What went wrong with my stew?

seasideshack

I always brown the meat to seal it and add plenty of seasoning plus a few other things to flavour it. Maybe some ginger or a few chilli flakes or sometimes some worcestershire sauce. I add an oxo too. Whatever I would normally use to flavour a stew sone on the oven really.

McKneff

You should have put an oxo cube or two in it or some instant gravy browning to thicken it a bit.

I think too much store is put on browning meat to be honest.
I never have a problem, its my way way of thinking that if you seal the meat the juices cant get into the liquid so i dont normally bother.

Horace

I don't always brown my meat first when doing a stew and I never have a problem with it. I don't use a slow cooker either (I dont have one).

My stews usually contain: onion, carrot, peas (I add these at the end), pearl barley, salt, pepper, herbs, worcester sauce, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a tin of guiness oh and beef.

I always buy my meat at the butcher but rather than buying a bag of stewing steak, I buy a fat slice and ask the butcher to dice it for me. That way you can see the colour of the meat and the butcher can always tell you how long it has been hung for. A readymade stew pack may not have been hung and may even have been bought in and not butchered on the premises.

You can always tell a good butcher by the queue out of the door on a saturday morning.

It sounds to me as though the meat was too fatty if it has separated and the stew is tasteless.

debtmuncher

McKneff wrote: »

You should have put an oxo cube or two in it or some instant gravy browning to thicken it a bit.

I think too much store is put on browning meat to be honest.
I never have a problem, its my way way of thinking that if you seal the meat the juices cant get into the liquid so i dont normally bother.

can see your way of thinking on that but you could always rest the meat for 10/15 mins either in the slow cooker before you add the liquids or on a plate.

hilstep2000

I alwayscoat mine in flour before I brown it, the flour helps to thicken the gravy. If you get one can of guiness and just add that, it makes a gorgeous gravy. The alcohol burns off, so it's okay for tkids too.

pixie1

ok im drooling now, i really want stew esp if it has guiness in it lol

Pix
x

Horace

Its divine Pixy - you should try it.

I also do a stew using a delia recipe and flemish beer (it needs to stew on a low heat for 5 hours:eek:) that is absolutely yummy:D

I dont put spuds in my stew - I do them separately. Talking of stew, I think I will do a blue peter and get one out of the freezer for dinner tonight:D

strawberry_laces

I never seal or brown the meat first and never had a problem . I think it's unnessacery

beef stewing steak.
garlic
onions
bay leaves
tom puree
beef stock or water or 1/2 glass of red wine or beef gravy granules or
potatoes
mixed herbs
carrots
salt

pixie1

Horace wrote: »

Its divine Pixy - you should try it.

I also do a stew using a delia recipe and flemish beer (it needs to stew on a low heat for 5 hours:eek:) that is absolutely yummy:D

I dont put spuds in my stew - I do them separately. Talking of stew, I think I will do a blue peter and get one out of the freezer for dinner tonight:D

Oh now youre just rubbing it in lol :rotfl:

hot.chick

I think you added too much water, the split look of it was the cooked meat juices floating about in the water.

If thid happens again, take the solid food out and put the liquid in a pan and reduce, if you think you will not have enough liquid for your stew then add maybe gravy powder or granuals and thiclken to make a gravy.

I often find that the liquid it too thin for my taste and have to reduce by at least half before I serve.