Homemade Beef Stew Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What gives beef stew the best flavor? ›

Add spices such as turmeric, coriander and cumin at the early stage of cooking, when you are frying onions and garlic, to enhance the taste of the beef stew. Fresh herbs like coriander and bay leaves also contribute a distinct flavour without making the dish too spicy for the younger members of the family.

The most important key to making stew meat tender is being sure to cook it for a long time. If you want super tender beef, you'll need to cook it on a low heat in a Dutch oven on the stove or a slow cooker for at least a few hours.

Whether you are making a hearty beef stew, a comforting vegetable soup, or a flavorful curry, boiling stew meat is a great way to tenderize it and infuse it with flavors.

Using marinated meats is a great way to bring new, enriched flavor to your favorite soups and stews. Marinating meat prior to making your soup is a great way to add a depth of flavor while also tenderizing often lower quality stew meat.

Try adding soy sauce or Worcestershire for extra savory (or umami) flavor, a touch of honey or brown sugar for sweetness, lemon zest or vinegar for brightness or chili powder or smoked paprika for spice and depth.

Add the wine and tomato paste to the onions and other aromatics in a pan before slow cooking. Plus, this helps to really deglaze any fond that's left. This ingredient is one that your mum and nan would probably use in their stews. It adds a bit of tang, sweetness and savoury spices that give an extra punch of flavour.

Cook over medium-high heat, scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits. Add the beef, beef broth and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a slow simmer. Cover and cook, skimming broth from time to time, until the beef is tender, about 1½ hours.

What emerged was beef that dissolved into a dry, pulpy mass in your mouth as soon as your jaw moved. The flavor was there, all right, but the beef was totally destroyed (along with my mom's dreams of stew, and my ego). Turns out you definitely can overcook beef stew.

Bring to a simmer, then lower heat to maintain a very gentle simmer. Cook, skimming occasionally, until each cut of beef is fork-tender, at least 2 hours and up to 4 hours, depending on the cut and animal your beef is from.

Most recipes for beef stew start with cutting meat into cubes, then browning the cubes in a big pot. The idea is that browning builds flavor through the Maillard reaction, which will then get spread around through the whole pot as the meat and vegetables slowly braise in liquid.

When to add potatoes to stew? ›

Your onions will be fine, but mushy potatoes and carrots are a no-no. Instead, add them about 20 minutes before the end of cooking. When they're tender, the stew is done.

if you are boiling meat, covered in water or broth, that is called stewing and usually applies to smaller pieces of meat. If it is a tougher cut of beef, pork or lamb, it may take 45 minutes to an hour and a half. The internal temperature of tougher cuts of meat is 200F when tender.

Since any salt sprinkled on meat just before stewing it dissolves into the cooking liquid, from a seasoning perspective it doesn't matter if you sprinkle the salt directly on the meat or add it to the stewing liquid.

There are a few reasons why this might be helpful: the dryness of flour mitigates the natural moisture of the meat, helping the Maillard Reaction happen properly. In addition, flour reacts faster to heat than raw meat, speeding up the browning process.

You should never throw your raw cubes of beef into the stew pot. You must sear the cubes first in a pan to brown them and begin building that rich flavor. It's important not to brown them too lightly—sear them until there's a dark crust on each side of the meat cubes.

Fats and sweetness can help smooth the bitter corners of a dish, just like they make coffee taste less bitter. So add a spoonful of sugar, cream or butter to tame that bitterness.