Beef Stew- Uppppp ed my game a bit

[Xring01]

This is alot more work than my typical Beef Stew recipe, but I hate to say it, its worth it.

So, Cast Iron skillet… pics shows what you need to know, note: This is 1.5 onions, cause I love onion. I cut onion into bigger pieces and I finely diced the half onion for flavor. That was cooked on cast iron with butter and olive oil, towards the end of that I added lots of garlic.

While it was cooking, I was chopping the meat, and coating it with flour… owe it was a 2.5lb prime chuck roast.

When the onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, where done, I put those in my Rock Crock (Crock Pot see earlier posts this thing rocks, goes from the stove heat right into the crock pot). Started frying the meat, in the same skillet the other stuff just came out of to layer those flavors, but I did add more olive oil.

Once the meat was done cooking, I grabbed the bottle of wine to de glaze the bottom of the cast iron skillet. I dont measure, but it was more wine than most would use. You have to be carefull with new/young cast iron. The acid in the wine can really fuck up your cast iron seasoning on new skillets. Older ones, then you can get away with it. So I turned the stove off, and imediately poured wine in the skillet to deglaze the yummy goodness off the bottom of the skillet. This didnt take long at all, once nothing was stuck to the bottom of the skillet, I poured all of that in the Rock Crock..

Added some water, beef bouillion, bay leaves, oregano, thyme, black pepper, white pepper, garlic, my seasoning, probably other shit, that I will remember later…in the Rock Crock, brought it to a rolling boil, then took the Rock Crock from the stove to the attachment that makes it a crock pot. Cooked it on high for one hour to let the flavors do there thing and soften the meat. Adjusted the spices….

About 1.5 hours later, added some cut up red taters, made a few more adjustments. This will be served with San Francisco style sour dough bread, bought from the Schats deli off 395, that will become garlic toast with italian style seasoning to be dripped into the stew… I am still an hour away from this being done..

From my initial taste test… FUCK ME… this good.

 

[Xring01]

I win…..

 

[coolchange]

Looks great. I’ve been waiting for cold to do a big pot of stew. Basically you made beef bourguignon.

 

[Rondog4405]

Totally making this tomorrow!!

 

[Xring01]

A few things I did that where not covered above.
A big squirt of Ketchup to neutralize the acid of the wine, some paprika to give it that reddish color.

Let me know your thoughts of the recipe.

 

[Maw]

Basically the same here. I do it all in a large Dutch oven on the stove so that there's one less thing to clean up afterwards.

I brown the meat first though, then pull it out and into a bowl. Fine chop (1/4" cubes or so) onions, carrots, and celery and throw them into the bottom. Their moisture will lift the tasty meat bits that are stuck at the bottom. Once they are well browned throw in a decent low tannin red wine, I like a Pinot Noir, and finish the de-glazing process. Give it a few minutes to bubble then toss in spices of choice, tip the pot to the side and hit it with an immersion blender until reasonably smooth. This adds flavor and begins to thicken the end product.

Meat goes back in, toss in a can of diced tomatoes, add equal parts red wine and beef stock to almost cover the meat, lid on and cook for two hours or so at a low simmer.

Cut up the veggies of choice, nuke them to get them warm inside. This will keep them from dropping the temp inside the pot and speeds up the cooking process. Cook 'til all is tender. Taste and adjust seasoning. I like the idea of browning the veggies first and will try it next time. There goes a second pan though. I typically add green beans, spinach, and zucchini to the veggie blend, the later two close to the end of the process.

When cooked combine some beef stock and corn starch in a bowl, mix well, then pour into the pot. Doesn't take much to thicken the stock, keep cooking and fold the stew over on itself to stir up the mixture.

I do the same with chicken when the patience isn't there for the beef to tender up. Start with boneless and skinless chicken thighs, cubed up to mouthful size. White wine like a sauvignon blanc, chicken stock, spices of choice, and a veggie blend that includes cooked white northern beans. Playing on my Italian (partial) heritage I also add sliced fennel bulb and minced garlic to the veggie mix, and the spices here are usually marjoram, basil along with the normal salt and pepper. After adding the stock/corn starch thickening I toss in a handful of ground parmesano reggiano and fold all together.

Sounds like we're due for a week or so of wet and cold weather so both of these are in my future, toasted garlic bread with both. I'm not planning on a run to Bishop so I'll settle for a baguette from Vons.

Cheers