I am not sure if this belongs in GQ or CS, but here goes:
I am having a problem with my beef stew. Whenever I make it, the broth is tasty, but the meat itself is mealy and flavorless. I typically season and brown chunks of meat, remove them from the pot, add mirepoix and fry that up, then add vegetable broth and deglaze. I then add the meat back in, boil and then simmer until tender. What should I do differently?
Thanks for your help,
Rob
What cut of beef are you using, and how are you seasoning it before browning?
Stewed beef will lose a lot of its flavor, of course, since the beefiness seeps out into the broth, and its texture will change. It shouldn’t be mealy so much as falling apart into strands, though. You should use a cut of beef that is tougher and contains lots of collagen and intramuscular fat–a cut like pot roast, chuck, oxtail, shank, bottom round, or short ribs. Leaner cuts like top round, rib roast, sirloin, and the such are not well suited to slow, wet cooking.
edit: When I make beef stock, for instance, almost all the flavor is gone by the time I pull the beef out of the stock (after about 6-8 hours of simmering). At this point, it doesn’t really have much flavor, but it’s still pretty good on rye bread with some horseradish.
Definitely use a tough cut of meat for beef stew. You want a cut that will fall apart into strings, not one that will turn to mush. For stew, you want something that would be way too tough and chewy to eat as a steak.
Don’t use meat on which any kind of meat tenderizer has been used. Likewise, don’t put papayas in beef stew- they contain a natural meat tenderizer, and the resultant beef will have the texture of canned cat food.
You might want to consider leaving the meat in bigger chunks. A good cut of meat for stewing will fall apart as it cooks- you don’t need to cut it into small chunks before you brown it. Larger chunks won’t tend to overcook as quickly as small ones.
If you can eat it, it belongs in Cafe Society. Moved.
samclem GQ Moderator
At the grocery store, I just buy the stuff that says “Beef For Stew”, I don’t know what it is. Angular chunks of beef. Sometimes I will make a season mix with the flour, but drenching the beef in flour and brown thoroughly in a bit of oil, bring the stew contents to a boil and then simmer 4-8 hours. What could go wrong?
Um, this is essentially the essential question, if the OP doesn’t recognize the importance of same… . Anywho, what cut of beef are you using?
Well, there you go, hehe. More to it than that, but if ye are called out on it, meh.
I use chuck roast, trimmed of most of the fat, in 1" cubes. Dredge in a mixture of flour seasoned with garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Brown in a hot cast iron skillet, just a few at a time so they carmelize a nice dark brown. I also add a half cup of good red wine to the stew as it simmers, really improves the flavor.
I read somewhere (maybe a Betty Crocker cookbook) that said to never let the stew come to a boil. You want it to simmer only, to make the beef soft and tasty.
my WAG is that stewed meat is always flavorless. Take any bit of stewed meat, wash the sauce form it and blah - tasteless
Only fried/grilled meat has any intrinsic flavour
I think the idea is to take lots of the sauce with each mouthful
Maybe the problem is using dry seasoning and flour before browning - if you stew it afterwards it may get lost in the stock. Maybe try a wet marinade with garlic etc beforehand to let the meat absorb the flavour?
The problem is, you aren’t using Bosda’s ALTERNO-IRISH STEW RECIPIE.
fnord 
It has all been said already, but:
Don’t get lean cuts. The fattier and messier, the more taste you will get.
Cut it in small cubes, the flavour will be on the sauce and you want more surface to be coated.
Don’t let it boil. That’s what makes it mealy. Slow, slow, very slow simmering is what you want.
Letting it come to an initial boil and then reducing to a simmer (which is how I interpreted the OP) should be fine, as well.
[Irritating Pedantic Nitpick] Unless your cow was diabetic, you’re not carmalizing the meat, but subjecting it to a Maillard Reaction (which, unfortunately, has no neat verb tense except “brown”.) Maillard is what happens to proteins in the presence of a few sugar molecules and a lot of heat. Carmalization is what happens to sugars alone in the presence of heat. [/IPD]
As for the actual question, yeah, what they said. In addition, the meat should be thoroughly browned, not just cooked to grey. It’s actually all the little “burnt” bits on the bottom of your pot that hold the real flavor once you release them with water (meh) or wine (yay!). It should also be noted that it’s practically impossible to adequately brown meat in a teflon vessel: cast iron or stainless steel is the way to go (I’m not sure about anodized aluminum or AllClad- anyone know?
Finally, I’m not sure why you’re frying up your mirepoix - doesn’t precooking it make it just an amorphous mush by the end of the stewing? I just throw the onions in with the meat and the rest of the veg in with the stewing liquid.
So:
Cheap tough meat.
Don’t cut too small.
Dredge in flour and something with taste - I use just salt and pepper, but I could get on board with garlic or onion powder as well.
Brown well - not burnt, but well browned.
Deglaze the cooked on “burnt” bits with wine (or water if you have to)
Add veg and cooking liquid and bring it to a boil quickly. (For food safety reasons - get it past the “Danger Zone” for bacterial growth as quickly as possible.)
Turn down the heat and stew, over a low heat, for several hours.
WhyNot,
Alton Brown disciple.
I typically use chuck and season it with salt a pepper. I brown and get a nice brown crust on it. I remove it, add the veg and cook it dry until the onions are clear and then add my deglazing liquid. I then add the meat back. The meat comes out tender, but flavorless. I don’t usually thicken the sauce, but sometimes I do.
FWIW,
Rob
That sounds like a challenge. ::looks around office
I do this because the mirepoix’s (I prefer the trinity, or even better, combining the two) purpose is to flavor the cooking liquid. I’ll add stewing vegetables much later in the game. If the mushy bits annoy you, then you can remove the chunkies with a spider and hit the gravy with an immersion blender - instant thickening.
Nah. Can’t be. The trick is to brown the stew meat thoroughly, then simmer for several hours. It will then be as tender as can be. I probably make some of the best beef stew around, if I may be so bold to say so, but I’m not vain. /s