How to Make Beef Stew With Worcestershire Sauce
How To Make the Best Beefiness Stew from Scratch
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Like a good chili or craven noodle soup, homemade beef stew is one of those dishes that is only good to accept in your back pocket. It'due south a dish that volition serve yous well through long winters and family visits and other pocket-size moments of demand. Making one isn't hard and will surely nourish you lot through several meals. Here's my tried-and-true method for making a very proficient beef stew.
There are a few non-negotiable steps to making a beef stew. Get-go, you must sear the meat. Truly sear. Getting the sides dark-brown isn't the aforementioned. Y'all demand to lay the cubes in a hot pan and allow them sizzle for a good five minutes before nudging them. When the bottoms take a nighttime crust and come up abroad hands from the pan, so you lot can movement on with the other sides.
A "fond," a.thou.a. sticky dark glaze, will start to form on the bottom of the pan equally you continue searing your meat in batches. This fond is the source of the stew'due south bang-up magic. Information technology's full of caramelly, roasty, and nutty flavors that will brand you swoon when y'all gustation the final dish.
The 2d non-negotiable is time. Chuck meat is a hard working muscle and information technology takes a good long stretch of cooking for it to become tender. Rush things too speedily and your beef will be tough and chewy. Cook it depression and slow for at least 2 hours, and fork-tender meat volition be your reward.
There are also a few aspects to my version of beef stew that yous might find controversial. I use chicken stock instead of beef stock, and have done and then ever since an article of Melt'southward Illustrated gave me permission years ago. I always found that beef stock gave soups and stews an oddly tinny flavor, and the practiced folks at Cook'southward Illustrated agreed with me. Unless you actually make your own beefiness stock (a whole dissimilar beast from the canned diversity), I recommend using chicken stock. Effort it; I bet you'll like information technology.
I also expect to add together my potatoes and carrots until halfway through cooking. There is nix I hate more mushy carrots, then I try to time their perfect moment of doneness with the stew meat.
For seasonings, I similar Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and a proficient cerise wine. I've also used a dark beer in place of the wine and been very happy with the results. Yous can certainly play with your ain favorite seasonings, only I would recommend keeping them fairly uncomplicated. If you lot've seared your meat well and cooked it long plenty, the stew can really stand up on its own without much else.
I know this is i version of beef stew, though I'll confess that I recall it'south a specially good one. How do y'all like to brand your stew? What do you do differently?
- dairy-free
- egg-costless
- peanut-free
- soy-free
- tree-nut-free
- shellfish-gratis
- pork-complimentary
Per serving, based on
viii
servings. (% daily value)
- Calories 476
- Fatty 15.9 yard (24.five%)
- Saturated 4.ix g (24.vi%)
- Carbs 33.2 one thousand (eleven.1%)
- Fiber 4.8 g (19.3%)
- Sugars 6.8 g
- Protein 49.1 g (98.three%)
- Sodium 1240.vii mg (51.7%)
Ingredients
- 3-4 pounds
beefiness chuck roast
- one-three tablespoons
vegetable oil, divided
- ii
medium onions, diced
- 3
celery stalks, diced
- 2 cloves
garlic, minced
- ii tablespoons
lycopersicon esculentum paste
- 2 tablespoons
Worcestershire, divided
- 1 teaspoon
salt
- 3 tablespoons
all-purpose flour
- 1 cup
red wine or amber beer, plus extra to finish
- 3 sprigs
fresh thyme or two teaspoons stale
- 1
bay foliage
- iv cups
chicken stock
- 3
carrots, diced
- 1 ½ pounds
red elation potatoes, cubed
- ane cup
frozen peas
-
Salt and pepper
Equipment
-
A large Dutch oven or soup pot
-
Sturdy wooden spoon
Instructions
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Cube the beefiness. Trim off any large pieces of fat from the exterior of the roast, then cutting it into small-scale bite-sized cubes. This is most hands done if you cut the roast into slices, each slice into strips, and then the strips into cubes. Use a sharp knife and don't forget to proceed your fingers out of the style and your thumb tucked in as you're slicing through the meat.
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Warm the pot and begin searing the meat. Set a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium-high heat and film the bottom with oil. When hot plenty that a drop of h2o sizzles off the surface, work in batches to sear the beef. Add a single layer of beef cubes to the pan, existence careful not to oversupply the cubes also closely, and sprinkle them generously with table salt and pepper.
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Continue searing all the meat. Let the cubes of beef cook undisturbed for 4-5 minutes, until the undersides develop a dark brownish crust and come away easily from the pan. Toss and go along searing on all sides, another four-5 minutes. Transfer the seared meat to a make clean bowl and continue searing the remaining meat in batches. Add another teaspoon or ii of oil betwixt batches if the pan looks dry.
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Watch for the "fond," a.k.a. sticky night glaze, to form: A gluey dark glaze will starting time to grade on the lesser of the pan. This is technically called "the fond," and it is a major source of deep, caramelized flavor in your stew. We'll go back to it in a few more steps. However, if at any fourth dimension you think the chaff smells smoky or is starting to burn, dissolve it with a few tablespoons of water and pour over the seared beef.
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Cook the vegetables. Once all the meat has been seared and transfered out of the pan, cook the vegetables. Reduce the heat to medium and warm another teaspoon of oil. Add the onions and celery, and cook until the onions are softened and translucent, 8-ten minutes. Add together the garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato plant paste, common salt, and one tablespoons of the Worcestershire sauce to coat.
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Add the flour. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables. Stir until in that location is no more than visible flour and the veggies look slightly mushy from the flour coating.
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Deglaze the pan with the wine. Raise the heat back up to medium-high and pour in the wine. The wine should immediately start bubbling and steaming. Scrape the sticky addicted from the lesser of the pan; the wine will help information technology to dissolve. Continue scraping and stirring until the wine has reduced and thicken slightly.
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Return the meat to the pan and add the broth. Return the seared meat to the pan and add the whole thyme sprigs, the bay leafage, and the broth. Stir to combine.
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Cover and melt for ane one/ii hours. Bring the broth to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Stir occasionally. Make certain the stew stays at a very depression simmer. (Alternatively, meet Additional Notes for oven version.)
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Add the potatoes and carrots. Add the potatoes and carrots to the stew. Comprehend the pot once again and continue cooking for some other 45-60 minutes. When done, the meat should exist tender plenty to chip apart with a fork and the potatoes cooked through. If not, re-cover and cook in boosted fifteen minute increments until cooked.
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Add together the peas and remaining seasonings. Stir the frozen peas into the stew. Add the remaining tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and a splash of ruby-red vino. Remove the thyme stems and bay leafage. Taste and add actress salt, pepper, or other seasonings as y'all see fit. The stew can be served right away, refrigerated for up to a week, or frozen for upwards to three months.
Recipe Notes
Oven directions: Preheat the oven to 300°F. Once the broth has been added, bring the stew to a simmer, comprehend, and cook in the oven. Cooking times are the aforementioned.
Source: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-a-very-good-beef-stew-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-184050