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[Creating The Best Beef Stew Ever]
MindLib
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
How is this done? ALL opinions will factor into the ingredient purchases I will make in a handful of hours. 
You can impact this life...with soul-satisfying beef stew.
You can impact this life...with soul-satisfying beef stew.
MindLib on
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Use beef chuck or shank, and brown it first. 2-3 lbs, cut into the usual stew-sized chunks.
Onion/garlic - they get sauteed and added early. All other veggies get steamed separately, and then you throw them in shortly before serving, so they don't get overcooked. I like to use mushrooms, frozen peas, carrots, and/or small new potatoes.
Chicken broth + red wine for the liquid... cabernet sauvignon or shiraz. About 2 cups broth, 1/2 to 1 cup wine. As always with cooking, use a wine you'd be willing to drink. (Bonus: drink the extra wine while cooking and/or with your meal!)
So, putting this into more of a recipe format....
Take a big soup pot, brown the meat with some vegetable oil over medium-high heat
Add onions/garlic and saute for a minute or so
Add 2-3 tbsp of flour and *lightly* brown it for another minute or so (the flour is for thickening) (Edit: or you could thicken with 2-4 tbsp of tomato paste, but I didn't write down how well that worked).
Add the wine and chicken broth and seasonings (black pepper plus one or two of: bay leaves, worcestershire sauce, thyme, oregano).
Stir well (might need to scrape the flour to get it off the bottom. I think I usually end up using a whisk to get the flour well incorporated).
Cover and simmer for 2-3 hours at a low heat (either on low on the stove top, or at 200 degrees in the oven if you have an oven-proof pot).
Chop + steam veggies (except I saute mushrooms and don't pre-cook the frozen peas)
Mix veggies into meat + liquids, sprinkle parsley on top and serve.
YouTube for the Good Eats episode where he makes beef stew.
Edited for eggy links
Prep all the ingredients and toss them in. Set it, and forget it!
Just fish them out before serving.
Gir: I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me.
Assuming you're going for a traditional type stew-
meat- usually red, lamb is good as is beef
root veggies- sweet potato's pretty awesome, otherwise the standard, potatoes, carrots cut into larger chunks than you'd use in fast cooking
herbs/stock base- make a stock if you have time, I recommend using a good quality beer/ale/guiness. I can't really imagine a red wine stew, as suggested above, making a proper traditional stew, but hey, it's you're choice. Herbs I use- BAY LEAVES are essential, a fair bit of paresly, some thyme and rosemary if it's a lamb stew. Black pepper and sparingly use salt as you go along. Garlic.
Onions- depends if you like your onions or not, I tend to stick them in quartered.
Pearl Barley- adds some texture and soaks up all the flavours.
And then pretty much and other vegetables you have lying around. More or less anything works, barring tomatoes/peppers. Courgettes, aubergine, beans to names a few all work well.
The actual process is very simple, you just need a lot of patience:
1.Cube the meat, dip it in seasoned flour and brown it off in a HUGE goddamn pan with the garlic.
2.Once browned remove from the heat, and layer the other vegetables over the meat
3.Over this pour your stock/beer, drop in the herbs and pearl barley. Initially the amount you use should be just enough to cover the pan's contents. You may have to top it up as cooking progresses to prevent stuff sticking.
4.Return to a med-low heat
5.Stir occainsionally to mix up the layers, and taste the gravy/sauce, adding seasoning and herbs to taste
6.Repeat 6 for several hours
7.Make/add dumplings and cook in the oven before serving, or serve with some sort of awesome rustic bread.