I agree with the carpaccio idea. Rare beef is tender. OK, it does not have to be raw, although I love it that way. But very pink is very tender.
But if DH does not like rare beef, and wants the flavor, make a strong beef stock and then French onion soup. Julia's recipe works just fine and it does taste like beef. As a soup it goes down easily. It takes me days to make, my stock starts with bones and then goes with beef, so I don't do it very often but it has a lot of beef taste. But it is wonderful, and I rarely say that about my food.
Oh yes, most of the time my esophagus works just fine. But about five percent of the time nothing will go down, nothing. I will not go into details but those are truly incapacitating times. So I can just a bit understand your husband's difficulty. I wish you both well.[/quote
That was what I was thinking F.O soup has incredible beef flavor or maybe just a really strong beef broth with some really tender meatballs.