A beef stew is a combination of food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the reduced gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables (such as carrots, potatoes, turnip, parsnips, onions, celery and tomatoes, etc.), meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as shoulder and butt cuts of beef. While water can be used as the stew-cooking liquid, wine, stock, and beer are also common. Seasoning and flavourings may also be added. Stews are typically cooked at a relatively low temperature (simmered, not boiled), allowing flavors to mingle this is the single most important aspect of making a stew - long and slow.
This makes it popular in low-cost cooking. Tougher cuts having a certain amount of marbling and gelatinous connective tissue give moist, juicy stews, while lean meat may easily become dry. It is always best to cut your own stew meat.
Stews are similar to soups, generally, stews have less liquid than soups, are much thicker and require longer cooking over low heat. While soups are almost always served in a bowl, stews may be thick enough to be served on a plate with the gravy as a sauce over the solid ingredients.
Stews have been made since ancient times. Herodotus has been quoted as far back as the 8th century BC discussing about how to cook stew. Ancient Romans recipes from the cookbook Apicius (believed to date back to the 4th century) have recipes for lamb and fish stews. My recipe may not be as old but I assure you the warm feeling you will have in your tummy will be the same as the ancients had experienced.
This is perfect if you have a slow cooker! If you want to take a few minutes to prep the meat and vegetables ahead the night before and store in the fridge you will have the greatest reward the next day for dinner. Don't buy pre cut stew meat, it's too lean and will dry out. Always cut your own meat when making stew. In this case the fattier, the better. Using a Turnip (rutabaga) is my secret ingredient.
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs of Beef, chuck or rump roast, cut into 1" cubes
- 2 cups of Yukon gold potatoes -cut into 1" cubes
- 2 cups of sliced carrots
- 2 stalks of celery sliced
- 1 cup of frozen peas
- 1 cup of turnip cut into 1" cubes **my secret ingredient***
- 1/2 cup of sliced parsnips
- 1 medium white onion thinly sliced
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 clove of garlic crushed (optional)
- 1 tsp of garlic powder
- 1 tsp of onion powder
- 1 tsp of black pepper
- 1 tsp of hot pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 TBSP of summer savory or greek oregano
- vegetable oil for sauteing
- 4 cups of beef stock (you can substitute water, but you will need to use beef bullion cubes see package for instructions)
- 1 cup of red wine - Cabernet Sauvignon, or Shiraz are my favorites since they are full bodied
- 2 TBSP of flour
- 2 TSBP of butter
Directions:
Cube meat into 1" pieces, remove any excess fat, place in a bowl and mix with garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and salt. Seasoning your meat at this stage will reward you with flavourful nuggets of meat. Let rest while peeling, slicing and cubing your vegetables. You may wish to soak your potatoes in cold water to keep from turning brown
Heat a 5 Quart stock pot or dutch oven with 1 TBSP of vegetable oil on medium high heat, ( if using a crock pot to make your stew, you can use a frying pan to cook your meat)
Cook you meat in small batches, this may take a couple of minutes, but its what will make your stew everyones favorite. Do not over crowd the pan, you want to sear the meat on all sides, not steam it. Set the seared meat aside on a place with a slight lip, you want to save any juice that seeps out. You will repeat this process until all the meat is cooked.
* Important note. You want a nice brown fawn to develop on the bottom of your pan, but you don't want it to burn. After the second batch, I deglaze my pan with a bit of stock and pour it over the reserved cooked meat, and continue the process.
After final batch of meat is cooked, reduce heat to medium and add onion, carrots, turnip, parsnip and celery, cook for 2-3 minutes scrapping up any fawn on the bottom of the pan. Add flour mixing with the vegetables for 2-3 minutes add butter and stir until melted. Deglaze your pan with red wine and 1 cup of beef stock. If you don't like red wine in your stew just use and additional cup of beef stock. Turn heat up to high and bring to a boil, for two minutes, add remaining stock, beef, bay leaves, hot pepper flakes, garlic and summer savory and reduce heat to low and cover
*Note - You have two options to finish your stew and I've used both. You can place your pot in a preheated 300F or keep it on the stove on low heat and cook for 1 1/2 hours. I use the oven on days that I make biscuits (recipe can be found on blog with chicken pot pie)
After 1 1/2 hours add potatoes and cook for an additional 45 minutes. Remove from oven and return to stove to medium heat. Add frozen peas and cook for 3 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper to taste, remove Bay leaves and serve.
This next step is up to your preference of how thick your like your gravy. I generally like my gravy on the thicker side. If it is too thin when I remove it from the oven I will turn the heat up to medium to bring it to a gentle boil. Mix 1 TBSP of flour to 1/2 cup of cold water in a jar with a tight lid and shake to make sure there are no lumps. to prevent lumps make sure you add the flour to the water, and not water to the flour. Also make sure your stew is gently boiling when you add the flour water slurry. Slowly add while stirring for two to three minutes to thicken.
Adjust salt and pepper to taste
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