beef stew...so many different ways..
Discussion
What's your personal favourite beef stew recipe ? I always thought you browned your beef first - degalzed pan chucked everything into a casserole dish and banged it in oven for a couple of hours. when I google beef stew it comes up with a whole host of different ways of doing it.
I have 800g of good beef - 5 carrots - 2 onions - 1 butternut squash - garlic - 4 parsnips - sage - rosemary - new potaotes - a litre of good stock and a bottle of red.
Want to make something nice with all that sometime tomorrow - have plenty of time as I'm off...so what would you do with all that ?
....I know I'm lazy but you lot are very knowledgeable and better than any cook book
ETA - put this thread up because Jamie doesn't brown his meat and does it all on the hob...it has completely thrown me.
I have 800g of good beef - 5 carrots - 2 onions - 1 butternut squash - garlic - 4 parsnips - sage - rosemary - new potaotes - a litre of good stock and a bottle of red.
Want to make something nice with all that sometime tomorrow - have plenty of time as I'm off...so what would you do with all that ?
....I know I'm lazy but you lot are very knowledgeable and better than any cook book
ETA - put this thread up because Jamie doesn't brown his meat and does it all on the hob...it has completely thrown me.
Edited by Craphouserat on Thursday 7th January 18:36
I made Jamie's beef and ale casserole yesterday. It was really easy as he doesn't brown the meat, you pretty much threw it all in the pot and it cooked for 3 hours. The beef was perfectly cooked - I freestyled and threw other veg in too, perhaps you can try the same?
My only criticism was his portion size - "serves 4 - 6". As a starter maybe, but we like our food in this house!!
My only criticism was his portion size - "serves 4 - 6". As a starter maybe, but we like our food in this house!!
Mobile Chicane said:
I always thought the reason you browned meat for a casserole is to give it 'roast meat' flavour components.
Interesting that Jamie doesn't do it. Is it just this particular dish, or in general?
Just his stew recipes from the Ministry of Food book.Interesting that Jamie doesn't do it. Is it just this particular dish, or in general?
From page 180.
"In stew recipes you're often told to brown off the meat first. But I've done loads of tests and found the meat to is just as delicious and tender without browning it first, so I've removed this usual stage from these recipes"
That relates to Beef, Pork, Chicken and Lamb.
I brown my beef (oo-err) off first, but do everything in one nice big cast iron crock pot. So, I'll heat up the pot, brown off the meat, fish it out, deglaze, then chuck everything back in. Lid on, forget. Or, after browning it off, chuck everything in a slow cooker.
Pretty much the same procedure for a pot-roast, which I do more often than a stew, though still only when I've run out of charcoal!
My reason being that all meat is so much the better for having intense heat applied to it. Even though I like my steaks rare, I nuke them over an 1800'F flame, because colour is your friend. Not browning won't make any difference to your method of cooking, the meat will just be a little more bland (to my tastebuds, that is).
Pretty much the same procedure for a pot-roast, which I do more often than a stew, though still only when I've run out of charcoal!
My reason being that all meat is so much the better for having intense heat applied to it. Even though I like my steaks rare, I nuke them over an 1800'F flame, because colour is your friend. Not browning won't make any difference to your method of cooking, the meat will just be a little more bland (to my tastebuds, that is).
MrOnTheRopes said:
What about thickening the whole thing up? Even after many hours in the oven/casserole dish they are more like watery soups. I use good old Bisto gravy powder for thickening/colour.
