I am cooking a hearty stew for dinner with a friend tomorrow night (God help us all) :o And I was wondering if I should cook it tonight and refrigerate it overnight, since I have heard that stews and soups taste better reheated the next day.
Is this an old housewive’s tale?
Do I cook tonight or tomorrow???
Do it today, if time permits.
By tomorrow, any unwanted grease will have solidified on the surface of the refrigerated stew, and you can spoon it off.
In addition, the gravy will be thicker and yummier, as the mirepoix will have almost completely dissolved into the liquid.
I have never found that to be true even though I’ve read it in cook books. I find the flavors are fresher the day that something is made. Cooling and reheating soups and stew can result in extra mushy vegitables.
I think the only reason things taste better the next day is that you don’t have to spend 1 1/2 hours making dinner, again.
That being said stews due keep well and are ideal make ahead type dishes. (I usually cut about 10 minutes of the simmering time to keep things from getting over cooked) This is good if you want to spend more time with your guests and less time with your stove.
Here’s the recipe I am using:
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 pounds round steak, trimmed of excess fat, cut into 1" squares
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
4-1/2 cups beef broth
1 bay leaf
2 medium onions, chopped
4 carrots, trimmed and sliced
2 stalks celery, with leaves, thickly sliced
4 cups 1" cubes of peeled Idaho baking potatoes
1/4 cup toasted flour (for recipe, click here)
1/2 envelope brown gravy mix
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
In a plastic food storage bag, combine the flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Add half the meat and shake to coat. Remove the meat, shaking of the extra coating, then repeat with the other half of the meat.
In a large Dutch oven, heat half of the oil. Add half of the meat and brown on all sides. Add half of the Worcestershire sauce and then remove the meat to a plate. Repeat with the remaining oil and meat and Worcestershire sauce. Return all the meat to the pot and add enough beef broth to the pot to barely cover the meat, about 2 cups. Add the bay leaf. Simmer covered for about an hour, then add the onion, carrot, celery and potato to the pot.
In a small bowl, stir together the remaining beef broth, the toasted flour, the brown gravy mix and the lemon juice. Stir the mixture into the pot along with the thyme, salt and pepper. There should be enough liquid to cover the vegetables; if not add more broth as needed.
Simmer covered over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the beef and vegetables are fork-tender, about 45 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. Fish out the bay leaves and discard.
Sounds pretty yummy! I hope I don’t mess it up! 
PS - Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
If the mushiness factor is bothersome to you, just do the braising of the meat today. Bring the pot back to temperature tomorrow, and add the vegetables.
I STRONGLY suggest that you saute the chopped onions along with the meat, and allow them to stew for the full cooking time. Some chopped celery and carrot (and garlic) would be nice, too. These chopped veggies are called “mirepoix,” and they’re what makes the sauce all it should be.
You’ll be able to skip the packaged “gravy mix,” too, as it’s probably made up of dehydrated mirepoix, plus salt, pepper, spices you can add youself, MSG, preservatives, floor sweepings, and other nasty things.
You can put the larger pieces of carrot and celery in with the potatoes tomorrow for the last 45 minutes of cooking. You can add a handful or two of peeled pearl onions, if you want visible onions in the stew.
That is a GREAT idea! Cook the meat, onions and mirepoix today, then add the veggies etc. for the final hour of cooking tomorrow!
I think I am going to use more herbs, too; In addition to the thyme, I will use to rosemary and parsley.
This stew is gonna be out of this world!!! 
I’d go even further than Uke and gently cook the onions in the olive oil until translucent before adding the meat. Consider using half the paprika in the coating and putting half in a couple of minutes before the meat. I’d also add most of the celery before the liquid. As for reheating, scraping the fat off after it has cooled overnight is good, but more than this be sure to add some fresh herbs (a little parsley would be fine here) on reheating. Fresh herbs really lift the taste of dishes. Most importantly, refer to the dish as a rustic braise rather than a hearty stew.
Ah, but you want a high heat to brown the meat properly…if the onions are in there and translucent already, they’ll burn before the meat is done.
How about searing the beef, removing it to a side dish, then reducing the heat to medium and adding the chopped onion (celery, carrot, garlic)? As the vegetables give off liquid, it can be used to scrape up the brown bits left from the meat. Then she can throw in a shot of red wine to fully deglaze.
Rustic Braise!
I LIKE it!
Red Wind deglaze!
YESSIR!
But if this comes out tasting too good, no-one’s gonna believe I cooked it! 
Red wine…just what I was going to add.
Another suggestion would be to roast a head of garlic (heat oven to 300, cut top off head, sprinkle with S/P/ Olive oil, wrap in tinfoil, bake for 30 min, enjoy. This I would add to the stew an hour or so before it is done. I much prefer the nutty sweet flavour of roasted garlic, plus it is already mushy so you just squeeze it out and stir it in.
If you put cornstarch in the stew to thicken it, do not reheat and serve. Upon reheat, you get goobers rather than thick rich broth.
I also add a splash of soy sauce to my stew.
My personal stew recipe: Brown beef cubes in the stockpot, then add water (lots of water), rosemary, thyme, sage, cayenne pepper, parsley, marjoram, worchestershire sauce, splash of wine (I use white), and soy sauce. Then carrots and potatoes–cook til the veggies are done, throw in some peas, a little bit of butter, thicken with cornstarch, serve over hot rice.
This is making me hungry. I’d add a little balsamic vinegar.