After an abysmal staff meal that went out last week, I vowed that I would win back the hearts of the staff. The culprit? A really bad stew. Nothing says you could give a shit less than a bad stew folks. Enter in Nico. The poor guy did not actually know that what he was doing was giving me a Soprano’s style panic attack after sampling his latest fare. See, he thought what he was doing was good as gold. I resolved that the cook needed a lesson in time… and flavor.
I made the following recipe one day while trying to figure out how to get rid of that extra beer in the fridge. (I am not a heavy drinker.) You really cannot go wrong with the ingredients here, you just have to have patience while you are building up your flavours. I told Nico what I will tell you: the care you take at the start of this recipe will reflect two-fold at the end. Be patient, and you will not recieve the “how could you?” stares from those you love.
Beef and Mushroom Stew with Stout Ale
Servings: 8
- 1 kg lean beef stew meat, cubed
- 30 g flour
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 pcs carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 rib celery, sliced
- 2 medium potatoes, large dice
- 1 pint Crimini mushrooms, quartered
- 1 pint portabella mushroom, sliced
- 30 mL tomato paste
- 350 mL beer, a stout ale such as Guinness
- 500 mL beef stock
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
- to taste oregano
- to taste Roux
1) Pat beef dry; dust stewing beef with salt, pepper, then flour.
Do not skip this step. If your beef is dry, it will brown a heck of a lot better. Meat does not come seasoned, and the flour will also aid a bit by adding a nutty brown flavor, and will help a little with thickening the sauce in the end.
2) Sear in heavy-bottomed pot until well browned.
Please, for the love of god, do not dump all the beef into your pot! What will happen is the juices will escape, you will begin stewing the beef in its own blood. You will get gray lumps that will resemble cat litter chunks. You don’t want to serve cat litter chunks to your family, do you? Take your time here, this is the most important step! Second most important step? Let the meat brown! You might be tempted to stir it right away. Patience! It will brown – if you let it!
3) Remove browned beef from pot, set aside, continue browning the rest of the beef.
Allowing the beef to rest will aid you so much in your quest to tenderize the meat. The best part is you will see a gradual buildup of brown on the bottom and sides of your pot. Do not be alarmed! This is flavor people. You just cannot buy that!
4) Add onion, carrots, celery, potatoes and mushrooms; sweat until translucent.
Why do I say ‘sweat’ and not ‘saute’? This is a huge pet peeve of mine. ‘Sauter’ means “to jump” in french. We are not looking for quick browning here. We are looking to get those brown bits loosened up from the bottom of the pot from the acid in these ingredients. We are literally, “making them sweat” out thier juices to help us with this task.
5) Add tomato paste and cook for a minute.
Some people will disagree with me on this step. Why tomato paste? Why the hell not? Stick with me folks, you will not be disapointed. You are dry roasting the paste to release another dimension in flavours.
6) Add beer, deglaze and reduce.
Ahh… deglazing is where we get those brown bits off the sides. This is critical for the development of flavors folks. This is the reason we spent so much time building the flavors.
7) Add broth, bring to a simmer.
You *could* add water. I don’t suggest it, but you could. Point is, you spent so much time in the earlier steps, you really don’t need the stock. Thing is, stock has body, and you will see why that is important later.
8 ) Simmer until the beef is tender.
How long is that? An hour? A day? Depends. I cannot give you a magic number. See, it depends on your beef. Is it 32 weeks old, or 70? Was it grass fed, or corn finished? What cut are you using? All of these are factors in tenderness, and how much time it will take to finish your meal. What I can tell you is to stick a fork into it ~ if you can shake the meat of the fork, it is tender enough for the next step.
9) Add seasonings.
Some people will disagree with me on this. Hey, you are following me on this one, right? I season my meat and stuff first, then adjust in the end. It is way easier to add than to take away, know what I mean papi?
10) If needed, adjust the consistency of the stew with some roux.
Now, chances are that if you used a stock to make the stew, you will not need to follow this last step. The gelatin in the stock will form a sauce for you. If you need to do this, make sure you take out all your meat and vegetables. Bring the sauce up to a boil and add in your roux. Why? Well, if you were to boil the sauce with the meat still inside it, you would toughen it up, and that would defeat the purpose, right?
So, there you have it folks. Stew 101. Nico enjoyed his experience, and better yet, I did not have to hear the staff bitching about another crappy meal. All in all, everyone went away today happy.
Good luck, and remember, cooking is what you want it to be.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I admire the time and effort you put into your blog. I wish I had the same drive