Hm Beef Stew ??

morganlefay

I just read a Jamie earlier today in which he said that he'd experimented with frying the meat off before adding to stew and just putting it in raw, and the putting it in raw tasted better when cooked, despite being not at all what he had been trained to do. I am not sure where exactly I found that but a search for jamie + beef stew should find it. He rolls the raw meat in flour, puts it in with the veg, brings it all up to the boil in the stock and slow cooks it all . Any beef stew recipe will tell you how to do it (look up beef stew on here, there's a very good one of, I think, Queenie's)
There are lots of cuts you can use and a decent butcher shoud be able to give you a guided tour. In shops you usually find 'braising steak' which comes as bigger bits and is nice cooked as big pieces, but it's more expensive. then there's what they call 'stewing steak'and I'm never sure where that comes from, but it's usually cut up into pieces, then there's 'shin' which is a bit cheaper and lots of people swear by but I don't like the taste of. If you can get a look at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Meat book it tells you all about which bits of the animal are which as there are cheaper bits which are good too but hard to get hold of. Sorry not to be more precise - I'm sure someone cleverer will come along soon ! Good luck....

morganlefay

Aha, found it, here y'are:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/meat-recipes/jools-s-favourite-beef-stew

onetomany

i dont brown mine but i cook in sc just bung in with veg a gravy etc

HelenKA_2

My tip is this

Put a good two tablespoons of cornflour in a freezer bag with some seasoning. Put the chunks of meat in the bag, tightly hold the top and give the bag a few shakes so that all the meat is coated. Take the meat from the bag and put it in the slow cooker with the rest of your casserole ingredients - it thickens beautifully and is v quick and tidy compared to other methods I've used.

Turtle

Thanks everybody. I think I might have a go at combining some of these and see how it turns out! I haven't got a slow cooker (even though we've been saying for the last 10 years should buy one) and I don't have much of a repertoire of recipes, but trying to build up some easy, tasty stuff. My OH has tried making beef stew before but I've always found the meat tough (cooking too long or not enough?) and didn't know if this was from the browning, so think I'll try the shaking up in a bag with flour and seasoning next time. Will get Morrisons butcher to help with meat if I still get stuck after your pointers. Will report back on how it goes and might try the dumplings this time as well!

Thanks very much everybody, I love all the helpful people here, never made to feel silly.:o

Turtle

Oh, just had a look at the Jamie link above. That looks good too although I've got a bit of a mental block about tomatoes in stew - they were never in my mum's and so don't seem quite right!

Might well give it a try though, the comments can't be ignored!

Bongedone

I don't use tomato's in beef stew either. I do put a squeeze of puree in thought as it deepens the gravy.

SunnyGirl

I'm the other way round - I bung a tin of tomatoes in most things, especially stew & casseroles. Don't know why probably because my Mum always did. I always brown the meat off first as well. As one of the above posters said only a few in the pan at a time though or it starts to 'stew' instead of fry & seal. It's all a case of personal preference I suppose. Hope it turns out well for you.

Pink.

Hi turtle,

I have always browned the meat but having read morganlefay's link I think I might try it from raw next time to see what it's like. There's an earlier thread with more tips and recipes for making beef stew so I've added your thread to it to keep the replies together.

Pink

HappyIdiotTalk

Whenever I make beef stew the beef comes out a little bit dry and slightly hard. Whats the secret of making a stew so that the meat is soft and juicy and falls apart in your mouth?