[denim]

I lost my beef stew recipe. Doing a search on the web for "beef stew" wasn't very helpful in finding -my- recipe, though I could try different recipies from now 'til I die and never repeat, I suspect.

From what I remember, it went something like this:

a bunch of sliced carrots
a bunch of sliced celery
a bunch of cut up potatos
a cut up onion or two
3 packets of brown sauce
1 packet of Italian dressing
1lb of cut up stew beef
6 cups of water

8 hours on "low" in a Crock Pot.

Does this sound right? What am I forgetting?

[scaught]

i think when it comes to stew recipes, there isnt much of a "recipe" to follow. theyre definitely of the "throw whatever you got in there" type.

[maxelson]

Sounds interesting, if chummy, warm, homey and basic. Tell me: does that base want to get thicker or remain at the "stock" consistency? Or does the brown sauce do that?

Mine:
Cubed beef (your choice on cut) dredged and seared.
Marsala wine
Beef stock
Carrots.
Taters (I like Yukons)
Onions
Celery
'shrooms
Barley (I like this better than taters, but the wife insists on the taters)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Touch of clove
Allspice.
Worcestershire.
Sea Salt.
Ground black pepper

In the crock for 6-8 hours.
Thicken with a little flour if the barley and taters hain't done it.

[marusin]

That sounds like it should do it... You could always interchange your Italian Dressing Mix for Onion Soup Mix...

I make a crockpot Italian Beef every once in a while and it's quite similar...

- A Small Roast
- Packet of Italian Dressing
- Couple Garlic Cloves (whole)
- Large Jar (32oz or so) of Pepperchini's
- Sliced onion and mushrooms

Put the Roast in your crockpot and dump Dressing Packet in... Take pepperchinis and slice stems off (discard stems) and throw them all in the crockpot.. Also throw in the vinegar that they were sitting in (the whole jar)... Add the garlic cloves onions and mushrooms... Add some water so roast is "almost" covered...

Cook on low for about 6 hours or so... When meat is done (shreds easily), remove the roast carefully from the crockpot... Take two forks and shred the meat and add back to the juice/gravy concoction in the crock pot... Continue cooking on low for another hour or so until you can't take it anymore...

Serve on good crusty rolls with Hot Giardenera... Not a "true" Italian Beef but so good! I usually make this when we're having family over and we're running errands all day or for "not so formal" parties/get-togethers...

Also, remember that you shouldn't remove the lid from a crockpot while it's cooking because it'll lose all the heat that has built up inside it... It's so tempting but you're better off to always leave it covered or you're food will take longer to cook because it has to regain heat...

Good eats!

[denim]

Originally posted by maxelson:
Sounds interesting, if chummy, warm, homey and basic.

Sounds appropriate for "me in the kitchen", yeah.

Tell me: does that base want to get thicker or remain at the "stock" consistency? Or does the brown sauce do that?

I guess I could add some flour or corn starch. Dunno. That was my question: what am I missing.

Mine:
Cubed beef (your choice on cut) dredged and seared.
Marsala wine you put this in everything, Max!
Beef stock
Carrots.
Taters (I like Yukons)
Onions
Celery
'shrooms good idea. I've got some, too
Barley (I like this better than taters, but the wife insists on the taters)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Touch of clove
Allspice.
Worcestershire.
Sea Salt.
Ground black pepper IIRC, there were some peppercorns in the original recipe I used

In the crock for 6-8 hours.
Thicken with a little flour if the barley and taters hain't done it.

I'll be using some purple potatos and a yam or two, for potatos.

[denim]

Originally posted by marusin:
That sounds like it should do it... You could always interchange your Italian Dressing Mix for Onion Soup Mix...

Next time. I already have my ingredients, I think.

I make a crockpot Italian Beef every once in a while and it's quite similar...

- A Small Roast
- Packet of Italian Dressing
- Couple Garlic Cloves (whole)
- Large Jar (32oz or so) of Pepperchini's
- Sliced onion and mushrooms

Sounds good right there. I forgot the garlic! Gotta add garlic to my stew, fer shur.

I did pick up a bunch of different kinds of beef yesterday, after the "steak" discussion. One of them will be cooked that way. Another will be "jerked". The stew meat, well, that's clear.

Then there's the brisket, or "roast" as you call it. I'm planning to have some fun with the brisket. Slow cooked, yeah. Lotta onions and garlic, carrots (but fewer), no celery, some more garlic, in the crock pot for 8 to 10 hours to make it very tender.

The (split) chicken breasts for tonight will have Cajun on some and (salt-free) lemon pepper on others. mmmm.... I'll probably eat myself into a diabetic coma.

[Mastrap]

Yo.

Briefly, just about to go out for dinner:

Drop the ready made ingredients, like Italian dressing etc. They'll do nothing that you couldn't do better yourself.

Guinness. You need Guinness for a proper beef stew. I'll post a recipe tomorrow.

Apart from that I'm with Maxelson. Marsala. Yummy.

[denim]

Originally posted by Mastrap:
Apart from that I'm with Maxelson. Marsala. Yummy.

