Help me cook dinner tonight...

Cafe Society
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I have got a lot of great ideas from different recipe threads here. Thanks to everyone who contributes to these!

But tonight I have a different problem: I want to make a nice, basic beef stew, and have sort of forgotten how. So I am asking for advice on how to do this. I already have all or most of the basic ingredients. Your input is all that is missing. If this works out then I will think of something else to cook next week and add another request here.

If there are other fledgling cooks here who want a recipe but it hasn’t popped up in the other threads yet, feel free to use this as a format to make requests to the great Chefs of the Boards on how to make that meal!

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take your beef chunks. coat them with flour that has plenty of black pepper mixed in. Brown the beef in the bottom of a heavy pot (the one you will use for the stew) in some butter – or, if you’re feeling dangerous, some bacon drippings. (MMM!) You can brown some onions in there too if you like.

Open one can (6-8oz) “tomato sauce” the plain unseasoned stuff that is basically cooked pureed tomatoes (Contadina or Hunt’s brand). Pour over beef. add 1 cup beef broth. add 2 cloves of garlic (or more if you like garlic) and a bay leaf, and a palmful of black peppercorns (10-15).

Simmer covered 1 hour. Add a 1/2 cup of dry-ish wine (white, red, whatever you have. it’s all good). And continue to simmer as long as you feel like it. (another hour is good, 2 hours is even better)

In a separate pot, boil large carrot and potato chunks (at least 4 of each) until they are nearly cooked. Drop into stew for last 1/2 hour of cooking.

This stew is even better the next day. And, if you have any pans that are discolored, it leaves 'em shiny (acidity in the tomatoes, dontcha know)

3

Take your beef and cut it into the size chunks or strips you find most appetizing. Dredge it in seasoned (s&p) flour, and brown it in the stewpot in your fat of preference.

When nice and brown all over, remove it to a bowl and throw one or two chopped onions into the pot. Saute for about 8 minutes, or until soft and beginning to brown. Drop in one or two minced garlic cloves and saute for about a minute, until fragrant. Deglaze the pot with about a quarter cup of red wine.

Put the meat back in, with a bay leaf, and add beef stock to just cover. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover the pot, and let it cook for about an hour.

Cut some potatoes and carrots into the chunks/shapes you like and add to the pot, along with a pinch of thyme. Re-cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Taste for salt and pepper and serve.

…there, that’s the basic, just off the top of my head. You can doll it up at any stage…add celery and bell pepper to the onions at the saute stage, season with paprika or dry mustard at the same time, put in zucchini instead of carrot, leave out the potato and stir in sour cream at the end and serve with noodles or rice, whatever you like.

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Yumm! Thanks to you both! No offense, Hello Again but I will probably lean towards Ukelele Ike’s recipe tonight since I don’t recall using tomatos in stew before and I am craving this more as a comfort food (e.g., familiar). I will try yours next time, though, I promise. This was really helpful as I see I need to stop and get some ingredients on the way home.

FWIW, I plan to use yukon gold potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions and one other vegetable which slips my mind at the moment (as I said, they are at home) when I cook. Plus I found out Mrs. ShibbOleth is making gaeng kieow wan gai (Thai green curry with chicken) so I will make the stew tonight but we will eat it tomorrow, per HA’s suggestion.

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BTW, by recipe is the “Gaston Beef Stew” from the Joy of Cooking, 1972 edition. Not word for word, but that’s where I learned to make it. My mom always made beef stew with tomatoes, she probably used the same recipe. :slight_smile:

Anyway, enjoy!

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Tomatoes are good…most Hungarian stew recipes include tomatoes. You could do worse than to add tomatoes.

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I love Yukon gold potatoes in stew. But be aware that they will get mushy if you cook them too long, so don’t add them until the last 20 minutes or so.

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If you go the tomato route, consider adding a couple o’tablespoons brown sugar and a a half-dozen shakes of liquid smoke.BBQ goodness!

9

Please pay close attention to the part of Ike’s recipe where it says “beef stock.” Please dont’ ruin a good stew with that horrible salty garbage known as “beef broth.”

