Homemade Beef Stew Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What gives beef stew the best flavor? ›

Add spices such as turmeric, coriander and cumin at the early stage of cooking, when you are frying onions and garlic, to enhance the taste of the beef stew. Fresh herbs like coriander and bay leaves also contribute a distinct flavour without making the dish too spicy for the younger members of the family.

The most important key to making stew meat tender is being sure to cook it for a long time. If you want super tender beef, you'll need to cook it on a low heat in a Dutch oven on the stove or a slow cooker for at least a few hours.

For most types of stew, it takes time to develop great flavor. Stew uses collagen-rich, tough cuts of meat, which need at least two hours to break down. If you try to rush it and boil the stew, the muscle fibers will shrink and become tough. So give yourself a few hours to let it do its thing.

Go for the chuck

The most common beef used for stew is chuck steak, also known as gravy beef or braising steak. Beef chuck comes from the forequarter of the animal consisting of parts of the neck, shoulder blade and upper arm. It is easy to find and it's affordable, making it a great choice for your stew.

But the liquid itself should not be thick in the same way that gravy is thick. So skip the roux, and don't bother dusting the meat with flour or cornstarch before browning, either, as some recipes will suggest. That will just interfere with getting a good sear on the meat, and gum up the stew with unneeded starch.

Laurence further reveals that "adding wine or other alcohol brings out different flavors (those that are alcohol-soluble) that wouldn't otherwise be expressed in the dish. There are flavors in tomatoes that are alcohol-soluble, so adding red wine along with tomato paste also helps to enhance beef stew."

What emerged was beef that dissolved into a dry, pulpy mass in your mouth as soon as your jaw moved. The flavor was there, all right, but the beef was totally destroyed (along with my mom's dreams of stew, and my ego). Turns out you definitely can overcook beef stew.

Add the beef, beef broth and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a slow simmer. Cover and cook, skimming broth from time to time, until the beef is tender, about 1½ hours.

Place a lid on top, turn heat down to low, then simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove lid then gently simmer for another 1-1/2 hours, or until the meat is tender and stew has thickened, stirring occasionally. If the stew begins to reduce too quickly before the meat is tender, place the lid back on top.

Vinegar can add depth of flavour to soups, sauces, and stews. Especially great for tomato-based recipes, you can add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar towards the end of the cooking process to amplify the flavours of your other ingredients.

What are the best vegetables to put in beef stew? ›

Peas are nice but I wouldn't add them until the last few minutes. Vegetables that work well in a beef stew include Hardroots vegetable, carrots, potatoes, onions, celery, and parsnips. These vegetables add flavor and texture to the stew while complementing the richness of the beef.

Tough stew meat will take a couple of hours to get tender, and the vinegar helps this happen as well as add special flavor. Then add the onions, carrots, celery, Brussels sprouts etc and cook until the vegetables are the way you like them.

Beef stew is common, but other proteins work as well. Seafood, chicken, and even vegetarian stews exist. Part of what makes a stew a stew and not a soup is the mixture's thickness and the chunks of ingredients. The liquid suspending the chunky ingredients in a stew should be more of a gravy than a watery dish.

Potato varieties differ in a number of ways, from taste to texture, and not all spuds are interchangeable. When it comes to soups and stews, Yukon Gold potatoes are the best.

When cooked in moisture, the collagen dissolves into a gelatin and the meat fibers separate more easily. The higher the cooking temperature, the tougher the meat fibers become; a boil produces rubbery, chewy stewing beef. A gentle simmer is necessary to tenderize the meat.

Not browning the beef enough would be the first possible problem. That adds a lot of flavour to the finished stew. You can toss the beef in seasoned flour before browning it which will also help thicken the stew. Not adding enough seasoning would be the second potential issue.

Personally I would add as many aromatics and flavor enhancing substances that I like. If the stew is already finished, then you can sauté onions, garlic peppers, celery and carrots then add them to the stew. I would also add some herbs and finally salt and pepper to taste.

Many stew recipes call for seasoning chunks of meat with salt before searing them or adding them unseared to the pot.