/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>14894653
Oh, and the time to cook after preparing also varies wildly. Some say half an hour or 1 hour or 2 or 3 etc. I just have a large saucepan, no slow cooker or anything like that.

>>14894653

step 1 pick a recipe
step 2 make stew
step 3 eat stew
step 4 decide what you like and dont like
step 5 make new stew

This is literally how you get better at cooking.

>>14894659
>Flour
>Beef stew

Stop getting your recipes at a vietnamese cooking fourm

>>14894676
Good advice is also how you get better.

>>14894653
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-beef-stew-recipe-1948778

Alton's goulash base is a great start. The tomato and acidity in the initial braise might sound offputting, but it's really unique and absolutely delicious. If you can't find shortrib, buy stew meat from the store and just use that. I add carrots to mine, a little more onion, more potatoes, garlic, and a bag of frozen peas right at the end.

One caveat, is that it ends up SUPER thick. If that's your jam, you're going to love this. If you want a runny or even more watery gravy for your stew, you'll have to add a pretty significant amount of stock or broth when your veggies simmer. Personally I love it thick so I can almost make a stew sandwich with the biscuits, but YMMV.

Here was one of my attempts.

>>14894653
The flour is to thicken it if you dont plan on simmering it for awhile to naturally reduce. You can skip that step if you simmer with the lid off for an hour to an hour and a half. Just keep an eye on the liquid level so it doesnt evaporate off.

The kind of booze is completely preferential. I use whatever I have on hand at the time and most often dont use any alcohol. Some homemade is perfectly fine.

As for the cut of beef, again it is preferential as long as you get a fatty tough cut which is conducive to long low heat cooking. What kind of cuts are available to you?

>>14894761
Homemade stock*

>>14894653
The best way to cook beef stew is to use whatever you think is best, or whatever you have on hand. The steps are really more important than the extra ingredients. Whether you have wine or not doesn't matter, as long as you have the basic ingredients. Personally, I like Cabernet when I make beef stew, but you don't have to.

my solution to this has always been either 1.) to create a spreadsheet and find a common theme 2.) base it on an existing recipe, such as a canned beef stew

i like Progressor's beef stew, so that's what i aim for

>>14894761
The flour's not JUST to thicken it. With no flour, the fat in the dish will soon rise to the top. Looks nasty, doesn't taste as good. Flour helps to stabilize the emulsion that happens when you mix thoroughly to prevent that greasy sheen.

>>14894659
About 2.5 hours of lowest simmer is ideal for the kind of cubed stew beef you'd expect to be using.

You can use an oven-safe pot and do it in the oven instead if you want an alternative.

>>14894793
what kind of fatty shit meat are you using? i have a couple of stew recipes and neither uses flour and I've never had an oil slick on top the way you're suggesting

>>14894814
Fat tastes good, yo.

>>14894793
I skim the fat off the top so that has never been an issue. Plus the next day all the fat rises to the top and solidifies after cooling so if Im being lazy I can just remove it then.

>>14894750
>>14894761
>>14894786
>>14894811
Thanks a bunch. I've been told that when it comes to which meat to cook, the general rule is "the cheaper the better". Is there any truth to this? Like, does cheaper meat have more fat or something?

>>14894979
The cheaper meat will break down in slow cooking and get a nice texture. You can fry a better cut and it wont fall apart

Ive experimented for years and this is what I do
Fry chunks of sirloin in olive oil until browned, but not done. Deglaze with red wine and reduce. Mix 1 large can of pureed tomatoes with a box of beefstock. Now its time for veggies. Only do fresh. I do green beans 1st. They take a while. Then carots. Then potatoes. Last mushrooms. Takes a couple hours

>>14894979
The cheaper meat will break down in slow cooking and get a nice texture. You can fry a better cut and it wont fall apart

Ive experimented for years and this is what I do
Fry chunks of sirloin in olive oil until browned, but not done. Deglaze with red wine and reduce. Mix 1 large can of pureed tomatoes with a box of beefstock. Now its time for veggies. Only do fresh. I do green beans 1st. They take a while. Then carots. Then potatoes. Last mushrooms. Takes a couple hours

>>14894979
The guy above didn't really explain it quite right, so here's my take: if you were to get a super nice cut of beef and make it into stew, of course it'd be good. There's no reason why it wouldn't (unless it was like really lean top sirloin, you do need some fat). But the reason why cheaper is better (for stew) is because the cost savings are significant, but also a long, slow braise will make that cheap cut -feel- like something expensive. The fat melts, the connective tissue breaks down, and all the collagen converts into gelatin.

If you were to use a super shitty, cheap cut for steak, you are left with a shitty, cheap steak because you're only cooking it for a few minutes. Low and slow will mask and even works along with the flaws of a cheap cut and make it so it isn't something you'd notice. I'm the guy that posted the Alton recipe, and after a 4-hour braise, golf ball sized chunks of beef will literally break apart in your fingers if you pinch it.

TL:DR; go cheap because you can get away with it and nobody will notice due to the cooking technique.

>>14895023
>>14895113
Nice. I was afraid that you'd need to bleed your wallet a little to get a really good beef stew going, so this is good info.

>>14895160
If possible get beef shank or ox tails! Very decadent after braised for long periods of time and they have intense beefy flavor. Both are usually pretty cheap.

That's the magic of stew. There's an infinity of ways of making it and they are all delicious.

>>14894653
I use my instant pot and I make suet or tallow dumplings to go with them. I don't use flour.
I saute salted chopped onion in fat (usually tallow or butter). I add stew meat and brown it. Then I add a chopped carrot or two, a peeled yellow potato that has been diced finely (this will disappear and thicken the stew), a celery stick or two with leaves- chopped, a rutabega (peeled and cubed), a box of fresh mushrooms- cleaned and quartered. I stir this all up, and add 1-2 tbsp of tomato paste/puree a few splashes of worchestershire sauce and salt and pepper. I set the instant pot to "stew" and then I release the steam and add a cup of frozen peas, chopped fresh herbs, and my dumplings. I set the top off at an angle and cook on saute for 20-30 minutes until the dumplings are done. To make dumplings you pulse1 part self rising flour, 1/2 as much suet or tallow, and one pinch of salt until it looks like breadcrumbs (in a food processor). Then slowly add a few dribbles while pulsing of ice water (must be very cold) until a dough forms. Gently form the dough into meatball sized balls and drop them in the stew.

>>14895715
oh and I add 32 oz of beef broth before I set the stew function. sorry it was a long day.