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    Home » Recipes » Meats

    Savory British Beef Olives

    By Chula King · January 8, 2017 · Updated February 9, 2022 11 Comments

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    Savory British Beef Olives

    Beef Olives have been a part of British cuisine since the 16th century. Given the name, one would think that they actually contain olives. Actually, this is not the case. “Olive” is a British term for for wrapping meat around a savory stuffing, browning it and finishing it in a brown sauce. 

    Savory Beef Olives on plate with broccoli and potatoes.

    The Master Taste Tester remembered his mother occasionally making Beef Olives, and suggested that I give it a try. Unfortunately, he didn’t have his mother’s recipe.

    Since I had zero experience in making Beef Olives, I did a search for a recipe, and settled on one from Jamie Oliver as a starting point.

    This Is What You’ll Need

    I used the following ingredients for the Beef Olives: Ground pork, bacon, bread crumbs, onions, garlic, fresh sage, nutmeg, salt, pepper, beef, all purpose flour, vegetable oil, carrots, beef broth, red wine, and dried thyme.

    Ingredients for Beef Olives.

    Here’s How I Made The Stuffing

    The stuffing for the Beef Olives was basically a savory sausage.

    To make it, I processed the ground pork, bacon, chopped onion, minced garlic, bread crumbs, fresh sage, nutmeg, salt, and freshly ground pepper in my food processor fitted with the steel blade.

    It’s as simple as that!

    Stuffing for beef olives in food processor.

    Here’s How I Made This Delicious Recipe.

    1. I started by pounding the beef to a thickness of about ¼-inch.
    Pounding the beef to ¼-inch.
    1. I sprinkled some salt and pepper on the beef. Then, I rolled some of the stuffing into a cylinder and placed it in the middle of the beef (Photo 1).

    Next, I wrapped the beef around the stuffing and tied the Beef Olive with some cooking twine (Photo 2).

    Making the beef roll.
    1. I ended up with four Beef Olives. However, because it was just the two of us, I decided to cook two and freeze the other two.
    1. I dusted the Beef Olives with flour and browned them on all sides in a bit of oil (Photo 3).

    After removing the browned meat, I added the onions and carrots to the pan. I cooked them over medium heat for about 10 minutes (Photo 4).

    Finally, I added the beef broth (Photo 5), wine (Photo 6), salt, freshly ground black pepper and dried thyme to the pan. I brought the mixture to a boil.

    Ready to cook beef olives.
    1. Initially, I was going to cook the Beef Olives in a slow cooker. At the last minute, however, I decided to cook the meat on the stovetop in a Dutch oven over medium-low heat (Photo 7).

    Given this, it would have been easier to have cooked everything in the Dutch oven in the first place. Oh well, I was still learning!

    After three hours of cooking, the meat was literally falling apart (Photo 8).

    Cooking Beef Olives in Dutch oven.
    1. The final step was making the sauce.

    I started by removing the Beef Olives from the Dutch oven and pouring the liquid into a wire strainer set over a bowl. Using the back of a spoon, I pressed as much liquid as possible from the vegetables.

    Straining liquid from Dutch oven.
    1. Then, I poured the reserved liquid into a fat separator before returning it to the Dutch oven.

    I thought that the sauce was a bit thin. Therefore, I thickened it with some Bisto mixed with beef broth.

    I returned the Beef Olives to the Dutch oven for about 5 minutes to ensure that they were fully heated. Before serving them, I removed the twine.

    I served the Beef Olives with steamed fresh broccoli and new potatoes, topped with the incredible sauce. They were fork tender and absolutely delicious. Yum!

    Pouring gravy on Beef Olives.

    If you’re in the mood for some more traditional British fare, check out my Sheppard’s Pie, Cornish Pasties, or Toad in a Hole.

    I first posted this beef olive recipe on January 8, 2017. This repost contains updated text and photos, but the same great recipe.

    I hope you liked this recipe for Savory British Beef Olives as much as I do. If so, please consider rating it and leaving a comment. Also, if you’d like to receive notifications of new posts by email, enter your email address in the Subscribe box.

    Thank you so much for visiting Pudge Factor. I hope you’ll come back!

    Recipe

    Beef olives with gravy poured.

