When I was a kid, my mother would make beef stew once in a blue moon. It was delicious and had a thick meaty broth, and carrots and onions and celery and potatoes and herbs and other things I don’t even remember, but I do remember it taking her all day to make, at least 5-6 hours. I asked her for her recipe recently because I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to try cooking something different, but alas, she no longer remembers exactly how she made it.
There are hundreds of recipes for beef stew online, but I don’t know that I can trust any particular one of them, and most of them seem to revolve around using a crockpot, which we definitely didn’t have when I was a kid. Anyone got a family recipe for beef stew that they absolutely swear by?
Cut the meat off the bones, and brown it in a big pot on medium-high heat. While it’s browning, add the onions, half the garlic, and the cumin.
Once the meat is browned, add just enough water to cover it, then the rest of the garlic, about half the potatoes (chopped fine), the carrots, the tomatoes, and the herbs. Turn the heat up to high until it starts bubbling, then down to low. Simmer for a few hours.
About a half-hour before serving, add the rest of the potatoes (in bigger chunks this time)-- The original potatoes should have disintegrated into thickening by this time. About five minutes before serving, add the peas and the water chestnuts. When it gets back up to a simmer, it’s ready.
I sometimes also add radishes-- Those go in about ten minutes before serving. Celery would also be good, though I usually don’t use it, since you can only get celery in such huge quantities, and I don’t use it for much else.
It’s all good, really, but I’d first buy a good Dutch oven, if you don’t have one. Secondly, buy a fairly fatty chunk of meat like beef chuck roast and trim off the worst chunks of fat. Cut it into manageable pieces (or even bite sized) and brown on all sides in hot fat. Add liquid (preferably homemade beef stock) and dried herbs of choice, some salt and pepper, some chopped onions and garlic and celery, and let it all simmer on low for about 4 hours, or until the meat is fork-tender. Then add the carrots and potatoes (and any other root veggies like parsnips, if you’ve a mind) and cook until edible. If it’s too watery, make a slurry of cold water and flour (or corn starch) and add slooowwly while whisking constantly while the stew comes to a boil.
I use a brown beer (or Guinness if that’s what I have).
When I make stew, it’s usually on a whim so I grab what I think of in the store…
Carrots (usually a full pound)
Some red potatoes, cut in half
Beef
Onion
Garlic
A can of Ro-Tel Diced Tomatoes*
Salt
Thyme
Throw it all into a sauce pan using whatever ratios you want until it comes just about up to the top. Toss in one bottle of brown ale and bring to a boil. Put a lid on, reduce to a simmer and let it go for, what, 2-3 hours or so, until the meat starts falling apart.
If done correctly I end up with one dirty pot, one dirty knife, one dirty cutting board and dinner for a few days.
Also, I really like using Fat Squirrel beer. For a while I was making this at work and putting it into our soup rotation but I caught a lot of slack since I call it Squirrel Stew. Now that New Glarus discontinued it, I’ll probably either find a new brown ale or just move over to Guinness which does make a perfectly good stew.
I wish more people would understand how much better stew is when you use beer instead of beef stock. No, you can’t ‘taste the beer’ but the beef tastes sooo much better and it’s just falls apart and, IMO it cooks much faster as well. I can make this in a few hours instead of all day in the crock pot. Though I’ll give you that using Guinness does impart a different flavor then just using beef stock, but a brown ale is pretty mild.
*regular diced tomatoes if people that don’t like spicy food are eating it.
A trick I learned was, instead of browning your chuck roast in a skillet, chunk it up in 2" chunks, and grill it quickly on a hot flame on the gas grill until it is brown on the outside, doesn’t need to be cooked through. Once it has a good sear, add it to your other ingredients in a dutch oven, and simmer slowly for a couple of hours. The flame sear adds so much flavor to a fatty piece of meat like chuck, it really adds another layer to the flavor profile.
Guinness definitely works. There are flavors that can only come out through through alcohol. Doesn’t take a lot, and it mostly evaporates, but it is essential for a fully developed flavor profile.
I never thought about grilling meat that requires searing. In fact I almost never sear meat and I really never do it if it’s a crock pot recipe. If I’m doing something in the crock pot, part of the reason is that there’s less clean up. The idea of making a pan dirty doesn’t appeal to me. I never thought to just drag out the grill for 10 minutes. Don’t have to clean that.
When I was a kid, my mother made beef stew weekly, on Fridays. It was awful. Mom would cube the leftover beef roast from the previous Sunday dinner, heat up the pan drippings from then, add water, cut-up carrots and potatoes, and a dash (only a dash) of Worcestershire sauce, and simmer for an hour. As I said, it was awful, and I hated it.
