I’ve got about a pound of Boneless Stewing Beef, some beef stock, potatoes, and carrots that I need to use up. Unfortunately, Dad never told me how to make a stew. How shall I do it?
I’m not a chef, but I do page-layout, and I’m finishing my third cookbook layout this month. Take that for what it’s worth. I suppose I’ve absorbed some of the info from these fine volumes.
Of course, there are many recipes for anything, but to me, the difference between a stew and a soup is the broth. A stew is more like gravy. Here’s how you make that happen.
Coat your beef in flour, then brown it in the bottom of your stewpot. You’ll need to use a little oil, but not much. The longer you brown it, the darker your gravy will be, but if you cook it too long you’ll have to simmer longer to soften the charred beef. Once it’s well browned, add stock and veggies, and let it simmer until you’re happy with it. Use whatever spices turn you on. If you like to cut your potatoes small, wait to add them until the carrots are half done, or they may dissolve before the carrots cook through (depending on type of spud: some hold together better than others).
Do you have a crockpot? You could also use a big pot.
First, brown the beef (cut it up into bite-sized pieces first). Drain it. Cut the carrots lengthwise, then slice through so you get little half-circles, about 1/4-inch thick. Cut up the taters into bite-sized pieces, too. Leave the skin on or peel them, either way. Some chopped onions would be good, too.
Add it all to the crockpot and set it on low for several hours, or if you’re using a pot on the stove, set it over low heat and let it simmer for several hours, till the veggies are tender. The carrots will take a while.
You will need to thicken it, and I know we have some real chefs on the board who would do it the “right” way (with cornstarch and water), but I would add a can of beef gravy, or maybe mushroom gravy to thicken it. You can also add about a quarter cup of instant mashed potato flakes to thicken it up.
Add some salt and pepper to taste.
Assuming this link works, this looks like a fairly easy recipe
You are going to have a pretty bland stew with just those ingredients. At a bare minimum you should add an onion - chop it and saute until translucent. Also, you will get more flavour if you brown the meat well. Then throw in the rest of the ingredients and simmer until done.
If it were me making it, I would cut the potatoes into fairly small pieces (say 1/2" cubes) so you don’t get the blazing hot potato effect. Some people like that though.
Damn, I hate coming in late to cooking threads. Saltire and Manduck gave you the advice I’d give, really. You MUST have an onion around the house, right?
Salt and pepper the beef and dredge it in flour. The flour will act as a thickener to the eventual gravy. Brown it in a tablespoon of oil. Remove the beef and add a chopped onion or two. A chopped celery stalk will also do wonders…and green pepper, if you like green pepper. Those long yellowish-green Italian peppers taste better than those damned bell peppers, BTW.
Once it all softens and begins to brown, throw in some minced garlic. I like to put in a couple teaspoons of paprika at this point, too, but that the Austro-Hungarian background in me. More S&P. The carrot also tastes better if you saute it for a little while, as opposed to tossing it in raw later. Any dried herbs or spices you plan on adding…oregano, rosemary, for example…should go in at the saute stage, too.
Once the veggies and seasonings are a nice comfortable glop, add your beef and stock to just cover. Simmer for as long as you can wait…1 1/2 hours, at least. Put in the cut potatoes 1/2 hour before serving. If you cut them into irregular shapes, they have a better shot at dissolving around the edges, thus giving your gravy more body.
As with any simmered/braised dish, this tastes better the next day.
If you have no spices such as Ike suggested, you can put in some horseradish. This can be nice, if you like the taste of horseradish.
If you don’t have an onion, PLEASE go out and get one. It just won’t be the same without. Or borrow one from a neighbor.
No. I hate onions. And you can’t make me.
About all that Ike left out was the bay leaf.
But, seriously folks. After much experimenting, I have come up with a sure fire technique that gives you perfectly tender meat with al dente vegetables.
Simply brown the dredged meat well and then transfer to another pot and simmer in a tin or two beef stock until tender. Continue by sauteing the chopped onion in the skillet with any fat from the beef and add the garlic to finish for the last three minutes. Then, once the meat is tender, add your vegetables in order of their length of cooking:
Potato
Pearl onions
Carrots
Cabbage
Green beans
Celery
Bell pepper
Tomato
Peas
Add the onions and garlic, a few peppercorns, a dash of hot sauce, a splash of Worcestershire, a grind or two of cracked pepper, a sprinkle of cayanne and salt to taste. Make sure to add the spices and herbs less than one hour before the end of cooking. Leaving them in longer only allows the volatile oils to migrate out of the pot.
And fer crimeney sakes, try making a proper roux! The method is imbedded in the poultry gravy recipe linked to. Nothing replicates the nutty and deep flavor that this simple ingredient brings to stews and gravies. When you taste a sauce made with roux, you will be transported back to your grandmother’s kitchen and hold the key to many taste memories.
For a complete change-up you can try silking the sliced meat instead. It will create a special coating on the meat that will provide quite a textural contrast in the finished stew.
matt, I too hate onions unless they are grilled into transluceny or fried into little rings.
However, do put the onion in the stew. Cut it in quarters so you can pick it out, but the flavour is very complementary. Trust me, I have omitted onions from many a recipe and it almost always ends up hurting the final outcome.
