NFR Beef Stew
- Thread starter chrome/22
- Start date
Non-fishing related
Pink Nighty
Legend
Not so much a recipe as general thoughts and musings....
Meat needs to be something that works, and works hard. Talking brisket, chuck... anything you couldn't eat a steak of if you tried.
It's always better the next day and the reason is collagen. Once rendered into gelatin, it needs to cool to complete its metamorphosis. When reheated it hold together in magical ways. Make a day in advance.
Quality of stock is the ultimate separator in the stew game.
Meat needs an intense sear before getting into a liquid. Forget "browning," that type of soft language leads to soft stews. Think high heat, crust forming smoking popping heat.
Wine? Sherry? Brandy? Why yes, and from drinkable sources please.
The longest Forever Stew, a stew that you just keep chucking shit into, lasted hundreds of years in France until German occupation and food rationing in WWII. Another instance of Hitlers well documented hatred of the Stews.
Meat needs to be something that works, and works hard. Talking brisket, chuck... anything you couldn't eat a steak of if you tried.
It's always better the next day and the reason is collagen. Once rendered into gelatin, it needs to cool to complete its metamorphosis. When reheated it hold together in magical ways. Make a day in advance.
Quality of stock is the ultimate separator in the stew game.
Meat needs an intense sear before getting into a liquid. Forget "browning," that type of soft language leads to soft stews. Think high heat, crust forming smoking popping heat.
Wine? Sherry? Brandy? Why yes, and from drinkable sources please.
The longest Forever Stew, a stew that you just keep chucking shit into, lasted hundreds of years in France until German occupation and food rationing in WWII. Another instance of Hitlers well documented hatred of the Stews.
Drying the beef cubes completely before browning, tossing the cubes in flour, salt and pepper, then searing the beef in bacon fat.
This is the way...other ways are inferior.
My beef stews probably have more in common with a Beef Burgandy that other recipes...but still is quite good IMHO, and certainly worth the extra effort.
This is the way...other ways are inferior.
My beef stews probably have more in common with a Beef Burgandy that other recipes...but still is quite good IMHO, and certainly worth the extra effort.
G_Smolt
Legend
It's not really a crock pot recipe - more of a "big-ass cast iron duch oven" recipe - but this has been my go-to stew recipe base for quite awhile -
www.americastestkitchen.com
If that doesn't work, try this one -
I leave out the peas, because I dont think they belong in stew, and I tend to overdo the veg side with some turnips or rutabagas. I use at least one small russet tater so the starch adds extra body, and I usually bump up the wine and stock to 1.5 and 3 cups, respectively. This recipe works great for game meat as well.
As a bonus, it makes a bitchin chicken stew when you use white wine, and you could even thicken it more and put it in a pot pie.
Hearty Beef Stew | America's Test Kitchen
Choose chuck, use a combination of broth and wine, and thicken at the beginning for a simple but intensely flavored stew.
www.americastestkitchen.com
I leave out the peas, because I dont think they belong in stew, and I tend to overdo the veg side with some turnips or rutabagas. I use at least one small russet tater so the starch adds extra body, and I usually bump up the wine and stock to 1.5 and 3 cups, respectively. This recipe works great for game meat as well.
As a bonus, it makes a bitchin chicken stew when you use white wine, and you could even thicken it more and put it in a pot pie.
I'm mostly on the same page, but I get better results by searing a whole slab of chuck, and then cubing it. If I had a super badass commercial-industrial power range with a huge cast iron Dutch oven, I could maybe get a good sear on cubes, but with my relatively wimpy home gear it seems like I get more of a limp browning/ pre-cooking of the beef that way. So I look for chuck that's about 2.5" thick and sear that thing on all sides, slice it lengthwise and then cube it up, and then all the pieces have some hard sear on them.Drying the beef cubes completely before browning, tossing the cubes in flour, salt and pepper, then searing the beef in bacon fat.
This is the way...other ways are inferior.
My beef stews probably have more in common with a Beef Burgandy that other recipes...but still is quite good IMHO, and certainly worth the extra effort.