I made up this recipe for stew one year during Milwaukee's Summerfest, so I call it Beef Festival. It's not quite traditional, but we like it. Beef Festival 2-3 Lbs beef chuck roast, cut into bite sized chunks. 2 good sized cloves garlic 3 or 4 onions, large dice 2-3 healthy sized tsp of Paprika, if you have smoked, you can replace some or all of the paprika with that. 1 healthy sized tsp of Bouquet Garni (Penzey’s) 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp plus a coupla shakes of Worshestershire salt to taste pepper to taste 1 or 2 bay leaves beef broth or water, about 4-6 cups, depending on how thick you like your stew 4 or so strips of bacon 3-4 good sized potatoes, cut to whatever size you’d like 8 carrots, cut in good sized chunks to cook at the same speed as the potatoes 4 ribs celery, large dice parsley Brown bacon, remove from pan. Then brown beef in bacon fat with the paprika, onion and garlic till the onion is just getting limp. Toss into a pot with the broth and add veggies and spices. Cook till everything is tender, adding water or broth to make it as soupy or thick as you like it. Thicken with flour/water if you prefer. This also works fine with pork. **If using a pressure cooker, cut the veg into larger pieces and leave the garlic whole. Bring to high pressure and cook for 15-20 minutes, less if your beef is cut into smaller chunks, more if it’s bigger. Turn off the heat and let the cooker depressurize naturally. This will result in a more tender beef. I know, this is contrary to Johnliu’s recipe for pressure cooker stew, but after reading and a little experimentation, I’ve found it to be a system that works for me. If the potatoes end up a little mushy, it really doesn’t bother me, but if it might bother you, cut them bigger or add them in stages. Reduce your broth if desired, or add thickener after pressure is released. Stew is such an individual thing�"I like lots of veggies, and I don’t care for peas. So there are lots of carrots and potatoes and no peas in mine. :-) I’ve been known to chuck in some green beans, cabbage, or whatever is in the fridge after the pressure is off, during broth reduction. Cj

So, okay, I really can read most of it, but your translation is much better for getting a sense of the poetry. When I was in college we read some modern Hebrew poetry, which was all about reducing it as much as possible to morphemes rather than separate words, and using words with similar shoreshes rather than rhyming. Works great for poetry, not so much for song, but this one is really pretty. Thank-you. Though One Fish Two Fish is very elegant in Hebrew, if I remember right, and it rhymes. :) Blessings to the translators! I'm surprised you don't like the sound of Hebrew. English used to have velar fricatives (ÃÂ and ÃÂ with no dagesh (not that ÃÂ is pronounced in Hebrew anymore either)). You can see it in the spellings of lots of old words, and sometimes you can hear it in Scotland and Northern England still, but not much. I like a full range of sounds. :) Of course, I was reared more on the sweetness of Geula Gil than the power of Moshe Dyan. :) Back to topic, I hope you've gotten a cooler bag for your lunches?

haus proud - "Stew" is as varied as the folks who make it and you've covered the many options very well.... Here's my take on it after doing some testing and looking at some of the science (probably after a reading session of "On Food and Cooking" - The Science and Lore of the Kitchen - by Harold McGee). I personally made it the traditional way forever and always and when I tried a different recipe and method, I fell in love with stew all over again and never returned to the traditional method. Traditionally, you wanted a bit of fat on stew meat, or the finished meat would be dry. Traditionally, stew meat is dredged. It seemed to take a lot of extra fat in the pan to brown dredged meat. I don't follow either of those methods and like my stew much better now that I don't. But as we all know, all taste is subjective and cooking is about choices. I use chuck, because a good butcher will tell you there is a little more fat (even though it's considered a lean cut) and more connective tissue, which add both flavor and tenderness during a long, slow cooking process, as Joe pointed out. When you purchase a package of "stew meat", it can be cut from almost anywhere - more of a mystery meat. I cut my own stew meat and avoid as much visible fat as possible, and cut it into 3/4- to 1-inch cubes. It's a personal thing - I don't like to wrestle a large 1-1/2-inch cube of beef in my stew. I never dredge the meat because I think it interferes with the browning process and tends to make the bottom of the pan a sticky, disgusting mess. But as with most cooking, dredging is a choice - it's neither is right or wrong. I also don't salt the meat before browning. Salted meat exudes more juices and dries out. Adding the salt to the stew after the meat is browned produces jucier meat. I use a small amount of fat for browning the first batch of meat (probably less than a tablespoon), fairly high heat, and brown only in small batches, removing each batch from the Dutch oven and setting it aside, until the entire 2-pounds of meat is browned. Not a lot of fat in the pan, but if there is, I'd dab it out with a paper towel, careful to leave the "flavorful cooked-on goodies". I don't constantly stir the meat while it's browning, but let it sear well, then turn or stir it, until all sides are well-browned. I usually don't add any fat for the subsequent batches of meat I brown, so that saves some added fat. If you brown the meat all at once, you end up stewing the meat pieces because there's too much moisture from the large amount of meat pieces. Browning, without dredging, will render a darker, richer, brown stew with more flavor. I also add a t. of lemon juice while simmering the meat, which is a tenderizer. I remove some of the potatoes and a cup or two of the liquid and blend it in a blender or food processor and return to the pot to avoid the starchy taste of flour/water slurry, which congeals when refrigerated and separates when frozen and reheated. So, to each their own, for whatever reasons... -Grainlady

Just because someone is vegan doesn't mean that other members in their family are. And I think she is upset about the recall because it isn't advertized more.... If there is a contamination and she didn't find out until she went on a web site then she or other people she knows could be feeding their family or eating contaminated meat and not know it. I don't like to eat meat alot that is why I come here to find some great recipes to make for myself. my husband is a meat and potatoes guy so I have to buy it for him so this could be why she is "upset" just my 2 cents.