# Does anyone have a good stew recipie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 29, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-have-a-good-stew-recipie/590784 "2011-07-29T23:21:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-have-a-good-stew-recipie/590784/21 "2011-07-30T05:44:51Z")
Never have used corn starch for thickening stew. King Arthur all-purpose unbleached flour. Seems the common denominator here is to brown the meat in oil or fat, little bits at a time, then make a base from the bits that are left, similar to a pan gravy. Sounds like this first step is pretty crucial to a decent stew. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-have-a-good-stew-recipie/590784/22 "2011-07-30T05:48:52Z")
Although it’s depasse’, I’m still a fan of the 70’s 80’s era “no peek” stew. It just seems to have everything I want in a stew… the long slow reduction in the oven, the hint of savory and tomato, aromatics, and extreme beefieness and luscious body. This is sort of the archetypical recipe- NO PEEK STEW 4 lbs stew meat 8 carrots 8 potatoes 2 cups chopped celery 2 cups chopped onions 1 tsp pepper 2 tsp sugar 4 tbsp tapioca 2 cans tomato soup 2 cups water Layer all ingredients, starting with stew meat. Sprinkle tapioca, pepper, and sugar over ingredients. Mix soup & water – pour over ingredients. DO NOT STIR! Bake in covered roaster at 250 degrees for 5 hrs. May add other veggies to your taste. Submitted by: Jack Thompson Mine is different, as I sometimes substitute tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes for the tomato soup, and I add bayleafs and sometimes beef broth and thyme. [Here is a thread about no peek stew](http://community.tasteofhome.com/community_forums/f/30/t/758263.aspx). Saw Ripert’s cooking show the other day and he made Boeuf au Carrots (Beff Bourginon with carrots). It looked pretty good if not excessively anal. A pretty in depth beef and red wine stew that he served with boiled carrots… the thing that surprised me about his particular technique for this stew was that he used a slurry of flour and water to thicken it, much as I might make gravy. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-have-a-good-stew-recipie/590784/23 "2011-07-30T05:54:46Z")
Ummm… Here’s Ripert’s [Bouef au Carrots recipe](http://www.aveceric.com/2011/05/12/beef-bourguignon-with-carrots/)… you “transfer” your own personality, seasonality, and ingredients to that technique of making stew and you can’t go wrong. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2011, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-have-a-good-stew-recipie/590784/24 "2011-07-30T06:02:29Z")
Oh it’s called “no peek” stew because you put it together in a large roasting pan… put the lid on and put it into the oven on low for several hours and never peek or disturb it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-have-a-good-stew-recipie/590784.md?page=1)