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Beef Stew!
Topic Started: Nov 5 2014, 03:37 AM (360 Views)
brodie
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Small Star Member
Been a while since making a good and hearty beef stew. I do the usual things, flour on meat, brown, add water or beef broth, onions, celery, carrots sometimes mushroom or/ and peppers seasoning.

It is pretty good, we like it anyway. Just wondering if anyone wished to share a recipe for making an outstanding stew, but that is still a good comfort type.
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angora
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WWS Book Club Coordinator
I make it differently each time but basically I do this..

cut up onion and celery really small and braise in olive oil, add floured and seasoned meat and brown all together. Add beef concentrate and water, boil and simmer. Closer to eating time add cut up carrot and maybe a little parsnip and/or turnip bring to boil and simmer til tender, add frozen peas. If I need extra liquid I add red wine. If it needs thickening I mix marg and water and thicken with that.

If I have my kids at home I make dumplings for the top.

Seasonings are usually thyme, garlic and salt and pepper.
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heatseeker
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I usually make a no vegetable beef stew -- pat meat dry, salt, brown thoroughly, cook in beef broth until tender, thicken with flour and water, serve with vegetables on the side. dumplings are good.
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Darcie
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Skeptic
I prefer beef bourguignon and this year will try the thickening part with non-gluten flour, hope it works.

This is basically my recipe, sometimes I omit the mushrooms, depends how I feel.


1
6 ounce piece chunk bacon

3 1/2
tablespoons olive oil

3
pounds lean stew beef, cut into 2-inch cubes

1
onion, sliced

Salt
and pepper

2
tablespoons flour

3
cups red wine, young and full bodied

3
cups beef stock

1
tablespoon tomato paste

2
cloves mashed garlic

1/2
teaspoon thyme

1
bay leaf, crumbled

20
small white onions

3 1/2
tablespoons butter

herb
bouquet (4 parsley sprigs, one-half bay leaf, one-quarter teaspoon thyme, tied in cheesecloth)

1
pound fresh mushrooms, quartered

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry.
Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to side dish with a slotted spoon.
Heat fat in casserole until almost smoking. Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the lardons. In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.
Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust). Remove casserole and turn oven down to 325 degrees.
Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove. Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with one and one-half tablespoons of the oil until bubbling in a skillet. Add onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins. You cannot expect them to brown uniformly. Add 1/2 cup of the stock, salt and pepper to taste and the herb bouquet. Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but hold their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.
Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. As soon as you see butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms. Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat. When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan.
Wash out the casserole and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top. Skim fat off sauce in saucepan. Simmer sauce for 1-2 minutes, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning.
Pour sauce over meat and vegetables. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in casserole, or arrange stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.

This is Julia Child's recipe and I make once a year because it is so good and only once because it is a lot of work.
Edited by Darcie, Nov 5 2014, 04:52 AM.
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Trotsky
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Big City Boy
Set an extra place Darcie.

I too have thought of doing it Julia's way, but it's the peeling of the small white onions that slaps me back to reality.

And I cut off all the fat from a top round and render that to make for the browning fat. It is good she's dead because this would kill her: I use COOKING WINE, the salty stuff (I like the ones that seem Port based. No more broth.) Of course no extra salt is added. Salt free tomato sauce. Lots of spices, especially rosemary. Worcestershire and a little of that Gravy Master stuff for color.

And I use potatoes, celery and carrots, LOTS of sliced onionsm garlic...mushrooms only for Stroganoff.
It goes into a crockpot for 6 hours.
I fish out the meat, the potatoes and half the carrots onto a serving dish and dump everything else into a big blender and SMOOSH it into a half thick sauce that is really wonderful. That goes back over the stew.

I'm not a purist and take every shortcut that I can.

Haven't gone through it for a while for just the two of us and everyone we know is a food-psychotic: oh, no onions! not if it has garlic. there's wine in that? I don't eat meat? I hope you used salt substitute? Too many carbs.
My muttered response would be "Then go torture a waiter instead."
Edited by Trotsky, Nov 5 2014, 08:03 AM.
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brodie
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Small Star Member
Thank you for the suggestions, beef stew is welcome in autumn, with some crusty bread, love it.

I bought enough stewing beef for a couple of times, will try your recipe Angora with some but like the idea of keeping the veggies separate that Heat suggested, they should not be over done that way.

Darcie a friend gave me the exact same recipe except she also adds 1 cup of chopped carrots, have not tried it but her method was so very simple and done in a slow cooker, she said the meat does not turn to mush and still resembles the pieces you toss in.

Here is her method
Brown the flour dredged meat, throw everything you mentioned above plus carrots and the browned meat into your slow cooker and cook on low for 10 hours. She said it was perfect and delicious.

Trotsky what a good idea to throw all the remains into blender should make a beautiful sauce.

Am a little run down lately but must try to do something, cooking was always a pretty good pass time. Thanks for the recipes.
Edited by brodie, Nov 6 2014, 04:24 AM.
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Trotsky
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Big City Boy
Quote:
 
Trotsky what a good idea to throw all the remains into blender should make a beautiful sauce.


Yeah, I'm proud of that...it's original. But one big caveat. Blend in very slowest STIR speed...VERY VERY slowly, and even let the ingredients cool a bit, because if the hot sauce is suddenly thown up, it heats the air above very quickly and this expands the air dramatically and can blow the top off the blender and up comes the air and scalding sauce...all over the kitchen.
For the faint of heart, a blending wand might be safer. It works well also just takes a little longer.

Edited by Trotsky, Nov 6 2014, 05:59 AM.
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Dana
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WWS Hummingbird Guru & Wildlife photographer extrordinaire
Trotsky
Nov 5 2014, 07:56 AM


Haven't gone through it for a while for just the two of us and everyone we know is a food-psychotic: oh, no onions! not if it has garlic. there's wine in that? I don't eat meat? I hope you used salt substitute? Too many carbs.
My muttered response would be "Then go torture a waiter instead."
laugh123 laugh123 laugh123
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imjene
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Gold Star Member
Here is a recipe that I want to try. It is not so traditional, but sounds good. If anyone tries it before I do, let me know what you think.

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/slow_cooker_orange_and_ginger_beef_stew.php
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haili
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Gold Star Member
Easy Oven Stew. Shake beef with flour, salt, pepper and paprika; drizzle with oil and put in 425 oven for 30 min. Turn heat down to 325. Add carrots, onions, turnip (if you like), celery, potato (if you like); dump on a tin of tomatoes or tomato soup and put back in oven for a couple of hours. Tender and tasty!
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swing
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swing
Thanks Hali sounds good to me. I like to "push the easy button"!
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imjene
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Yours sounds easier than mine, but wanted something different. My problem will be where to find five spice powder in a small town!
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agate
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darcie that does sound like a lot of work, though good I am sure.

I do my stew like most of you and this is a good time to make it.
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erka
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Gold Star Member
Imjene: Your recipe reminds me of Mom's beef stew with star anise. I think that was the only spice she used and it was delcious.

Here is a recipe for 5 spice powder. The 5 different spices are readily available at the grocery store.

http://chinese.food.com/recipe/chinese-five-spice-powder-24232

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imjene
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Gold Star Member
Thank you for that, erka. I would just have to purchase the anise and fennel, as neither are spices that I am fond of when used alone. Hopefully, the combination will be good. I did meet a lady that I know, in the grocery store today. She overheard me asking the clerk about 5 spice powder and said that she had some at home if I would like to have a little, so maybe I'll save myself some trouble and get some of hers. She, like most people, probably purchased it for one recipe, and may never be able to use it all.
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