The Jamie receipe wasn't waterry at all, but I have some good old fashioned thickening granules in the cupboard just in case! (I use gravy browning for colour, especially in a chilli)Pupp said:
What cuts do you use? The last few I have done have been good but not melt in the mouth falling to bits tender... even after 8+ hours in the slow-cooker
Maybe I need to bash it
What cuts are you using? The thing with slow cooking of any description is that the cheaper cuts are better than using tenderloin. I use something like a 7 bone chuck for a stew. You want it fatty. This will keep it soft and tender while the connective tissues break down. You can actually overdo 'good' cuts of meat in a slow cooker, believe it or not. Maybe I need to bash it
I've buggered up my casserole today, chucked everything in the slow cooker this morning, turned the dial to what I thought was on..................at 3.30 I realised I had put it on warm up mode 
Whacked it up to 2 thinking give it a couple of hours and it will be alright, meanwhile daughter had unplugged her phone but accidently switched it off. Looks like we will be having it tomorrow 
Whacked it up to 2 thinking give it a couple of hours and it will be alright, meanwhile daughter had unplugged her phone but accidently switched it off. Looks like we will be having it tomorrow I sweat the holy trinity of stock Veg in the cauldron (Carrots, onion and celery)Remove from pan leaving any residue.
Season a dish of flour with S&P. Then lightly coat the Beef then brown of in said cauldron (or pan if your a lightweight
). Deglaze with a good glug of Red, add the stock veg, meat and any other veg. Add stock and water. I find making with 100% Beef stock is too over powering.
It'll thicken some with the coated Beef. If you want it thicker mix some cornflour with a touch of cold water and add this to your stew.
P.S Rosemary and Thyme add an extra flavour to stews.
Season a dish of flour with S&P. Then lightly coat the Beef then brown of in said cauldron (or pan if your a lightweight
). Deglaze with a good glug of Red, add the stock veg, meat and any other veg. Add stock and water. I find making with 100% Beef stock is too over powering.It'll thicken some with the coated Beef. If you want it thicker mix some cornflour with a touch of cold water and add this to your stew.
P.S Rosemary and Thyme add an extra flavour to stews.
Thanks for your thoughts all - I am going to try Mr.Olivers version, off to start chopping now ! Making a monster stew so I'm going to wing it a bit/experiment. My neighbours have run out of oil and are freezing their delicate parts off. So, bought a lot of stuff and a lot of red wine - a big old stew should help them warm up a little.
Thank you all.
Thank you all.
WestYorkie said:
I sweat the holy trinity of stock Veg in the cauldron (Carrots, onion and celery)Remove from pan leaving any residue.
Season a dish of flour with S&P. Then lightly coat the Beef then brown of in said cauldron (or pan if your a lightweight). Deglaze with a good glug of Red, add the stock veg, meat and any other veg. Add stock and water. I find making with 100% Beef stock is too over powering.
It'll thicken some with the coated Beef. If you want it thicker mix some cornflour with a touch of cold water and add this to your stew.
P.S Rosemary and Thyme add an extra flavour to stews.
Holy Trinity is bell peppers, onion and celery!Season a dish of flour with S&P. Then lightly coat the Beef then brown of in said cauldron (or pan if your a lightweight
). Deglaze with a good glug of Red, add the stock veg, meat and any other veg. Add stock and water. I find making with 100% Beef stock is too over powering.It'll thicken some with the coated Beef. If you want it thicker mix some cornflour with a touch of cold water and add this to your stew.
P.S Rosemary and Thyme add an extra flavour to stews.
Done this before over garlic mash (whole head of garlic per 1000g of spuds, boil it in with 'em and then mash it all together, cream/milk/butter as you like, SnP).
Used the smallest pickled onions I could find (silverskin maybe?) and whatever bacon I had knocking about in place of what the recipe says.
People loved it.
Used the smallest pickled onions I could find (silverskin maybe?) and whatever bacon I had knocking about in place of what the recipe says.
People loved it.
Miss Pitstop said:
I made Jamie's beef and ale casserole yesterday. It was really easy as he doesn't brown the meat, you pretty much threw it all in the pot and it cooked for 3 hours. The beef was perfectly cooked - I freestyled and threw other veg in too, perhaps you can try the same?
My only criticism was his portion size - "serves 4 - 6". As a starter maybe, but we like our food in this house!!
The chicken and white wine is very good, as is the pork and cider, but you're right that the portion sizes are titchy. I'm going to try the beef and ale tomorrow and will double up on the measures (and plenty of extra ale for the drinking)!My only criticism was his portion size - "serves 4 - 6". As a starter maybe, but we like our food in this house!!
Gassing Station | Food, Drink & Restaurants | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff