:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Lid placed on cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

While the contents of the cast iron pot were heating up, the rack in my countertop convection oven was placed on the bottom level, in order to accomodate the pot:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Oven rack placed in bottom position<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The countertop convection oven was turned on and set to 300F, as well as to a permanent “On” position (instead of on a countdown timer):<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Countertop convection oven turned on<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Soon, the pot on the stove was brought to a boil (the steam can be seen escaping on the left):<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Contents of cast iron pot boiling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Contents of cast iron pot boiling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At this point, I remembered to add a bit of salt — although, not too much, since no doubt the concentrated beef bouillon already had a good amount \ud83d\ude42 :<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Salt taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Since I had already moved the cast iron pot to the cutting board, some salt was added to the contents of the cast iron pot there:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Salt added to contents in cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Salt added to contents in cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The lid was placed on the cast iron pot, and the cast iron pot was placed in the now-hot countertop convection oven (and its door closed, of course!):<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Cast iron pot placed in hot countertop convection oven<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

About 45 minutes later — usually I would wait about an hour — I checked on the contents of the cast iron pot, and the contents were just beginning to bubble (hard as it is to see in this photo):<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Contents beginning to bubble in cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The cast iron pot was returned to the oven, and of course the door was closed:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Cast iron pot placed back in countertop convection oven<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A timer was set to an hour and three quarters (an extra fifteen minutes to compensate for the early checkup):<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Timer set<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I took advantage of the moment to take out a heatproof container to receive the pulled beef later on:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Heatproof container taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At the end of the braising time …<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Timer ran out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

… the cast iron pot was taken out of the countertop convection oven …<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Cast iron pot taken out of countertop convection oven<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

… and the lid was removed:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Lid removed from cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A piece of beef was removed from the cast iron pot with a slotted spoon:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Piece of beef removed from braising liquid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The piece of beef was placed on the cutting board:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Piece of beef placed on cutting board<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Two forks were taken out:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Forks taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The meat was tested with a fork, and “it passed”, as in it was properly cooked, by shredding off easily:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Beef shredding off easily<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The piece of beef was fully shredded, and the kitchen knife was taken out:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Piece fully shredded and knife taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The shredded beef was fully chopped, since my mom likes it that way:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Shredded beef fully chopped with kitchen knife<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The rest of the meat was taken out of the braising liquid, shredded, and chopped, and then transferred to the heatproof container:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Chopped meat transferred to container<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The grissol that was in the meat had been put aside, and was placed in a bucket to be sent off with the curbside municipal composting:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Grissol and fat separated from the meat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Here’s the braising liquid with the onions in it after all the meat was chopped up: <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Braising liquid left<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A handheld blender was taken out and plugged in:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Handheld blender taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The blender was placed in the braising liquid and turned on:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Using handheld blender in braising liquid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Using handheld blender in braising liquid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Using handheld blender in braising liquid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When the braising liquid was fully blended and the onions fully pulverized, the blender was taken out of the liquid:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Solids pulverized and blender taken out of liquid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Solids pulverized<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A cast iron frypan was taken out:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Frypan taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Some of the braising liquid was transferred to the cast iron frypan to help speed up reducing the volume, to make a gravy for the chopped meat:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Braising liquid transferred to cast iron frypan for volume reduction<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At this point, both the cast iron frypan and the cast iron pot had braising liquid in them for volume reduction, to make a gravy:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Frypan and cast iron pot with braising liquid to reduce the liquid volume<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The two front burners on my stove were turned on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Stove burners turned on<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The braising liquid in each cast iron vessel was brought to a boil:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Braising liquid brought to a boil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Braising liquid brought to a boil in cast iron frypan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Braising liquid brought to a boil in cast iron pot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The braising liquid in the cast iron frypan began to reduce to a point that I call “gloopy”; it became rather thick, and the sound that the boiling liquid made becomes much more audible and distinct:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Reduced braising liquid having thickened<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The cast iron frypan was removed from the stove burner, stopping the boiling and revealing a thick gravy:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Thick gravy produced in cast iron frypan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The thickened gravy was transferred to the shredded and chopped meat in the heatproof container:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Gravy transferred to shredded and chopped meat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The braising liquid in the cast iron pot was again divided in two, and the liquids in both cast iron vessels were reduced to a gravy; said gravy was transferred to the meat in the heatproof container. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shredded and chopped meat and the gravy were mixed:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Meat and gravy mixed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Plastic containers were taken out (yes I know that the contrast is very low):<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Plastic containers taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A spoon was taken out to transfer the meat and gravy to the containers:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Spoon taken out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Meat and gravy was transferred to the plastic containers:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Meat and gravy transferred to a container<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Containers filled with meat and gravy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Strips of paper were torn off some scrap paper:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Strips of paper torn off of paper scraps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Each strip of paper was identified with the container contents, “chopped pulled beef”:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Strips of paper identified<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Lids were placed on the containers, with the identifying strips placed between the containers and the lid:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Lid placed on container with label<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"
Lids placed on containers with labels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Finally, the containers were placed in the freezer:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Containers placed in freezer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Upon serving her a fresh sample from this batch, Mom said “I don’t just like it, I adore it!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Similar to my pulled \/ braised pork, I also make pulled \/ braised beef — but mostly for my mom, who finds my pulled pork a bit too sweet (a characteristic that, for the moment, I am declining to adjust). While despite personally liking this recipe for pulled beef, I have decided that “Mom can … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Making Pulled Beef — Photos”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336,44,308,43,312,45],"tags":[387,379,9,342],"class_list":["post-9033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chatgpt","category-cooking","category-countertop-convection-oven","category-food","category-freezer-food","category-recipes","tag-braised-beef","tag-cast-iron-dutch-oven","tag-cast-iron-frypans","tag-pulled-beef"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malak.ca\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malak.ca\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malak.ca\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malak.ca\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malak.ca\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9033"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/www.malak.ca\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9167,"href":"https:\/\/www.malak.ca\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9033\/revisions\/9167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malak.ca\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malak.ca\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malak.ca\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}