Help - Planning on making a stew on Saturday and haven't made one in over a year

I usually make mine with stewing steak - although not sure how this compares price wise to other cuts (Mrs B has to come clean and confess to only ever having made stew at mum's house using her shopping budget which is considerably larger than mine )

As for veggies, how about swede or parsnip? Suppose it depends on what sort of 'gravy' you're planning on using.

Hope this helps - it's the best I can come up with at this time of night!!

PS - Pork shoulder steaks are very cheap (at least they are in Costco) and taste delicious if slowly cooked - literally melt in the mouth. Yum.

my family love chicken stew,I just cut up 2 chicken Breasts,swede,carrots,onion,potatoes,sweetcorn(tinned )turnips and I put in any veg that needs using up ,add stock and cook slowly.

I buy a frozen leg of lamb (or half leg) from Asda/Tesco or wherever is doing the most money off it and use a HUGE saucepan, with lots of petersilie (I think that is parsley in english) and oregano and thyme. Its about the only time we get to eat lamb as its usually too expensive but this way, you get the taste and it goes a long way. I have heard of people buying "scrag end"? or neck from the butchers for the same purpose so you could ask your local butcher for cheap but good stewing lamb cuts.

Use whatever veg is cheap - carrots, onions, sweet potato, parsnip, swede, peas, leeks (don't forget, if you choose young little ones, you can chop up the green tops of the leeks that you usually throw away - chop these pretty small and they go in the stew too! - in Eastern Germany they would sell bundles of these bits for stews without the leek bit on the bottom!). Purl Barley (spelling?) is also great in here. Let it all stew for like a whole day, perhaps throw in a few suet dumplings and you have stew to reheat for the next couple of days plus enough to freeze in smaller portions for nights you can't be bothered to cook.

SuiDreams wrote:

Help Please, not sure what to buy.

Fancy making a stew of mixed meats, please can you suggest best cuts to use as I want to keep the price down.

Also suggestions on veg to use I've only got as far as Onions, Carrots and Potatoes.

Thanks

Firstly, you need cuts of meats suitable for slow cooking. "Prime" joints are intended to be roasted and the price reflects this. You should find that those suitable for slow cooking are much better priced. However, you will struggle to find these in the supermarkets .... no surprise there, as they get more money for the prime cuts. You need to find a decent butcher.

Intrigued that you are intending to do "mixed meats" ... are you sure, as the flavourings that are suitable for one meat e.g. beef, might not do much to enchance the flavour or pork or lamb, for example. I would really suggest that you stick to one type of meat.

Much of the French paysanne (or peasant) food that we Brits envy is based on thrifty cuts of meat suitable for slow cooking.

Thrifty cuts would include

Beef
shin
skirt
brisket
oxtail
flank - forequarter or hindquarter
short ribs
chuck

Lamb
Breast
shanks (honestly! Restaurants charge a premium for this, but they're cheap!)
shoulder (you may need to skim off excess fat)
scrag end/neck (for Lancashire Hot Pot!)

Pork
trotters (yummy)
hock
knuckle
belly

And, of course, offal is generally thrifty, too

My big gripe about the supermarkets is that they sell "stewing steak" or "braising steak" and I have no idea what cut that is. So I don't know whether the price is right or not .. though I have a deep rooted suspicion that I'm paying over the odds (or I used to .. but I no longer buy meat in the supermarket).

As for veg .. go with what looks good and fresh. You can add shredded cabbage or kale at the end. For some dishes, and it depends on the meat, I would consider turnips, leeks, shallots, mushrooms, beetroot. Plenty of herbs & a bay leaf is a must. Wine will add depth. For beef, I would stir in a tablespoon of mustard to the final sauce. Fat will add flavour, but skim off any excess, blend with flour and return to the stew to thicken the sauce.

Remember to simmer, not boil..... you need a low oven and 4, 5 or 6 hours cooking. I usually find that making it the day before and then reheating slowly intensifies the flavour.

HTH

SuiDreams wrote:

Made stew with Shin of beef

What a great result

It's not often you see people post with a specific cut of meat. Did you buy at a butcher or did you manage to find some in the supermarket - perish the thought