Beef stew

I agree with all the comments on the type of meat. It has to be a cut that needs a longer cooking time.

I often find that if there's something missing from a meal, it's the seasoning. A pinch of salt, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, a good stock or some herbs can make all the difference.

I forgot to say I use bay leaves in almost all my stews too.

Doodledog

I use shin of beef, cubed and tossed in well-seasoned flour. Fry chopped or baby onions, remove, fry the floured beef in the same pan, then deglaze the pan with a splash of strong-flavoured ale (Briwn Ale or stout is ideal). Transfer everything to a casserole dish or slow cooker, add chopped carrots, the rest of the beer, some stock (from a cube or stockpot is fine) and cook very slowly for hours until tender. Adjust seasoning (I sometimes add a red wine stockpot), and add herbs to taste. The flour should have thickened the gravy, but if not you can strain it off and boil to reduce. You can stir in a tblsp of horseradish if liked.

Easy and delicious.

Snap my go to recipe as well. I think it’s essential to cook slowly over a couple of hours, depending on quantity/ quality of meat.

I put stewing steak ,carrots and onions and cook in oven for 6 hours,add beef stock for last half hour..always been kids and grandkids favourite

Whatever the recipe, don’t do what I did last night. Carefully put the leftovers into a couple of foil dishes, lids left loose until the stew had cooled, then foolishly decided to move them along the counter top. Should have listened to the voice in my head which said don’t! Tipped one dish all down me and onto the floor. Lots of mopping required and a change of clothes. What a waste!

When I posted my method I forgot to add a spoonful of garlic granules, spoon size depends how much meat and how much you like garlic.

I'm attaching a link to a beef stew recipe I've made often for the past few years. It's from Jenny Jones, who used to have an American talk show. At the end of the recipe is a video of Ms. Jones making the stew, it helps to watch that and she is somewhat entertaining as well. I follow the recipe but omit the thyme (as dh doesn't do thyme) and it turns out well every time. www.jennycancook.com/recipes/beef-stew/

I ought to have said that I usually cook a beef stew in the pressure cooker, which more than halves the cooking time.

I had some Bovril to the gravy. Perks a stew up. I grow Jerusalem Artichokes on my allotment and a couple of tubers, cut up, in the stew give it a lovely flavour (in my opinion of course).

I have been looking for stewing beef locally but to no avail.

Be careful with celery or celeriac as some people are allergic to it.

A good stock or stock cube, fried onions, casserole beef (shin, chuck, blade) vegetables and a good slug of red wine, Guinness or dark beer. Thicken towards the end of cooking.
I don't always fry the cubed beef first now.

Cook slowly for hours!

&^ry chopped or baby onions*
Doodledog can you still buy ready peeled frozen baby onions anywhere?

Red wine ,thyme and lardons or just chopped steaky bacon ,Worcester sauce plus a little mustard are good additions to the stock.
I also add long curls of orange peel to the stock and remove them later .
I like carrot with the onions and then plenty of mushrooms added later with mine .
I toss my mushrooms in freshly chopped parsley to enhance their flavour .
Crunchy croutons flavoured with garlic are nice too .

Allira

&^ry chopped or baby onions*
Doodledog can you still buy ready peeled frozen baby onions anywhere?

Picard - I get mine from Ocado. Stupid expensive but not something I use every day so they do last me a fair time. I mainly use them for coq au vin but I did put come in the beef casserole that's been simmering away in the slow cooker since late morning.

I don't like ready diced meat, I much prefer to do it myself, then I don't land up with silly little bits and lumps or gristle. But it's increasingly difficult first, to find it in one piece and secondly to find secondary cuts at all. And when you do, what used to be an economic cut of meat is almost like buying a piece of steak.

I used to be able to get meat bones for nothing and bone marrow for next to nothing - now it's all trendy and costs an arm and a leg!

Thank you ferry23.

Yes, the ready 'cubed' meat always needs cutting again as some pieces are larger, some tiny.

My dad was the stew chef in my family. He always put in a tin of oxtail soup. His stews were lovely.

Beef stew has become an occasional treat now, hasn't it?
Marinading the beef pieces for 2 or 3 hours in red wine, chopped onion and garlic with a splash of wine vinegar works for me. And last time I added a scant dessert spoonful of pomegranate molasses.
I dry the meat and brown it all over, then carrry on in the traditional way, vegetables to taste, but I like carrots, tinned tomatoes and mushrooms. Stock from cube(s).
Oven at 140° fan for about two and a half hours. Or more. Ideally, do this the day before , so that if it does need longer, you have time before serving it.

I’ll be making one on Sunday, enough to freeze half, shin of beef and venison (both won in our local meat draw).
Floured and into the slow cooker with onions, swede, parsnip, carrot, thyme, bay leaf, red wine seasoning and a hefty splash of mushroom ketchup. Left to do its thing for roughly 6 hours.

No need to faff around. Use a cheap cut of meat with fat on, but gristle cut away. Add celery, carrots, chunks of swede, onions and parsnip (optional). Long, slow cook for several hours and then season with salt and a good pinch of white pepper (not black). White pepper honestly makes all the difference. Thicken towards the end with your usual method. Gravy granules are fine, although I expect someone will admonish me for that!

Well I for one won’t be admonishing you Flappergirl, gravy granules get used a lot here. And as for peeling apples for crumble, unless I’ve got time on my hands I buy the tins of apple slices. I’ve spent enough years cooking.

I use this recipe as a basis. Always been good.
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef/steak-guinness-cheese-pie/

….don’t forget the dumplings😋

Visgir1

I have used for years a Delia Smith recipe, my son and daughter use it too. It's tasty, full proof never fails, it's cooked on the Gas for about 3 hrs. I also make Dumplings and I add Red Split peas...

Delia smith Frugal Food. Add dark beer for stock.

Either thai fish sauce or anchovies lifts the flavour

I use cornflour to thicken the liquid. Celeriacc is not essential at all. I've been making good beef stew for 60 years, never a celeriac in sight.

I also think that beef shin or chuck is the best to use for casseroles, though you can't often get it thick enough from the supermarkets now so I don't make them often.
I have a tried and trusted recipe (from Cooking for Crowds by Merry White) which involves frying floured chunks of beef and sliced onions, and then cooking very slowly in red wine and stock, with chopped carrots, garlic, thyme, tomato paste, bay leaf, peppercorns, orange peel and salt. The proportions are not that critical but the orange zest and thyme work surprisingly well together. I sometimes also add one star anise which I remove after cooking.
The casserole is best left to mature overnight.