Please diagnose my stew failure
Jun. 11th, 2008 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fivemackDo not follow this recipe, it makes a bland and insipid stew
Acquire a quantity of beef bones from the butcher. Roast them in the oven for about half an hour, then stick them in a large saucepan with 2pts water, one onion quartered, one carrot roughly chopped. Ignore on low heat for four hours, turn off and leave overnight. Discard the bones, strain the stock.
Take one pack of Asda casserole beef; roll the bits in seasoned flour (flour + two sprinkles mixed herbs + a bit of ground pepper) and fry them in olive oil until brown on both sides. Put them in a casserole.
Chop five medium boiling-potatoes into bits about the size of the beef bits, chop four normal carrots into bits which are carrot-cylindrical and as long as they are wide. Put them in the casserole
Chop one onion into small bits, fry them in the pan you fried the beef in until well-fried. Deglaze the pan with a bottle of beer (I used Hobgoblin), transfer the beef-with-onion-in to the casserole. Add about half the stock.
Stick in the oven at 180C for an hour and a half, notice that the liquid is still very watery, add two tablespoons of cornflour mixed up with water, stick in the oven for 45 more minutes. Eat with peas and complain about the bland insiptitude. The texture's good, the meat lumps look right, but the flavour has escaped the meat and somehow not ended up in the gravy.
Acquire a quantity of beef bones from the butcher. Roast them in the oven for about half an hour, then stick them in a large saucepan with 2pts water, one onion quartered, one carrot roughly chopped. Ignore on low heat for four hours, turn off and leave overnight. Discard the bones, strain the stock.
Take one pack of Asda casserole beef; roll the bits in seasoned flour (flour + two sprinkles mixed herbs + a bit of ground pepper) and fry them in olive oil until brown on both sides. Put them in a casserole.
Chop five medium boiling-potatoes into bits about the size of the beef bits, chop four normal carrots into bits which are carrot-cylindrical and as long as they are wide. Put them in the casserole
Chop one onion into small bits, fry them in the pan you fried the beef in until well-fried. Deglaze the pan with a bottle of beer (I used Hobgoblin), transfer the beef-with-onion-in to the casserole. Add about half the stock.
Stick in the oven at 180C for an hour and a half, notice that the liquid is still very watery, add two tablespoons of cornflour mixed up with water, stick in the oven for 45 more minutes. Eat with peas and complain about the bland insiptitude. The texture's good, the meat lumps look right, but the flavour has escaped the meat and somehow not ended up in the gravy.
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Date: 2008-06-11 11:01 pm (UTC)To start with, forget that entire first paragraph. Stock is like work, and stew starts with the browning of the meat. Maybe simmer some chopped onions and a crushed clove of garlic in the meat fat. Meat should be browned on relatively low heat, and as soon as that's done, dump it (grease, onions and all) into a big stew pot with a couple cups of water and maybe some wine, and whatever spices seem like they should go in. Definitely some salt.
Let that simmer for a while. It's stewing. The longer you can wait, the more tender the meat and the more meaty the liquids will get. I usually try to let this go for about an hour.
Then start chopping and adding vegetables in the order of stuff that needs to cook the longest: turnips, potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, whatever. This generally means that about ten or fifteen minutes after I've added the last whatever-it-was, the potato bits are good and soft and it's about ready to eat. Since I tend to make this a couple quarts at a time, while I'm eating, I'll turn off the stove to let the rest of the stew cool down, leave a couple dinners' worth in the fridge, and freeze the rest in dinner-sized portions.
It's even better reheated, it's very simple, and it never fails.