Well, I've still got some so I might as well use it. How much? 1/2 cup? 3fl.oz.?

WRT the Guiness, what is it with y'all and alcohol?

[denim]

Here's how it actually came down:

a LOT of sliced carrots
a bunch of sliced celery
forgot the potatos
1 very large cut up onion
2 packets of Italian dressing
3 double-packets of brown sauce
about 2.5lbs of cut up stew beef
6 cups of water
10oz of whole "baby bella" mushrooms, placed on top of everything

8 hours on "low" in a Crock Pot.

I mixed the brown sauce powder into the water before adding. Poured it over everything after pouring on the dry Italian dressing mix.

I also added a bunch of teaspoons-full of chopped garlic later, when I realized I'd forgotten them. There was no room for potatos at that point. I forgot about wine until a few hours after I'd started the cooking, so that didn't happen.

It's been cooking for around 4.5 hours now. It's coming along nicely, as far as I can tell. Given that the whole thing, less the mushrooms, were effectively marinading in the fridge for around 8 hours before starting the cooking phase, I might add an hour or so to the total cooking time because everything started out refridgerated, including the stoneware from the Crock Pot.

[maxelson]

About the guinness or Marsala.
Well, I have made it with guinness on many occasions, but I LOVE the flavor the Marsala gives- so does the stew meat and mushrooms (good choice on the baby 'bellas, by the by.

About adding in later. I will usually put the Marsala in at ther outset and dribble more in about an hour before it is done. THe flavor of the wine changes during the long cooking process. Not that that is bad, mind, I just like to boost that flavor a bit.
I mean, I dig subtlety in flavor, but I like my stew to have a big presence. No room for subtlety there.

[denim]

After 8 hours, I taste-tested the stew and decided that it Needed Something. I fed it a yam, since there was room at that point, and some Marsala. Two hours later on high, the stew was ready. What a difference!!

I won't use a yam like this again, though. Next time, I'll add potatos. Maybe.

[maxelson]

So you were diggin' the marsala?

[daimoni]

.

[maxelson]

Yeah, I questioned yammage. I would think they'd turn to mush and add an odd flavor. Then again, I raised an eyebrow to Mas' Tomato/ Peanut butter soup. It was then I decided to never question the 'trap again. On culinary matters, anyway...

Hey denim,

What the heck is "brown sauce"?

[denim]

Originally posted by hayesk:
What the heck is "brown sauce"?

It is in the recipe.

After using it a few times, I think it's a kind of beef flavoring, but I'm not sure. Seems to add flavor and salt. Whatever it is, there's a Gawd-awful large number of brands of it in the market.

[denim]

Originally posted by maxelson:
Yeah, I questioned yammage. I would think they'd turn to mush and add an odd flavor.

Did, but they held their shape. As I said, I won't be doing that again.

You want strange? Try this: I bought an avacado. A day later, I bought a bagged salad. I decided to combine the two. Not too strange yet, right?

Then I made my Thai peanut salad dressing. After I did that, <valley>I, like, WONdered? what the combination of "peanut" and "avacado" would, like, be like? So I sliced, like, a bit off, and dipped it, like, in the dressing? Like, I tasted it. It was.... not a bummer. I, like, liked it! Whoa.</valley>

[denim]

Originally posted by daimoni:
Also, I wouldn't have wasted purple potatos in a stew. They're so pretty they need to go front and center on a plate... not slow cooked in broth for hours and hours.

Just as well I didn't use them, then. They're still sitting there in a bag on the counter. I'm not sure what I'll do with them. The original idea was to put 'em in the chicken soup, but I made the stew instead. Next thing to make is the brisket now that the slow-cooker is cleaned up. Maybe I should put the purple potatos in with that?

Meanwhile, I made a marinaded steak in my new cast-iron pan. Wow but that was impressive! Cooked it too long, though. Wasn't much pink in there. Hey, I plead lack of experience. Filled the apartment with a nice smell which was taken over by smoke. The smoke had a lot of hot "jerk" spices in it, so I was coughing a lot until the place aired out a bit. Cooked some of the remaining package of baby bellas very nicely with it.

Dang but those things hold heat forever! Next up, a good steak. Made the cheap one first, just in case things turned out like they did. Wouldn't want to over-cook the good one, after all.

[BlackGriffen]

Am I the only one who seers the beef in the stew pot before hand and then uses the stew to deglaze the pot for that extra something in the flavor?

BG

[Mastrap]

Originally posted by BlackGriffen:
Am I the only one who seers the beef in the stew pot before hand and then uses the stew to deglaze the pot for that extra something in the flavor?

BG

You and me both. Melt a generous know of butter in the pot, add a drop of olive oil. Season some flour with mustard powder, salt and pepper. Maybe some sweet paprika, the smoked kind from Portugal. Dust the beef with the flour, seal on all sides. Remove beef from pot, add the vegetables, carrots, celery. Shallots stand up better to beef then onions. Saute for a couple of minutes until softened but not browned.

