making a stew

I brown the onions and veg, then the meat if cooking on the hob. Now I've started using a slow cooker, I don't brown anything. Sometimes I put potatoes in, sometimes not.

The nearer the bone the sweeter the meat.

In the olden days, before fashionable chefs discovered it, you could get neck of lamb for next to nothing. That used to make a wonderful stew although you had to put in a bit more work as it had to be cooked and left to cool, then the fat had to be picked off and the meat picked off the bones. But oh the flavour when the vegs and more stock had been added and the stew was ready.

That's the way I do it, LadyGracie shin is good in a casserole. Lots of onions, browned, also fennel and celery.
I soak beans overnight before adding them, though you can buy jars of pre-cooked beans, or tins of butterbeans.

Shin of beef added after the onions are browned, lots of stock then I always add carrots and mushrooms. Then when cooked add dumplings made with butter, serve with boiled potatoes and chunks of bread to dip in the gravy. Yum!

I think Mrs Bucket cooks casseroles (well, my mum certainly didn't cook stews!)

As Monica says, a stew is cooked in pot/pan on the cooker top, I also don't use a lid, it just bubbles away.A casserole is cooked in the oven and covered with a lid.

I use a mix of suet, butter and SR flour for dumplings.

M0nica as one whose DM cooked 'casseroles' not 'stews' (perhaps it's a regional thing) what do we call one cooked in the slow cooker?

We had slow cooked lamb shanks yesterday and they were large, so leftovers tonight.

With mashed potatoes (see other thread on the best way to do them)

his not is!

the potatoes are sliced and artistically placed on the top and allowed to brown.
Yes, they have to be artistically placed in ever-decreasing circles!
All the veg are sliced and layered with the meat at the bottom. I like lamb on the bone but DH does not and as this is is signature dish (well, his only dish) we have it without.
A shake of Worcestershire sauce when it's on the plate adds a little something!

I always brown off beef but never lamb. I use stewing lamb (bone in) and everything goes in, and is then simmered on the hob, but cook potatoes separate and throw them in at the end.

I never put potatoes in beef stew as always cook the day before on top of cooker, reheat the next day in oven with baked dumplings made with butter and fresh chopped herbs. Potatoes for this are cooked separately.

NINA I buy my lamb legs from any supermarket. They all do offers at one time or another. Often after Ramadan and Bank Holidays. I usually pay between £5 and £6 a kilo. Look in the fresh meat shelves. My Best Buy once only was to pay £2.89 a kilo in Asda. I've never seen it at that price since. That same day I bought a whole salmon for a similar price. Also look out for topside of beef joints at about £5 a kilo. Slice thickly and put in the freezer for casseroles, chillis, bolognese etc.

I always chop up the potatoes to put in the stew with everything else at the start. They keep their shape well. Maybe it's because it's a slow cooker. I don't know. Dumplings are made from Attora suet. Half attora to plain flour. I make them early and leave the in the fridge until an hour before the end of cooking and in they go.

As far as I have ever known the only difference between a stew and a casserole is that one is cooked on the hob and the other is cooked in the oven. As we enjoy casseroles or stews I have 30 or 40 (and still growing) different recipes for them coming from all over the world using all kinds of emat and none at all. The number of ingredients variously used across them is so diverse, that it is impossible to draw up any rules.

I do not brown anything. Just chuck all the ingredients into a slow cooker or casserole, mix, cook as appropriate until the meat is melt-in-the-mouth soft and velvety

Nina I don't add potatoes as oh doesn't like them in stew I don't mind either way so it's easier to have mash I agree it's each to their own oh likes dumplings I don't prefer Yorkshire pud with stew inside of course don't have mash as well ?I agree it's better next day

I would only brown the meat if I was cooking the stew or one-pot or hot-pot in the same dish, as it seems silly to fry things in the frying pan and then put them in the slow cooker, saucepan or casserole dish. Then you would have to wash the frying pan up!

Good replies - so it's not necessary to brown anything. I ysyally make a chicken casserole, but yesterday it was beef and beans - I prepared it in on the stovetop and will transfer to the slow cooker.
What recipe do you use for dumplings? I usually use matza meal but I've run out and can't get it around here.

For a cooker top stew, in a large Le Crueset pot, I put in meat, stock, potatoes, herbs,
Turnip or swede, lots of chopped carrots, onions and salt and pepper.Nothing is pre-cooked. It cooks for hours.
Later on I add more potatoes as the first ones break up and thicken the stew.Dumplings added later.Totally yummy and enough for two days.

Stew wouldn't be stew without potatoes and dumplings, but I only put in the potatoes long enough to cook well but hold their shape. OH often adds extra potatoes to the leftover gravy and has for his lunch the next day.

Anya each to their own, obviously, but one of the benefits of using cheap cuts of raw meat with the bone still present is that your hotpot gets all the goodness out of the bones.
Don't ask me to define 'goodness' but I know it's there somewhere

Ann I've just done the same. They were delicious and surprisingly filling.

I only use leftover lamb in a hot pot so it's already cooked and like Nina any potatoes are thinly sliced and on the top. Because we are a low carb family, this means we can have the odd potato (uses very few) or choose not to take any of this layer....though very hard to resist the slightly crispy topping!

Just to divert somewhat, I was recently given some Bramleys for pies and crumbles but they fell so lusciously we ended up eating most of them just with cream.