I’m making beef tips and gravy.
The beef tips I’m using was labeled “beef for stew” in the grocery store. Which in my experience tends to be really tough cuts. So that means it will have to let it simmer for a few hours to get to desired tenderness.
I’m trying to decide if I should do everything at the beginning and let the beef simmer in the gravy?
Or,
Let the beef simmer in broth for a while and THEN make the gravy?
Does it make a difference?
Thanks.
If you’re going to thicken the gravy with flour, corn starch, or a roux, wait until the end. The connective tissue in the meat will dissolve as it simmers, and that should already thicken it a bit. The starch in your vegetables will do the same thing, as will the evaporation of the liquid. Only when it’s cooked for several hours and is ready to serve will you decide whether or not it needs additional thickening.
Yes times 10. Take your stew meat, and toss it in a dish with flour and salt and pepper and maybe garlic powder, and fry it up on high heat like it was a pork chop. Then forget what you’re doing and turn the heat on low, maybe throw in a can of beer (well, half, you have a few sips) and cover; and in another pan do up some aromatics (onion, garlic, celery, a bay leaf and maybe a pepper or two, or some mushrooms). When that second pan is nice and caramelized, chuck it into your meat pan, and then figure out what you want. Stew over mash potatoes? Chili? Whatever. But don’t try to thicken it, beyond the bit of flour in your browning stage, till the end. And there’s so many ways to turn something into a gravy at the end. Roux, cornstarch slurry, flour in milk, beaten egg yolks folded into the juices, a lump of butter or mayonnaise. etc.
Instead of using flour to thicken the sauce, try using cream.
Thanks for the “tips” (heh) guys.
I followed terentii’s instruction and it turned out great.
If you put the roux/flour/corn starch in too early, you just end up with a disgusting glop. I learned this the hard way, through personal experience.
I tried thickening chicken stew with cream cheese once. Didn’t turn out as good as I thought it would. 
One thing I learned making turkey gravy from scratch a couple of years ago: You get a much richer sauce if you stir in a gob of butter before serving, like the French do.
This is a near-universal Truth in cooking. A knob of butter towards the end makes 90% of anything better.