Stewing Beef...How To Make Tender

floss2

Hours of low-heat cooking, a good glug of tomato ketchup & a slosh of Lea & Perrins always works for me.

hex2

If you haven't got a slow cooker than in a covered pan on the hob just simmering for hours works - try a bit after 2.5 hours and if it isnt ready then give it another half hour.

I just use onions, beef, oxo cube and water at the start - and then thicken it at the end with cornflour or instant mash mix. If you want to add veg like mushrooms I put them in once I know it is tender and then give it another half an hour so that they still taste and have texture.

Stephen_Leak

Pont wrote: »

Ditto the last two posters. Adding some booze always seems to work for me.

Especially if you put it in the food.

The alcohol breaks down the fibres in the meat. Slow cooking in alcohol gives it a "double whammy".

PS. As in my "Pork in Cider" recipe. I deliberately tested it with the cheapest supermarket budget brand chops I could find. 2 hours at 150°C, 300°F, gas mark 2 later, I lifted them out of the dish and the bones fell out of them!

triticale

Mmm, this thread has reminded me I have a mini portion of SC'd beef in the fridge leftover, just enough to put on a jacket spud for tea.

To make sure beef is tender, I always cook it for longer than any instructions say - at least 3 hours in the oven, or overnight in SC.

Pont

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

Especially if you put it in the food.

Lol - on occasion I have been know to

Hippeechiq

What does browning the meat first actually achieve? Does it reduce cooking time - or is it purely to seal in the juices?

I don't have a slow cooker, and I made my first beef casserole in quite a while last month, and it took forever to cook, although it was very nice. I used a pack of Lean Diced Steak.

Really though, if you don't have a slow cooker, having to have your oven on for anything longer than 1½hrs surely negates buying a cheaper cut of meat, doesn't it?

I would love to find a way around this, as I love beef casseroles, but it's the amount of time they take to cook that I don't find to be very frugal.

JulieGeorgiana

Hippeechiq wrote: »

What does browning the meat first actually achieve? Does it reduce cooking time - or is it purely to seal in the juices?

I don't have a slow cooker, and I made my first beef casserole in quite a while last month, and it took forever to cook, although it was very nice. I used a pack of Lean Diced Steak.

Really though, if you don't have a slow cooker, having to have your oven on for anything longer than 1½hrs surely negates buying a cheaper cut of meat, doesn't it?

I would love to find a way around this, as I love beef casseroles, but it's the amount of time they take to cook that I don't find to be very frugal.

Mr T had Slow Cookers on offer at £10 not long ago! I paid £15 from Amazon a few years ago... it's the best money I have ever spent... It saves you loads of money and helps you utilise the cheaper cuts while cutting your costs!

Oh and the Pressure Cooker... Well that's my best friend... Slow Cooked Meats are tender and juicy in 1/3rd of the time!!

And to be honest I love the 'cheaper cuts' because they have more body and flavour then regular cuts anyway!

valk_scot

Hippeechiq wrote: »

What does browning the meat first actually achieve? Does it reduce cooking time - or is it purely to seal in the juices?

I don't have a slow cooker, and I made my first beef casserole in quite a while last month, and it took forever to cook, although it was very nice. I used a pack of Lean Diced Steak.

Really though, if you don't have a slow cooker, having to have your oven on for anything longer than 1½hrs surely negates buying a cheaper cut of meat, doesn't it?

I would love to find a way around this, as I love beef casseroles, but it's the amount of time they take to cook that I don't find to be very frugal.

Browning the meat seals the juices in and also adds to the flavour by caramelising the outside. It will also cut down the cooking time a little bit.

As to the economy of long oven cooking well, if you choose a modest roasting joint of beef it will take say 2 hours on Gas 4 or 5 to cook it and cost say £8? If you chose a £4 pack of stewing beef and cook it on Gas 2 for 4 hours, that extra time on lower gas won't cost £4. Whatever you cook though take advantage of the oven being on to batch cook ie double quantities of casserole plus rice pudding, or a pot of bolognaise sauce for the freezer, or with the roast you could make baked potatoes or cakes. Or if you have a double oven cooker like me, either use just the small oven or if you have the big one on, proove bread in the top oven in the warm. If you only put a big oven on for two portions of casserole it's not very economical though, I agree.

LJM

would have to go with the slow cooker i agree it comes out so tender and melts in the mouth

hotcookie101

I do have a slow cooker, but don't use it to make stews-I find them a bit insipid, even though the meat may be tender, as the cooking liquor doesn't get the intensified cooked down meaty flavour when its oven cooked.

I tend to cook mine in the oven, the beef is always tender (my preference-shin of beef, last bought 1.3kg from butcher for £6, which I will make at least 5 portions for 2 (greedy) people, all at one in my giant le creuset so very MS ) and melt in the mouth, but holding it's shape IYKWIM and the sauce is AMAZING. I do tend to use stout, or red wine, sometimes ale, very rarely no alcohol at all.

Fave recipe if you can stretch to it is a HFW one which has pancetta or lardons in it, as well as guiness and mushrooms (plus I add carrots as well cos a stew aint stew without carrots in my opinion) Shin gets cooked for 3-4 hours after browning, braising steak about 2hours, and stewing steak about 3. All in a low oven of about 140-150.