I then deglaze with Marsala or Guinness (depending on my mood) Stir, scrape, stir. Add your beef back in. Add a bottle of a gutsy red wine or so, some good beef stock, maybe 50/50. Flavour to your liking, I use a sprig of thyme, some juniper berries. Always a fresh bayleaf or five. Parsley stalks are good too... So are a couple of black, barely cracked pepper corns.

Leave to simmer for 3-4 hours (oven 160degrees celsius). There is no need for a thickening agent, the original flour will do the job for you.
If it's too liquid when ready reduce the sauce on a high flame. Just when ready finish the sauce by stirring in a generous amount of ice cold cubed butter.

[maxelson]

Originally posted by BlackGriffen:
Am I the only one who seers the beef in the stew pot before hand and then uses the stew to deglaze the pot for that extra something in the flavor?

BG

Ooop. I included the seared part. Forgot to add deglaze. Yeah. I do that.

[denim]

I forgot: at the 8-hour point I also added some masa flour.

[Mastrap]

Originally posted by denim:
I forgot: at the 8-hour point I also added some masa flour.

Hey, there's no reason at all why you should listen to me, know-it-all-Mas, but:

You should never put 'raw' flour into anything. Always mix it with a bit of butter and give it a bit of heat before adding it. If you 'really' look for the taste of it you'll find it in the finished dish and it's not a nice one. Although in a gutsy beef stew you'll probably hard pressed to identify it.

I'll stop being a smart-arse now. Sorry

PS: Brown sauce. Have you ever read what's in there, ingredient-wise? Oh, sorry, yes, I promised to shut it, didn't I? I'm on my way then. Sorry, gangway please, sorry, thanks, yeah, gotta run. My, is that the time?

[denim]

Originally posted by Mastrap:
Hey, there's no reason at all why you should listen to me, know-it-all-Mas, but:

In other words, I'm acting like a jerk?

PS: Brown sauce. Have you ever read what's in there, ingredient-wise?

Well, I did check the sodium content, and got one with less than some. That's about all I know.

[Mastrap]

Originally posted by denim:
In other words, I'm acting like a jerk?

God, no. I was worried that I'd come across as a smart Alec. No you, not in the slightest.

[Brien]

Originally posted by denim:
I lost my beef stew recipe. Doing a search on the web for "beef stew" wasn't very helpful in finding -my- recipe, though I could try different recipies from now 'til I die and never repeat, I suspect.

From what I remember, it went something like this:

a bunch of sliced carrots
a bunch of sliced celery
a bunch of cut up potatos
a cut up onion or two
3 packets of brown sauce
1 packet of Italian dressing
1lb of cut up stew beef
6 cups of water

8 hours on "low" in a Crock Pot.

Does this sound right? What am I forgetting?

Um, first of all the brown sause is Worchistershire, and second, I usually add green beans.

[maxelson]

WORCESTERSHIRE. Not... the way you spelled it. And naw, correct me if I am wrong, there, denim, but I am thinking Brown Sauce and Worcestershire are two different animules. Yah?

[philzilla]

Originally posted by maxelson:
WORCESTERSHIRE. Not... the way you spelled it. And naw, correct me if I am wrong, there, denim, but I am thinking Brown Sauce and Worcestershire are two different animules. Yah?

quite correct:
Worcestershire Sauce
Brown Sauce
i don't touch Worcestershire these days, as it has anchovies in it. ick. instead, there's a groovy liquid called Henderson's Relish which is safe

[denim]

Originally posted by maxelson:
WORCESTERSHIRE. Not... the way you spelled it. And naw, correct me if I am wrong, there, denim, but I am thinking Brown Sauce and Worcestershire are two different animules. Yah?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure of that. Haven't actually checked it, but it seems unlikely that the powder which "brown sauce" comes as is some kind of dried Worcestershire sauce. I'm not a big fan of W sauce, and I don't keep any around, so I'm no expert. There may be some in there, if it's possible to dry the stuff out.

But then, he puts green beans into his beef stew! Heathen. They should be French-cut and served on the side, with bacon bits. mmmm....

[maxelson]

Originally posted by philzilla:
quite correct:
Worcestershire Sauce
Brown Sauce
i don't touch Worcestershire these days, as it has anchovies in it. ick. instead, there's a groovy liquid called Henderson's Relish which is safe

For those of you just tuning in, by "safe", Phil means "meat free". Oh, and phil, brown sauce here is DEFINITELY different that brown sauce in the UK. Brown sauce there is akin to steak sauce here, if I recall correctly. I think demin's brown sauce mix is pretty much just a meat gravy mix. At least, that's what I found at the grocery store last night. McCormack makes it, I think?

[denim]

Originally posted by maxelson:
I think demin's brown sauce mix is pretty much just a meat gravy mix. At least, that's what I found at the grocery store last night. McCormack makes it, I think?

Yes, among many others. I favor Butterball brand because it has less salt. Many others seem to also, as it's generally pretty sparse on the shelf while others are plentiful. I've checked multiple markets, and it's popular at all places I've checked.