cooking @ home

As with meat loaf, I have several different ways to make beef stew, depending upon my mood du jour. Actually the ways are not all that different, so maybe variants or “slight variations” would be the more correct phrase. But this one is pretty much what I would consider the “master” verion.

There are so many great things about stews. Number one is they turn any tough meat into delicious meat. Second they bring together so many wonderful things — meat, vegetables, herbs, sometimes wine — into this well amazing orchestra, basically. For what is an orchestra but something which at times you hear (in this case taste) all the individual elements, and yet they also work in harmony with each other Kill me for saying this, but it’s music for your mouth and your stomach

You can use way inexpensive meat, such as ground beef, and turn it into something of a feast. Stew has to be the ultimate way to cook a budget meal for your family. Budget if you’re using beef chunks, and major budget-saver if you’re using burger. Stews are an excellent way to use up some leftovers, definitely leftover vegetables. Together they also form an amazing broth. I know whenever I make stew I use a tablespoon over a fork and I must have plenty of bread or rolls in the house to lap up every drop of that flavorful brew. It’s one of the ultimate comfort foods. And during the frigid winter, it just might become for that season the ultimate comfort food. And if you are into the cook a lot on one big day so you can microwave it multiple times the rest of the week, then stew is indeed your friend.

What more to say? Always sear your meat prior to putting it in the stew. Get it carmelized. If you’re using ground meat, this isn’t as necessary. What is more important for “hamburger stew” is drawing out the fats in the pan and putting the meat and the fat (aka, the flavoring) into the stew itself. But you don’t want it too dry either.

More tips: Chunky is better. You can also cut it into smaller pieces in your bowl with your spoon or fork. (No knifes here except for spreading margarine on your bread!) Sometimes I use tomato sauce as an important base element. Sometimes wine. Often both.

You’ll have noticed that I do not suggest using premade broths in my stew. But, why, Harry? Two reasons, the main one being: hello, it’s stew! — It makes broth, it doesn’t require broth! Second, the entire idea of adding broth to a stew reminds me one of those science fiction time warp anomalies. Adding broth to a stew means someone first had to make a stew to make the broth in order for you to now be making your stew! Yes, it gives me the same headache as when I hear about how if you go back in time to shoot your grandfather then you no longer exist and if you never existed then how could you have gone back in time…. Ouch! See what I mean?

Last tip or tips. Don’t be scared that this uses a lot of water. There is plenty of juices in the veggies and meats and all to flavor it. On the flip side, do not be shy with using your spices. With the exception of bay leaves in which a few can flavor two to three gallons of stew handily, when it comes to putting in your other spices, do it liberally. And yes I mean a lot. There’s a lot of water and a lot of food in there. It needs it to get around. Again, we’re going for eight quarts of stew here. A dash here and there is nice for a little meat chop or a burger, but it will be lost in all of this if that’s all you put in.

Finally, a word about the wine in this dish. Just the other day I did as the story lead up to a recipe where I talked about the statistics for alcohol evaporation in cooking. Compare that to this recipe. There’s about .75 quarts of wine among a total of 8 quarts of water, beef, potatoes, carrots, etc. When you take that with the statistics mentioned and stewing for about an hour and a half, that has now burnt off 80% of the wine. Considering how much wine is in this dish with the rest of the dish and that less than 20% of it remains, no, no one is going to get drunk. Remember, wine with food stops that. Even a little wine with no food it rarely happens. And how can you get more wine with food then wine actually in the food?

So for those of you who think I’m getting you drunk … well, it will either gladen you or sadden you to know, that it won’t happen with this dish. Enjoy, bon appetite and (hehe) salute!

Homemade Beef Stew
©2007 Harry Kenney

2 lbs chuck (or other stewing beef), chunks
(you can substitute ground meat for “hamburger stew”)
6 cups potatoes (about five large potatoes, I prefer the medium-starch potatoes), chunks
3 cups carrots (about five medium-large), cylindrical chunks
2 cups yellow onion (about 2 large onions), triangular chunks
2/3 cup celery (about 3 stalks), small chunks
1 cup frozen peas
1-1/2 cups Italian flat beans (or regular green beans)

8 or more cups water
1 cup dry Marsala wine
2-3 cups dry red wine (suggestion: Merlot)

16 oz diced tomatoes
6 oz tomato paste (or 4-8 oz of spaghetti sauce)
5 cloves garlic, crushed, cut finely

to taste:

salt
pepper
3 bay leaves
basil
oregano
garlic powder
onion powder
Worcestershire
hot sauce (or Tabasco)
cornstarch (if needed)

In your giant stewing pot, dutch oven, or other similar container that is going to be your “final” pot, put in the mirepoix, in other words, your onions, carrots and celery with oil on a low to medium-low flame and sweat them for 10 minutes. Do not brown. Meanwhile in a large pan, start browning your beef with oil and 3/4 of your fresh garlic, salt and pepper.

When your core vegetables are looking nice (and the onions going translucent), time to add 2 cups of water and a ton of seasonings including your bay leaves. Remember, you’re starting to season this not just for what is currently in the pot, but to some degree for what will be the entire pot, so go crazy with it. See photo above.

As your beef is browning and you’ve been turning it to brown on all sides, now add more seasonings and splash with some red wine. After a few minutes, toss in the main pot with the veggies. Add the potatoes. Add the Marsala and red wine and if needed, more water, enough to cover everything. Cover with lid, simmer on medium-heat.

After about three-quarters of an hour, add more water as needed. Mix around and taste. At this point you can usually tell how bland it might be and if it needs some kick to it. Add more seasoning if needed, including Worcestershire and or hot sauce to taste. Add tomatoes, and green vegetables.

Check on it about twenty minutes or so later. Again, add water or make any other seasoning adjustments, including adding tomato paste or sauce at this point. Add cornstarch if it seems too thin. Mind you, you are not aiming for gravy nor sauce, but you do want a very well seasoned not-thin broth with body to it. Continue stewing for another 15-30 minutes. Basically at this point you’re checking every 10 minutes until you are happy with it all. Besides tasting the broth, be sure to open up at least one chunk of beef and taste a bit of it to see if you agree with the consistency and taste of it to your liking. When you are happy with it, that’s when it’s done. Makes 8 quarts, feeds a small army or enough leftovers to last the bulk of a week.