Who Has Good Stew Recipes?

[jali]

I rarely make any type of stew and after I'm done with soups, I'd like to move to stews.

A good stew over plain white rice is an almost perfect meal. My mom's stews just kept getting better and better as the week would wear on. I know she would brown the seasoned beef in oil with a little flour, but I don't remember the next steps.

He'p me please. ( I know I can go to a recipe page, but I'd rather get he'p from my friends here at Mellophant)

[vison]

First, don't buy stew meat. Buy some chuck and cut it into cubes yourself. About 1 1/2 inches square. Put a cup of flour in a bag, add salt and pepper and maybe a little paprika. Shake it well to coat the meat, and when you take it out, sort of shake the excess flour off.

Meanwhile, in a heavy-bottomed pot, heat about 2 tablespoons of oil until it shimmers.

Add the cubed, floured beef. Don't crowd the pot, you want it to brown, so you might need to do it in batches. You might need to add a little oil between batches. Get it really good and brown all over.

When it's browned, set it aside and put in an onion which you have chopped up, and a couple of garlic cloves which you have chopped very fine or put through a garlic press. Turn down the heat and brown these things nicely. Then, take a few small whole onions or a couple of larger ones that you have cut in quarters, leaving the root ends so they don't fall apart, and put them in and stir them gently about.

Put the meat back in and add a cup or so of good stock or water. Cover close and put into your oven that is set at 325 degrees. Let it stew for an hour, then add some neatly cubed potatoes and carrots and pop it all back into the oven for about 1 1/2 hours.

You take it out and you think, jeez it needs more liquid. So at this point, you add some water or stock. If you think it needs to be thickened more, make a slurry of flour and water and stir it in and let it cook for 15 minutes. Check the seasoning.

I hate stew with turnip, but some people like turnip.

You can add tomatoes, if you must. But it's nice just plain, good beefy flavour, and you don't need the rice at all. Still, it would be good over rice, potatoes and all.

[jali]

Thanks vision. I had no clue that a stew goes in to the oven. I probably would have gone for the beef labeled "stew" as well. I don't think I'll add tomatoes - it sounds good without.

[silenus]

Get a crock-pot. Stew becomes second nature with one of those.

Brown meat as above. Toss into crock. Add pearl onions, chopped carrots, potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, and the like. Add garlic. No, more than that. Toss in a couple of bay leaves and a bottle of dark beer. Season with salt, pepper, more pepper, some hot sauce and some Worcestershire. Let cook all day. Come home from work, eat.

[jali]

Get a crock-pot. Stew becomes second nature with one of those.

Brown meat as above. Toss into crock. Add pearl onions, chopped carrots, potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, and the like. Add garlic. No, more than that. Toss in a couple of bay leaves and a bottle of dark beer. Season with salt, pepper, more pepper, some hot sauce and some Worcestershire. Let cook all day. Come home from work, eat.

Really? I'll bet it'll be nice to come home to a "stew smelling" home. I gave away my crock pot due to lack of use. I may need to replace it. Thanks.

[Hatshepsut]

This is an Indonesian version of stew that is very, very good. Spectacularly unhealthy, but worth it. You can use any tough cut of meat, because the long cooking time (and probably the tamarind) tenderizes it. It goes perfectly with white rice, naturally.

RENDANG
(serves 8)

1.5 kilo/3 lb chuck, blade or round steak, cubed
2 medium onions
6 cloves garlic
1 Tbs fresh ginger
(6 fresh red chilis, seeded – leave out to minimize spiciness; include seeds to maximize heat)
4 packages coconut powder
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 daun salam or 6 curry leaves (substitute about 4 bay leaves if you can't get these)
2 tsp ground coriander
1 stem fresh lemon grass or 3 strips lemon peel
1 tsp laos powder ("galangal" or "greater galangal" in English - available wherever SE Asian groceries are sold)
½ cup tamarind liquid
2 tsp sugar

Drop garlic and ginger into food processor; then add onions and chop. Add ½ cup water and blend until smooth. Put into large pot with all remaining ingredients except tamarind and sugar. Mix well, add beef, water to cover, and bring to boil.

Reduce heat to moderate, add tamarind, and cook until gravy is almost dry. (Simmer for a long time - add water if needed so that the beef cooks at least 1.5 hours, maybe more.) Add sugar at very end.

[jali]

Hatshepsut
Have yet to buy or eat a beet. ::hangs head in shame::

It will take some time for me to assemble these ingredients.

I've never seen coconut powder - what size boxes?

How does it taste without the sugar?

[Cluricaun]

I gave away my crock pot due to lack of use. I may need to replace it.

You did what now?

I have burned out the elements on two crock pots in the last 6 years I use them so often. In the winter time it's going to see use at least two or three times a week. I make so many things in the crock pot that I value it over my Shun knife or my All Clad cookware in terms of the thing that is the beating heart of my kitchen. I use it to braise ribs and make chili and chicken cacciatore and soups and stews and pulled pork and corned beef and cabbage and casseroles....and...and...I have put damned near everything in the crock pot. Hie thee to a crockery seller with haste. I buy the biggest ones I can find so as to maximize the amount of stuff I can cook in them at once.

The added bonus besides being a magical pot that turns sinew and tendon into filet mignon is that you can hobble stuff together in the morning in about 10 minutes and come home to a house that smells like someone has been cooking their asses off all day. In the time it takes me to open and finish the first bottle of beer after getting home I can put together a dinner that can stun a hungry stomach at 100 yards.

Anyway, I like carrots and green beans and celery in my stews too. And I like a nice chicken or New Brunswick stew to mix it up from just being beef stew all the time (ps, try making beef stew with Guinness. They love each other) and with a simple change of seasonings you can whip up a pretty awesome Mexican stew too.

[silenus]

We just bought a new slow cooker. The different bowls are wonderful.

[jali]

We just bought a new slow cooker. The different bowls are wonderful.

I put the cooker in my basket. That's an amazing price for 3 bowls.
(I quit my Amazon strike a little while ago)

[OtakuLoki]

Another vote here for the slow cooker - it's the ideal way to make stew.

I rarely use a recipe for stew other than for inspiration.

Potatoes in stew are good, but you should only put them in for the last 45 minutes to hour. Likewise, there are two times you add mushrooms - at the beginning for flavor, and then with the potatoes for mushrooms you can see and eat. While chuck is a great cut for stew, think about what other things your market may have on special - I've gotten some real deals for lamb knuckles before, which were divine for a lamb stew, at about the same price as chuck. Similarly, if you're willing to try an ethnic market you might be able to get goat or other meats. Stew is something I find can be an ideal way to try out new meats, there's some homogenizing of flavor while still allowing the meat to accent things.

Finally, adding some kind of alcoholic beverage for flavor really kicks things up. Beer is good, esp. a nice flavorful dark beer. So are good strong red wines.

Experiment and try things that come to mind. It's really hard to ruin a stew. It's a very forgiving dish.

[Hatshepsut]

The powder generally comes in a metallic envelope. Here a typical picture:



If you cannot find it, you can use cans or boxes of coconut milk (or be really hard-core and make it fresh). The packet size is fairly standard, but amounts don't probably matter a whole lot anyway; this is peasant cooking and not finicky. If you want to be a little healthier (though you may sacrifice some of the bad-oil-goodness) you can cut back on the coconut and substitute milk or broth instead.

I doubt the sugar makes a huge difference since it is such a tiny amount. Unless you are absolutely opposed to adding it, though, I'd include it - it may be just the thing to round out the flavor at the end.