I can give you a great, easy recipe for beef stock, or you can check one of Zenster’s threads, or you can buy premade stock in a good gourmet grocery store.

I’m serious, once you go stock, you never go back!

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Thanks again, everyone. The stew is coming along nicely, I used Ike’s recipe with a couple of minor modification. The other mystery vegetable was the humble turnip, BTW, in case anyone was interested.

The interesting part was that I was just downstairs, giving the pot a stir, then a wee taste. Something was not quite right. So I checked Ike’s recipe again, and I had forgotten the thyme. Added the thyme, and voila! It’s a very slight difference, but heaven is in the details.

I’ll report in again after dinner tomorrow night.

And EJsGirl, I would love a recipe for beef stock.

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I don’t do beef stock very often, because it costs money, and the whole point of making stock is that it’s CHEAP (okay, and it makes your food taste better). I always cut up my own chickens and make stock from the parts that aren’t going to be eaten anyway…back, neck, gizzard, wingtips, skin and fat…'cause it’s FREE.
Anyway…buy a pound or two of the cheapest beef your butcher has on hand, and have him give (sell) you several pounds of beef bones. He should saw them up for you. (You can do this with bones only…I have…but it’s richer if you use real meat, too)

Get your biggest stockpot out, but first preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put the bones in a roasting pan and give them about 20 minutes in there.

Take the pan out, flip the bones over, and throw in a couple of carrots cut into big chunks and a couple of onions cut in quarters. (put the vegetables on TOP of the bones…they’ll burn if they’re on the bottom) Roast for an additional 20 mintues.

Now dump it all into the stockpot, along with the meat (which you’ve cut into chunks, too). Scrape out the roasting pan, deglaze it with hot water, and pour all the leavings over the meat and bones. Then add more water to cover well. Put in two chopped tomatoes, two crushed cloves of garlic, a tsp. of black peppercorns, and two bay leaves.

Bring to a boil, then let simmer for, oh, eight hours at least. An hour before it’s done, put in two chopped celery ribs and a handful of fresh parsley.

Allow to cool, then strain into a container and refrigerate overnight. Lift off the congealed fat, pour into quart-size Ziploc bags, and freeze for future use.
(The above method is scammed mostly from Christopher Kimball’s THE COOK’S BIBLE, an excellent tome from the editor of COOKS ILLUSTRATED magazine. Most people wouldn’t bother with the tomatoes and garlic, but it really makes a difference!)

12

Uke’s recipe is great, I have very little to add. Sorry I didn’t get back in last night, hubby & share one computer and my turn was up!

Understand going into this- making stock is an all-day event, although you can let it simmer for very short periods of time if you leave the house.

Roasting the meat will give you a nice color, otherwise your stock will look bland but still taste good.

I throw all my veggies in at the beginning and go for it. I use tons of aromatics- celery, onions, carrots- and I add one bunch of parsley for color. I want all the flavor from the aromatics, which is why they go in at the beginning.

I usually do two big stock pots at once, and reduce it down into one. It takes anywhere from 8 to 12 hours, the longer you can let it go, the better. Then, strain the stock through several layers of cheesecloth or a flour sack towel, so it is clear. Be sure to throw away all the stock ingredients, you have killed them! Store the pot of strained stock in the fridge overnight so the fat rises to the top and cools. The next day, scrape the fat layer off with a big spoon and split the stock up into baggies, two cups or so in each. Store the baggies in the freezer and use them as needed. I also know people who pour stock into ice cube trays and use it for quick cups of soup.

Each pot gets roughly-

2-3 onions, cut up
1 bunch of carrots
1/2 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of celery
at least 1-2 pounds of meat and bones (beef, chicken, turkey)
water to cover

You can also add peppers or other things for different flavors.

Enjoy! I hope dinner is great!

Seriously, if you don’t have time for the labor, several good stores sell premade stock. Do you have a cooking store, specialty grocer like Bristol Farms or Gelsons, or something similar near you?