But I’m looking at some of the recipes here, and thinking that I need to re-acquaint myself with beef stew. I’m particularly intrigued by the recipes that involve a slow-cooker, as it seems to be apparent that a good stew needs to cook “low and slow” for a few hours.
Thanks so far for the recipes, folks; and I’d welcome any other hints and tips that you may have.
The usual generic recipe (w/ carrots, potatoes, celery, maybe some cooked beans.) I like a rich broth and plenty of it, rather than a gravy. Also, I prefer to stew the shank, along with the thigh bone for the marrow.
Don’t use beef stock. Just sear the stew meat either on a frying pan or over a charcoal before you add it with water to simmer along with the souteed onions and tomato. I like a slight tomatoey flavor. Add a dry beef bullion cube during stewing if you want it richer. When the meat is tender, start seasoning with salt while boiling. Add salt slowly and let the flavors come out. I also discovered an easy way to make a broth or gravy taste better: just add a little sugar.
Coat your beef in some seasoned flour and brown in the dutch oven. All those yummy bits that stick to the bottom will add tons of flavor and the flour will thicken your stew.
After browning, cover the meat with beef stock and scrape up the bottom a little bit to loosen up the stuck on pieces. I like to add a little bit of fresh rosemary at this point. Also adjust your salt and pepper to taste and simmer until the meat starts to break down. Then I add the vegetables, celery, potatoes, onions and carrots. Then just continue to simmer until vegies are tender. I like to throw in some frozen mixed vegies just before serving too.
I made it a few Sundays last winter. It was pretty awesome.
To start with, I got a couple beef bones and roasted them for an hour or so. Then I boiled the roasted bones & drippings with some carrots and celery and onions for a couple hours to make stock. Everything else was pretty straightforward, but the stock was great and added a ton of flavor to the final stew.
I don’t have a recipe per se, but one thing I always add are beets. Sweet and earthy, I’ll use them instead of potatoes, or half and half with potatoes. They take a bit longer to soften than potatoes, so either add them earlier, or be sure to cut them into smaller chunks.
I usually add a small can of V8 at the end of cooking. It adds a little tomato flavor, but doesn’t overwhelm the stew. I also usually flour and brown the meat before stewing, I think it really makes a difference in the flavor.
Are you looking for only traditional recipes? Because I’ve got a recipe for an Irish beer and cheddar beef stew that is dynamite. Combines the best of two meals.
I start with “stew meat”, which is chuck that has already been cut into cubes by the butcher. Dredge in flour, brown in a stock pot or dutch oven.
I never have beef stock so I add water, several beef cubes, and a bay leaf. Simmer until the meat is tender, then add veggies. We like it simple – potatoes and carrots only. If I remember, I might add thyme and rosemary toward the end of cooking.
If it needs color, add a tablespoon of Kitchen Bouquet. It also adds some beefy flavor. I don’t use a thickener. Usually the flour that the beef was dredged in makes it thick enough.
I use beef shin, it has lots of connective tissue to contribute to a lovely thick sauce. Also definitely coat in flour before browning.
I tend to use a commercial beef fond as the basis for my stock. I use red wine. I add a couple teaspoons of sugar close to the end of cooking (say, 30 mins before, in a 3-hour stew) A few pitted prunes are a good addition.
For me beef stew is a “use up the leftovers” kind of thing. But a few things I’ve learned about making it come out right:
Whatever your recipe definitely include some Port wine in the liquid. At least 33% of the liquid should be Port. Don’t go some other dark Red. No other wine will do, but it can be the cheapest Port on the shelf.
I always have frozen caramelized onions on hand, and usually add some toward the end.
I really like cubed turnips in the veggie mix. Parsnips turned out to be a very bad idea. Butternut squach just disintegrated into the broth; a great thickener but the result was rather sweet. (Kids loved it!)
layer your spices, especially the black pepper. Put in the bay and half the pepper at the very beginning, then the basil or other herbs near the end. Right before you complete it stir in some freshly ground pepper etc. to get the bright flavors.
About halfway through check the consistency of the broth. If it’s too thin toss in a handful or so of barley.
put the green veggies in last. I always just sprinkle frozen peas or green beans into the bowl and pour the stew over them. This works especially well with the bits that are headed for the freezer. (I make stew by the vat.)
For those of you that use bouillon cubes, try Swanson’s Flavor Boost. It is a concentrated stock in indiviual pouches that hold about a tablesppon of a thick liquid concentrate, available in beef, chicken or vegetable. I think the beef flavor is superior to bouillon cubes, and it is not as salty.