Ingredients :

• The ground beef — Go for 15% or 20% fat — skip the 5% extra lean. The fat is what keeps the meat juicy during the seven-hour cook time. With lean beef, you’ll get a dry, disappointing patty. Shape them into small 150g to 180g patties, not too thick, for even cooking.
• The potatoes — Use Charlotte or Amandine — waxy potatoes that hold up during long cooking without turning into mash. Slice them into roughly 5mm rounds. Too thick, and they stay hard in the center. Too thin, they melt away and disappear.
• The carrots — Ordinary carrots from a bag work perfectly. Slice them into thin rounds, 3 to 4mm. They cook slower than potatoes, so if you want them tender to the core, the slices need to be very consistent.
• The onion — A classic yellow onion, cut into half-moons. This is the ingredient that melts down and creates the little cooking juice that coats everything else. Don’t skip it: without it, the dish lacks depth and the vegetables stay bland.