    Savory British Beef Olives

    Beef Olives have been a part of British cuisine since the 16th century. Given the name, one would think that they actually contain olives. Actually, this is not the case. “Olive” is a British term for for wrapping meat around a savory stuffing, browning it and finishing it in a brown sauce. 
    4.50 from 10 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Main Course
    Cuisine: English
    Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 3 hours hours 15 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 3 hours hours 35 minutes minutes
    Servings: 4 servings
    Calories: 848kcal
    Author: Chula King

    Ingredients

    Stuffing

    • 4.25 ounces (120 grams) ground pork
    • 4.25 ounces (120 grams) smoked bacon, finely chopped
    • 1 small onion, finely chopped (about ¾ cup)
    • 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
    • ⅓ cup (1.75-ounces, 50 grams) dried breadcrumbs
    • 2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage (about 30 leaves)
    • Pinch of nutmeg
    • ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
    • ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

    Beef Olives

    • 4 6 to 8 ounce beef steaks (suggest round or flank steak)
    • ¼ cup (1.25-ounces) all-purpose flour for dusting the Beef Olives
    • 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
    • 1 large onion, peeled ad sliced
    • 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch sticks
    • 1 ¼ cups (10-ounces, 300 ml) beef broth
    • 1 ¼ cups (10-ounces, 300 ml) red wine
    • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
    • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    • ¼ teaspoon dried thyme

    Instructions

    Stuffing

    • Process all the stuffing ingredients in food processor fitted with steel blade until finely minced, about 30 seconds. Shape into cylinders; set aside.

    Beef Olives

    • Pound the steak to about ¼-inch thickness. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place sausage in middle of each steak. Roll up and secure with kitchen twine. Lightly dust with all purpose flour.
    • To cook, heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat; brown the Beef Olives on all sides. Remove from pan; onions and carrots. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add beef broth, red wine, salt, pepper, and thyme. Bring to a boil. Cover, and reduce heat to medium low. Cook on stovetop or in a 325° F oven for 2-½ to 3 hours, or until meat is fork tender.
    • Remove Beef Olives from Dutch oven. Strain liquid in a wire strainer set over a bowl. Press as much liquid as possible from vegetables. Pour reserved liquid into fat separator. Return liquid to Dutch oven. To thicken, add some Bisto mixed with beef broth to desired consistency. Return Beef Olives to sauce. Heat for 5 minutes or more until Beef Olives are heated through.
    • Remove kitchen twine and serve. Yield: 4 servings.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 848kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 42g | Fat: 56g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Cholesterol: 162mg | Sodium: 1307mg | Potassium: 1143mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 10190IU | Vitamin C: 8.1mg | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 5.2mg
    Tried this recipe?Please leave a comment below and/or give this recipe a rating. On Instagram? Take a picture and tag @pudgefactor or #pudgefactor.

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    Filed Under: International, Meats

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Katrin Nuernberger says

      January 10, 2017 at 3:51 pm

      Wow. We are big meat eaters in this house and this recipe would go down VERY well.

    2. c2king says

      January 10, 2017 at 5:18 pm

      It was delicious!

    3. Zeelo says

      November 10, 2018 at 3:52 pm

      I have made this before – and it is incredible. However, instead of thickening the gravy with Bisto, I just used some of the leftover vegetables, mashed, and it worked perfectly.

    4. PudgeFactor says

      November 10, 2018 at 4:02 pm

      Yum! Sounds like a delicious alternative to Bisto.

    5. Vio says

      November 10, 2020 at 4:35 pm

      5 stars
      Great dish

    6. Chula King says

      November 10, 2020 at 5:29 pm

      Thanks!

    7. LIZk says

      November 25, 2020 at 7:19 am

      5 stars
      Sounds easy to do and very tasty

    8. Cherie says

      April 05, 2022 at 1:42 pm

      I’m in the US and had never heard of this dish. Was watching a very old BBC series called “The Dutchess of Duke Street “ and they served this dish at a luncheon but they called it: beef, olive, celery a la spaniel. Well I was intrigued, so I googled it and up popped your recipe. I have to say my family loved it and I now have several of them sitting in my freezer awaiting there turn. Thank you!

    9. Chula King says

      April 06, 2022 at 9:44 am

      How interesting! So glad you like the Beef Olives!

    10. Susanne Walters says

      December 05, 2022 at 5:55 pm

      I do so love alll your recipes. My sister used to cook Beef Olives many years ago and I still love them. If you are ever in the mood for tryig to copy recipes, please try Coughman Bakeries Sausage Rolls. When I used to visit my sister in England, straight off the plan, before going to her house we had to stop off at Coughmans to get my sausage roll fix. They are the best.

      Susanne Walters
      Ardmore, Alabama USA

    11. Chula King says

      December 05, 2022 at 8:43 pm

      Thanks so much Susanne! I’ve not tried Coughman Bakeries Sausage rolls, but love other sausage rolls I’ve had when I visited England.

      Chula

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