What is the secret to making a really good beef stew?!
Answers: I buy all the ingredients and it still does not come out good.
Ina Garten has a wonderful recipe - she marinates the beef in wine over night before she makes the stew. I followed her recipe exactly, and it was the best stew I've ever had. You also have to be sure to use good meat. This recipe is not as hard as it appears.
Parker's Beef Stew
2 1/2 pounds good quality chuck beef, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1 (750-ml bottle) good red wine
2 whole garlic cloves, smashed
3 bay leaves
2 cups all-purpose flour
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Good olive oil
2 yellow onions, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut diagonally in 1 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 pound white mushrooms, stems discarded and cut in 1/2
1 pound small potatoes, halved or quartered
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
2 cups or 1 (14 1/2-ounce can) chicken stock or broth
1 large (or 2 small) branch fresh rosemary
1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas
Place the beef in a bowl with red wine, garlic, and bay leaves. Place in the refrigerator and marinate overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
Combine the flour, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 tablespoon pepper. Lift the beef out of the marinade with a slotted spoon and discard the bay leaves and garlic, saving the marinade. In batches, dredge the cubes of beef in the flour mixture and then shake off the excess. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot and brown half the beef over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Place the beef in a large oven-proof Dutch oven and continue to brown the remaining beef, adding oil as necessary. (If the beef is very lean, you'll need more oil.) Place all the beef in the Dutch oven.
Heat another 2 tablespoons of oil to the large pot and add the onions, carrots, mushrooms, and potatoes. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Place all the vegetables in the Dutch oven over the beef. Add 2 1/2 cups of the reserved marinade to the empty pot and cook over high heat to deglaze the bottom of the pan, scraping up all the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add the chicken stock, rosemary, sun-dried tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon salt, and 2 teaspoons pepper. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables in the Dutch oven and bring to a simmer over medium heat on top of the stove. Cover the pot and place it in the oven to bake it for about 2 hours, until the meat and vegetables are all tender, stirring once during cooking. If the stew is boiling rather than simmering, lower the heat to 250 or 275 degrees F.
Before serving, stir in the frozen peas, season to taste, and serve hot.
the broth
A really sexy pot
Use cornstarch to thicken the broth and don't be agraid to experiment with different spices and seasonings.
I use a crock pot and that makes it very tender and tasty .
Red wine, good seasonings/spices. Garlic,parsley..just to name a couple.
I slice one onion and cook it in butter on low heat until caramelized...I add my stew meat that has been season with salt and pepper and dusted with flour....I brown it on all side....then add water to cover and a bay leaf....i cook it for about 2 hours or until fork tender then add my veggies.you might need to add more water to cover..and cook another 30 mins or until the veggies are done....
Time is the key ingredient. Make your stew and keep in the refridgerator for one to two days covered and reheat. All the flavors will have combined and marinated the stew meat even more and your vegetables will be tender.
cut the stew meat into sizable squares,, dredge in flour that has a bit of salt and pepper in it.. and set aside
these are the vegetables I normally use
1 large chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots chopped
1 large potato peeled and chopped
1 celery stick chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 large can of chopped stewed tomatoes
(and if I have anything else, I throw it in just for nutricious sake, like chopped cabbage, turnips, green beans, green peas, zuccini,, etc..)
1 cube of beef boullion or a few shakes of "bloom".. liquid seasoning.
for spices.. I use 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 huge bay leaf
very liberal shakes of black pepper
1/8 tsp of cloves or 2 clove nails
a good shake of worchestershire sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar (this is amazing, it actually helps the flavor)
saute the floured meat in a bit of oil in huge pot on stove till outside is browned, you can transfer to crock pot if you want, or just leave on stove... add everything else with about 4 cups of water.. turn up to boil.. then cover, turn down to med low and cook for 2 hours..
this is my perfect recipe..
Hello Egoistic....I think the secret is time...You have to let the juices, veggies and beef simmer for a long, long time to get them to intermingle properly. Oh...and good beef.
searing the meat and cooking before you add any broth or other ingredients, then adding flour to the meat with it's grease still in pan, to make a ruex then add your broth and other ingredients. This makes it nice and thick.
Coat your beef with a bit of seasoned flour. Brown it in some olive oil and sweat some onions also. A bit of brown on the onions wouldn't hurt. The flour will act as a thickening agent. It wouldn't hurt either to put a bit of brown on your carrots and celery. The potatoes don't require browning. As the stew is simmering add a bottle of Guiness into the mix. It makes a lovely dark complected gravy.
Well being a vegetarian I'm going to have to say fake vegetarian beef makes the best beef stew.
But this may sound silly... Go to walmart and get that chilli... seasoning.. mix... thing and add it into the beef stew.
Yeah I know it sounds bad.. But hey the beef stews already bad, why not try something new?
Sorry>