Oh really?
Don’t force the hand of the Onion Illuminati.
Look into my eyes. Repeat after me.
“I will use the onion.”
“I will like it.”
Seriously, are shallots ok? Garlic?
Those will help with the flavoring, and replace the onion.
Excellent suggestion Scylla, shallots are a superb substitute for onions.
In the absence of shallots, just add a small amount of onion powder. Not enough to taste (if you hate the flavor of onions), but just enough to round out the overall flavor. Another favorite method of mine, if it is only the texture (and not the flavor) of onions that you dislike, is to grate some onion pulp onto the frying meat or into the stew later.
Seeing as you already have some potatoes and carrots, go pick up a can of diced tomatoes and a couple of onions. Can’t have a stew without onions. You’ll also need a few other ingredients – mostly spices – and also some gluten.
Now let the games begin!
Chop the veggies into mouth sized pieces. Feed the meat to whatever kitties happen to be near. If you or your neighbours do not have any kitties, then shame on you.
Heat on medium a couple of tablespoons of good old Canadian Canola oil in a good old Canadian cast iron frying pan – the grungier the better. Add in a teaspoon of mustard seeds and one or two dried red chillies (don’t get too adventurous with the chillies). When the mustard seeds are in the middle of their snap, crackle, pop routine, add in the onions and stir them until they are lightly browned (to remove their bitterness).
Now stir in a half teaspoon of ground coriander, a half teaspoon of garam masala, a half teaspoon of ground tumeric, and a quarter teaspoon of chili powder. Ah, doesn’t that smell fantastic? By playing about with these spices, or by adding in a few others (ginger, pepper, lime leaves – experiment as you wish), you can eventually come up with your own personal curry!
Now add the tomatoes (including the liquid), the potatoes, the carrots, and the gluten. Sniff and stir for a few minutes. Sniff and stir, sniff and stir, sniff and stir.
Finally, add the secret ingredient – half a can of coconut milk. This is what will make your stew blossom into something wondrous. Now all you have to do is sniff and stir until the veggies are tender but not over cooked, and add water as necessary.
Enjoy you stew. Try serving it on a bed of rice or noodles, and finish off the evening with a shake of pureed and near frozen pineapple mixed in with the remaining coconut milk.
Some fresh garlic, finely chopped and cooked with the meat adds a great deal of flavour. I would also recommend a tablespoon of cracked pepper.
The man does not like onions? Well, here is an alternative. Throw your onions at street people. I realize that it is not a politically wise thing for a person in your position to do, but if you can’t handle onions in a stew, then you are not a man of the people in the first place, and might as well drop the facade here and now.
Chop up whatever you have left other than onions. Put it in a big pot along with a couple of quarts of water. Boil the hell out of it. Add in a box of oats and and boil the hell out of it again. If anyone asks, tell them you got the recipe from some reformers in Alberta.
Seriously, it took me a very long time to learn to eat onions. For me it was the texture. I started with onion powder, then worked up to dried onion flakes, and then made the big jump to finely chopped onions. I still have problems with large pieces of onion, but despite the ick factor, I would not want to miss out on the flavour they add.
There are some good spice recommendations here - my recipe, which my father created, calls for about 1/2 - 1 teaspoons of ground thyme. Err on the side of caution - too much thyme can make something taste “burnt.” But it’s great stuff, especially in combination with bay leaf.
Have you any mushrooms? I fondly remember these ads that used to run on Vancouver (BC - I lived in Seattle) television - Money’s Mushrooms Make Meals Marvelous…
Oh, and red wine. Something big and dry and not very subtle. About 1-2 cups.
And a point on onions: they’re best when sauteed slowwwwwly over medium-low heat, which brings out the sweetness and a lovely amber color. It takes about 20 minutes, but god is it worth it.
That, and barley
Everyone had excellent advice, except those who told you the put onions in the stew! You people want him to ruin the whole mess?
Onions are the Devil’s vegetable.
A handful of barley would help thicken it up. Or, if you have it, you could slice up a little okra. And, for flavor (instead of the nasty onion), I like to shred up about a quarter of a cabbage. A can of stewed tomatoes would help, too.
I make a lot of stews and the only thing i can add to the above is that i often drop in a teaspoon of worcester sauce to give it a little extra flavour. I tend to let my stews cook a loooooong time on a low heat so the meat practically melts in your mouth. In fact, i have a slow cooker just for this purpose. But obviously you don’t, so my advice is, don’t sweat it - it’s really not hard. Brown the meat, add the veggies and stock and just leave it for a while. Stews are pretty fail-safe. But you must have at least shallots in it. Really.
Fran
Put the onions in; stew it; take onions out; eat. Simple.
As an alternative to barley, you can toss in some tapioca to thicken it.
A little bit of ginger (powder or fresh) goes well in beef stew - not too much, as you don’t want to turn it into ginger stew, but just a bit to spice it up.
Personally, I never put tomatoes or tomato sauce in a beef stew - I think it overpowers the other ingredients.
While I agree with Muffin’s comments about the flavour of cocounut milk, I tend not to use it very much because it’s extremely high in polysaturated fats (see Coconut cream). I only use it once in a while.