Alcatra belongs to the island of Terceira, though Azorean families everywhere, including the large communities in New Bedford and Fall River, claim a version as their own: Azorean food is fiercely regional and generously shared. Alcatra is beef, onions and bacon layered into a pot with white wine, bay, allspice and a whisper of paprika, then sealed and left to cook low and slow until the meat falls apart and the sauce becomes something you want to eat with a spoon.

On Terceira, it is cooked in an unglazed clay pot, traditionally in a wood-fired oven. A heavy Dutch oven with a tight lid does the job beautifully at home. Bread lining the bottom of the pot soaks up the wine and fat as it cooks and is, for many people, the best part of the dish.

This is a low-effort, high-reward Sunday dish. You do about twenty minutes of layering, then the oven does the rest for four hours while the house fills up with the smell of wine and bay leaf.

Alcatra Açoriana Recipe

What you need

Ingredients

For the alcatra:
3 lbs beef chuck roast, cut into 3-inch chunks
6 oz thick-cut bacon, sliced
3 large yellow onions, thickly sliced
6 garlic cloves, smashed
3 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh mint, or 1 teaspoon dried mint
1 tablespoon sweet paprika mixed with 2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
2 cups dry white wine
4 to 5 slices stale crusty bread (a sourdough or Portuguese-style loaf)
Salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Cook along

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 320F.
Line the bottom of a large Dutch oven with the slices of stale bread.
Scatter half the onion and garlic over the bread, along with the bay leaves and mint.
Season the beef generously with salt and pepper, then toss it with the paprika-oil mixture and the allspice until evenly coated.
Layer the beef over the onions, then top with the remaining onion, garlic and the sliced bacon.
Pour the white wine evenly over everything and drizzle with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Cover tightly (a layer of foil under the lid helps seal in the steam) and bake for 4 hours, without stirring, until the beef is fork-tender and the bread has dissolved into the sauce.
Let it rest 10 minutes, then serve straight from the pot with crusty bread or plain rice to catch the sauce.