Beef Stew
Good choices for stew meat are oxtails, shanks, beef chuck, short ribs, pork shoulder, beef cheeks, lamb shoulder, and lamb neck. These cuts all have lots of connective tissue and fat to make them tender and full of flavor. For stew, the meat is cut into smaller pieces. Have your butcher cut bony cuts such as short ribs and lamb shanks into 2-inch lengths. Cut boneless meat such as chuck or shoulder into 1 1/2-inch cubes. The pieces may be cut larger for a more rustic stew, but cut any smaller they tend to fall apart when cooked. If you are buying beef that has already been cut up for stew, ask what cut it is from. Most meat counters use top and bottom round, which I find too lean to make a good stew; they cook up dry. Ask the butcher to cut some chuck into stew meat for you instead, or buy a large piece and cut it at home. Season the meat with salt and pepper. If you have the time, season it a day ahead. If you make a marinade, stir the meat now and then while it is marinating; this will help the marinade flavor the meat evenly. Any vegetables in the marinade I first cook slightly in a bit of oil, for more flavor. Let them cool before adding to the meat. Brown the meat well in a fair amount of oil, lard, or fat. Don’t crowd the pieces; brown them in as many batches as necessary. You can use the same oil for each batch as long as the pan does not burn. If it does, wipe out the pan and continue with fresh oil. When the meat is browned, drain the fat from the pan and deglaze the pan with wine, tomatoes, broth, or water. Short ribs and oxtails are some of my favorite stewing cuts, because they make such a flavorful sauce. These cuts can be browned in the oven: Preheat the oven to 450°F; lay the meat out on a rack in a shallow pan; and cook until the meat is brown and the fat is rendered. With this method there is no pan to deglaze, but it is quicker and easier than browning on the stovetop. If the aromatic vegetables are to be left in the stew, cut them into even, medium-size pieces. If they are to be discarded at the end, leave them in large chunks, for easy removal. Put the vegetables, meat, and deglazing liquid into a pot. Choose a pot large enough to accommodate the meat in two, or possibly three, layers. If the meat is piled higher than this, the bottom layer will cook and fall apart before the upper layers are done. Stirring doesn’t really help this much, and the chance of sticking and burning is much greater. Add broth or water, as the recipe asks, almost to the top of the meat, but do not submerge it. When I am using a marinade that is mostly wine, I like to reduce it (boil it down) by half or more before adding it to the pot. This removes the raw taste of the wine and allows room for more broth, which makes a richer sauce. Bring the liquid to a boil, then turn the heat down to a bare simmer, and cover the pot. Use a flame tamer if necessary to keep the stew from boiling. Or cook the stew in a preheated 325°F oven. If the stew boils hard there’s a good chance the meat will fall apart and the sauce emulsify (the fat and the liquid bind together, which makes the sauce murky). Check the pot now and then to monitor the cooking and the level of the liquid; add more broth or water if needed. Cook until the meat is very tender. This will take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours depending on what cut is being used. There should be very little or no resistance when the meat is poked with a small knife or skewer. When the meat is done, skim the sauce well, removing as much of the fat as you can. This is much easier to do after the simmering has stopped and the liquid has had a chance to settle. The sauce may be strained, but do so carefully: the meat is very delicate now and can fall apart. If the stew is being served another day, the fat can be simply lifted off after chilling in the refrigerator. Thicken a thin or watery sauce with a mixture of one part flour stirred together with one part soft butter. Wh...
Recipe information
Yield
4 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Season generously, a day ahead if possible: 3 pounds grass-fed beef chuck, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes with Salt and fresh-ground black pepper. Heat, in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat: 2 tablespoons oil. Add: 3 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces.
Step 2
Cook until rendered and lightly brown but not crisp. Remove the bacon and add the meat, browning well on all sides, in as many batches as necessary. Put the browned meat into a heavy pot or braising dish. Pour off most of the fat, lower the heat, and add: 2 onions, peeled and cut into quarters, 2 cloves (stick them into onion quarters), 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks, 2 sprigs each of thyme, savory, and parsley, 1 bay leaf, A few peppercorns.
Step 3
Cook until slightly browned and add to the beef in the pot. Return the pan to the stove and raise the heat. Pour in: 3 tablespoons brandy (optional).
Step 4
This may flame up, so be careful. Then add: 1 3/4 cups red wine.
Step 5
Cook until reduced by two thirds, scraping up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour this over the beef and vegetables. Add: 3 diced tomatoes, fresh or canned, 1 small head of garlic, separated into cloves, peeled, and coarsely chopped, 1 thin strip of orange zest, 2 cups beef stock (or chicken broth).
Step 6
Check the level of the liquid; it should be at least three-quarters of the way up the cubes of beef. Add more if needed. Cover the pot tightly and cook at a bare simmer on the stovetop, or in a 325°F oven, for 2 to 3 hours. Check the stew occasionally to be sure that it is not boiling and that there is enough liquid. When the meat is tender, turn off the heat, and let the stew settle for a few minutes. Skim off all the fat. Discard the bay leaf, cloves, and peppercorns. Taste for salt and adjust as needed. Serve sprinkled with a mixture of: 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, 1 or 2 garlic cloves, chopped fine.
Variations
Step 7
Stir in 1/2 cup small black olives with their pits 30 minutes before the stew is finished cooking. If using pitted olives, add them after the stew has finished cooking.
Step 8
Use 3/4 cup white wine instead of red wine. Only reduce by half.
Step 9
To make pot roast, keep the meat whole instead of cutting it into cubes. Bottom round or brisket can be used as well as chuck. The liquid should come only halfway up the roast. Increase the cooking time by 1 hour.
Step 10
Soak 1/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms in 1/2 cup hot water for 10 minutes. Drain, chop coarse, and add to the stew along with 2 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste instead of tomatoes. If the mushroom liquid is not too sandy, substitute it for some of the broth. Omit the orange zest.
