On this page is Beef Stew and a stupid story about thickeners....
Beef Stew
The two best beef stews I ever had were my friend Sue's Mom's and a place whose name I don't recall in Seattle. I've been trying to do them justice ever since....
Ingredients:
2 lbs. stew beef ( I like chuck)
8 cups water and/or stock
1 can beef broth
1 cup burgundy or merlot wine
1 or 2 beef boullion cubes if neccessary
flour for dredging, about a cup
2 TBS vegetable oil
2 stalks celery
1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms (I use button and crimini)
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
5 or 6 medium potatoes, cut into pieces
5 carrots sliced
2-3 parsnips (optional, but I like the depth of flavor they add)
1/2 tsp approx of rosemary, thyme, marjoram and pepper
or 1 TBS Herbes de Provence
1 bay leaf
1 or 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 large onion, either peeled and chopped OR if your lazy like me, you can throw it in whole and fish it out at the end!
See "note" about thickeners
Dredge beef chunks***see note..in flour and brown in oil over medium heat.
Add water/stock, broth, wine, onions, celery, garlic, mushrooms and spices. Oh yah, last time I added a cup of leftover spaghetti sauce, just for kicks! ( It was good).
Bring to a simmer and cook about 2 hours, stirring occaisionally till beef is almost tender. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding boullion if neccessary. Add carrots and cook about 5 minutes after stew returns to a simmer. Add potatoes, cook 5 more minutes add peas and cook till veggies are almost done and thicken. Serve with some sort of bread or bread like substance...Biscuits, rolls, matzo, whathaveyou...
Beefy chunks....
This is one of those rare instances where my inherent laziness is overcome. In this case by my love of food. It seems to me (if someone knows why EMAIL ME, PLEASE) That the larger the chunks of beef, the more flavor you get. So I buy a large piece of meat an cut it up myself.....Now on to the stupid story.....
When I was growing up, my mother, who is a wonderful cook,btw, used nothing but cornstarch to thicken stuff. So more than a few years ago, I was living in Worcester Mass. in this cool old triple decker..what was I saying? Oh yah..I was making beef stew. My Mother was in the kitchen, annoying me as usual LOL and she saw me take out the cornstarch.. She's says in a voice loud enough to wake the dead, "You're not going to use THAT, are you?..." I said, "Well yaaahhhh, what am I suppose to use?" She says, "welll, first you make a roux..." at this point my eyes start to glaze over. I know what a roux is, I even know the fundamentals for making one. But my mother probably hadn't even heard the word until all her children were grown and gone!! Any way,The point, I think I have one is, thicken this any way you like BUT a word of caution...If you DO use cornstarch ( which I will continue to do until MY kids are grown and gone) add it slowly and at a fairly low heat or If you reheat, do it SLOWLY or you will end up with gelatinous muck instead of stew!!!
This page was last updated on: July 24, 2008
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Graphics (and instructions!) generously provided by Dotty's Graphics
Okay, so now I not only can make a nice stock from roasted beef bones, but can also make a nice roux!...Trouble is...the ratio of fat to flour is 1:1...do you you realize how much fat it would take to thicken this stew? Yup, I'm sticking with corn starch:)))
