Hm Beef Stew ??

hotcookie101

I truely believe you get a better flavour in stew from cooking in the oven as opposed to a slow cooker, as the juices get to condense slightly and caramelise, and thicken. I do it at 140-160 for 3 hours for shin, maybe 2-2.5 hours for braising steak.
When I use a slow cooker, because there is no evaporation it just seems too watery for me, even if I halve the liquid I put it the sauce is just thin, not rich, more like soup than stew, so I have gone back to using my oven for stews, but I know others get on well with theirs
SC is used for soup and stock mainly-I find it great for cooking bacon joints too

ubamother

You mention you don't put in tomatoes or wine? You may find the acidity of one of these (or orange juice, wine vinegar etc.) may help.

I do 'seal' the meat before cooking. It is a bit of a misnomer, because it doesn't actually seal the meat at all - but browning the outside of the pieces on a really good heat does caramelise the meat which will add extra flavour - particularly if you're cooking it in liquid - the caramelised meat flavour will mix in with your liquid. If you bubble your liquid in the meat pan before you put it all in the pot you'll deglaze the pan - get all the nice flavoury bits off the pan into your liquid.

I agree with hotcookie101 about the evaporation factor. To get over this I add barley or oats to the slow cooker beef and veg - although a slightly different end result it does bring a nice thickness and depth to the liquid.

Good luck

Lucie_2

hotcookie101 wrote: »

You want shin of beef

another vote for shin of beef; I always use it now & beef casseroles are fool-proof. Great value too.

Skint_Lynne

The slow cooker works for me. I tend to batch cook my stews/steak and kidney etc. If you brown the meat before hand and put flour on it, the thickness should be okay, but if it is too runny, I guess you could put some of the gravy in a pot, on the hob and add a bit of cornflour mixture to thicken it up, then add it back to the meat. HTH.

hot.chick

I've been known to take the meat and veg out and the boil down the liquid to make a lovely thick sauce.

I second slow cooking and the right marbled meat, with connective tissue, if it doesn't have this it will never be as you want it

good luck

HappyIdiotTalk

Right then, as it happens (totally coincidentally) the butcher had 5lb of shin on today so I had the lot. I'm going to cook it in the slow cooker unsealed with a couple of carrots a spud and an union with a bit of water and some herbs and spices (bay leaves, peppercorns, cloves, bouquet garni - in teabag form). No salt until serving. And for good measure a can of tomatoes and some red wine.

I'll let you know how it turns out tonight! :T

wssla00

Good luck

zippychick

Hi HappyidiotTalk:hello:

You've had quite a lot of input from the trusty OSers, so I have added your thread to the existing one on beef stew, so you can also read back and see how others do it. I've only ever made stew with mince beef myself so can't offer any personal advice.:)

Good luck

Thanks:A
Zip

HappyIdiotTalk

Thanks Zippy. Well my beef doesn't seem very fally-aparty, despite the fact its been on low most of the afternoon and evening. So I'm going to leave it over night and see what its like tomorrow.

Rikki

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SC stew help for bloke please

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