Have a tough cut meat? Then perhaps stewing is the best way to cook it. Stewing allow for long and slow cooking of meats. Thus, it allows you meat to become very tender. It’s also a perfect one-dish meal as it has the meat, vegetables, and soup all together in one pot. It’s easy to make and you can easily add in your leftover veggies from the fridge. Let’s start to learn how to cook stew with this sumptuous beef recipe.
You will need a large pot and the following ingredients:
- Bay Leaves
- Fresh Parsley
- Beef
- Salt And Pepper
- Beef Stock
- Vegetables like potatoes, broccoli, carrots, green beans, peas, bell peppers, onions, celery, or cabbage
- Flour
- Wine
Bowl of beef stew with bread
Now, let’s begin learning how to cook stew with these easy steps:
- Cut all of your ingredients roughly about the same size. This will allow for even cooking. In general, stews are made up of smaller pieces of vegetables and meat. In short, you can make your cut into bite-size pieces. This way, the flavors will mix in well too. So start cutting your beef and vegetables about the same size.
- Using a large pot, sauce pan or stockpot, heat a few tablespoons of oil over medium high-heat. Just use enough oil so the meat won’t stick to your pan.
- Just before adding the meat to the pan, sprinkle it first with salt and pepper.
- When your pan is hot enough, add the meat. You should hear it sizzle otherwise it is not hot enough. Brown the meat in all sides without cooking it all the way through.
- Once the meat is browned, remove it from the pan and then cook your vegetables except for potatoes. Cook them for a few minutes as you stir them and then sprinkle a generous amount of flour. It will thicken your stew as it cooks. Depending on the amount of stock you are using, add a tablespoon of flour for every pint of liquid that you will use later on.
- Just continue stirring in the flour into the vegetable and cook for a few minutes.
- Place back the meat and add your herbs such as bay leaf or thyme.
- Now, it’s time to cover the stew with liquid. You can use stock, wine, water, or a combination of all three. Of course, it’s best to use homemade stock but you can always use canned stock if you don’t have much time to cook. When adding wine, make sure to add in dry wine but never a sweet wine.
- Let your stew boil then lower the heat and simmer until your meat is tender.
- Sprinkle freshly chopped parsley once done. You’re ready to serve!