Beef Stew question?!
Answers: I'm going to make beef stew in my crockpot and was wondering how vital it is to coat the stew meat in flour before browning. I know browning helps keep it tender but I really hate doing the flour part. Is this really required? Can I just brown the meat with a little oil and no flour? Thanks.
The flour is going to come off when you cook it in the crock pot for hours, anyway. All the flour will really affect is the thickness/consistency of the stew...
You can make it either way but the colour is better if you do the flour thing so I do that when I have guests but don't if I am just making it for the family.
The flour can actually act as a thickner later in the stew, so if you hate the flouring part, throw the flour in a zip lock bag and then throw the meat pieces in the bag, zip it and then toss....waaaaa laaahhh....
If you freeze the flour in the zip lock baggie, you can use it for thickening other stews, etc...again.
My wife and I make beef stew every know and then and we don't use flour and it turns out great....
You don't have to coat in flour first. I have found that marinating the meat first for a few hours really makes it tender. You can always add some instant mashed potatoes to the stew later to thicken it too.
Yes you can, and put some dumplings on top(see the Bisquick box for directions)
SURE YOU CAN.
I never do the flour thing as it just gucks up my pan and makes my stew taste, well, not nasty, but not as good.
I just plunk the meat into a hot pan lightly greased, let the outside carmelize and then plop it into the stew
It depends on how thick you like the stew. If it doesn't matter, don't bother with flour at all. I add the flour later by mixing it with some (room temp) beef broth, or even some (tepid) water. I brown my meat, put it in the crock pot with my veggies. About an hour before I am ready to eat I add the flour/broth mixture. You can add it later, but make sure you give it time to come back up to a simmer so it will fully thicken.
The potato flake idea is great too.
I don't do either one, I just put the beef in the crock pot, throw in the vegetables and other stuff and turn it on.
If you really hate the flour part so much ,don;t do it ,the good news is you can dish up a perfectly good & tasty stew without this step,brown the meat well in a little oil & proceed,when done if you feel you need a thicker gravy you can add a paste of a little flour mixed in water ,keep the pan off the heat when you do this,stir it well & simmer a few minutes to make sure the flour does not impart a raw taste,.slightly over cooked potatoes also help to thicken the gravy.
I always brown the meat without flour and my husband loves so just go ahead. No point using flour if you don't like it. Good luck.