My friend has a recipe for a basic, yet what he assured me was fantastic beef stew that I decided to try myself. Brown a pound of stew beef, add potatoes, the base, and enough water to cover everything. Then season to taste, bring to a boil, and simmer at low heat for a “few hours” until everything’s tender
However, he didn’t specify whether to cover the pot, and I just assumed I was supposed to. Two hours into cooking, the meat and potatoes looked and tasted done but the level of liquid remained the same and tasted like a hot version of what I’d put in there in the first place.
In order to make it not a total loss, I took the cover off and increased the heat to reduce the base. The consistency and taste tells me that it’s almost done (he was right; damn good), but now almost all of the meat and potatoes have disintegrated.
I started over four hours before posting this, and even after taking the cover off and raising the heat it’s taken me almost two hours to get where I am now. Should I have left the cover off?
meat & potatos don’t respond well to high heat with long cooking. As a first guess, I imagine your beef didn’t have very much collagen in which meant a thin liquid. You could try adding some beef stock instead of water and adding a flour/water slurry near the end to thicken.
If it’s for a few hours, the cover it up - otherwise you’ll have to drown it with water to begin with. You can open it up for the last hour or so to reduce liquids, as it’s always easier to add liquids than reduce them.
Whatever you do, don’t let it boil. It’ll turn your meat to leather.
And have you thought about adding some dark beer or wine? Also some seedless prunes.
Good suggestions all. Stew is just another word for ‘stock’. Find a good brown stock recipe, make the product, then add fresh vegetables near the end. Potatoes cooked for more than about 10-15 minutes are going to turn to mush.
No, a roux should be cooked. At the beginning of the stewing. Not glooped in raw at the end.
Most common method is to dredge the meat in seasoned flour before browning; this gives you a “fond,” which you then deglaze by adding the cooking liquid and scraping it off the bottom of the pot. Which then thickens your gravy.
And I agree that the meat should be braised for an hour or two…With onions…I can’t believe anyone would make any kind of stew without onions!… before adding potatoes and other pot vegetables.
Huh? I don’t want to argue with you (given your screen name and all), but I thought that stews (specifically, the liquid part thereof) were “thicker” than stocks. Or is some of the flour coating from the meat supposed to thicken it?
A roux is a cooked butter/flour liason
A Beurre Blanc is a raw butter/flour liason
A slurry is a raw water/flour liason
The reason I advocate slurries for first time cooks is that it’s added near the end of cooking so you can adjust the level of thickness to your desire. Once you become more experienced, then a roux does a better job of introducing flavour.
I’d just like to add that Qadop the Mercotan (at least I think it was him)taught me that Vegemite in stew is a beautiful thing. A healthy spoonful mixed into the liquid in the beginning gives it a a deep, hearty, rich flavor. Yum.
I just made some beef stew last night, and it was delicious.
I browned my beef (a big package of ‘stew meat’ from the store.)
Once it was brownws (note: not cooked, just brown on the outside) I removed from pot.
I deglazed with flavorful liquid (which consisted of water, red wine vinegar, worcestershire sauce, sot sauce, and beer.)
Once it came to a boil, I added back my meat, and threw in potatos and carrots. I reduced heat down to a simmer.
After maybe half an hour, I threw in my onions (I dont’ put onions in ast the start or else they get too mushy.)
I also added my spices: black pepper, cayanne, paprika, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and garlic.
I let is simmer for about another hour. I then thickened with a slurry.
Ladled into large bowl, and ate with a nice hunk of crusty bread.
Covering increases the pressure somewhat, which raises the boiling point, so you cook at a higher temperature.
This is the principle of the pressure cooker.
But since your lid is not very heavy, there’s not a lot of difference.
I saw a show where cooking a roast in an oven in a covered Mongolian terra cotta pot at about 400° for a short period makes the sinew break down and the meat just falls off the bones. At just that temperature some enzyme is activated.
So there’s a few different ways to break down the sinew without making the meat tough.
(Sorry I can’t be more specific, as I don’t cook and didn’t pay attention.)
Sorry about the quick answer; I had an appointment to get to. Stocks and the soups made from them can be thickened in any number of ways. Stock is generally made from meat of some sort that is cooked with vegetables and herbs and reduced to desired thickness over the course of a day or two. So a stew, which is generally meat of some sort cooked with vegetables over the course of a shorter period, is essentially a stock. Potayto, potahto. Take stock, add fresh veggies, and call it soup.
The amount of roux created by coating the meat with flour is not normally significant to the amount of broth you are cooking in. Additionally, the longer you cook a roux, the thinner it becomes. Thickening is generally done at the end of the cooking cycle, or is accomplished via reduction.
I’m sure this has sufficiently muddied the waters.
That vegemite stew sounds like an interesting idea.
I had some of my stew again tonight. The ingredients didn’t break down as much as I’d thought, but there were a LOT fewer large chunks of potatoes. It was still good.
I was talking to my boss about it today and she suggested I add the potatoes later in the cooking so they don’t end up getting dissolved.