Served your way but veggies cooked together with meat to share flavors. Doesn’t all have to go in the pot at the same time if you’re concerned about veggies surviving. But I’d not be looking for “tender crisp” in a stew.

Your way reminded me of Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguinon recipe where she cooks everything separately and combines at the end. Maybe you could marry the methods by combining at the end but having more "gravy".

Mine you would eat with a spoon, but it is definitely not soupy. I also cook everything together, but the vegetables do get added at a later time so they are turned to mush.

Happy Wife = Happy Husband. That's all I gotta say.

I just made beef stew using one of my old fave recipes from the Silver Palate girls. I guess I'm more of a forker when it comes to stew, although I also love a great vegetable beef soup. I've cooked the veggies both with the stew and separately. However, cooking them separately means they go in with the meat and sauce long enough to blend well with both. As foodonastump mentioned, I don't want stew (or soup) veggies tender crisp. If you haven't already, try Ina Garten's Beef Bourguignon...so good with garlic mashed potatoes. :-)

These pics I found online pretty much show my idea of beef stew with a rich sauce/gravy...definitely not "soupy." Ugh...these are making me hungry!

I’m in the “stew is eaten with a fork” camp all the way. Last night, I had braised short ribs with carrots and mushrooms. It was served over buttered noodles. Delish! And while it had plenty of gravy, it was not soup-like in any way. I like my veggies cooked with the meat - much more flavorful. I served mine with fresh frozen peas as a side dish. Those I don’t want cooked for hours!

Make both, everyone is happy. Freeze it all individually and many happy lunches/dinners ahead.

Me? It's all about the flavor.

^Yes, it does freeze beautifully.

What flavour enhancers do you use with beef stew?

I've used, at various times

- red wine

- dark beer

- coffee (warning: takes a long time to cook out the bitterness, then its great)

- anchovies (whole and paste - sardines too)

- mushrooms (stems, buzzed in food processor)

- tomato (paste, crushed, or fresh)

- Worcester sauce

I think the common aspect of all of the above is umami.

The last stew I made had a lot of fresh rosemary, but I didn't use a mesh bag and it was impossible to pick out all the bits. They were so soft it didn't matter.

Beef in a stew tends to be tough, even they may fall apart.

I cheat when making beef stew. I use the most flavorful cut of beef, the short ribs.

Sous vide beef short ribs at 131F, 72 hours. You will want to enjoy it with a fork, as it is fork tender and juicy.

Chefsteps describes it as the follow, "----- sous vide cooking at this low temperature, our short ribs have been transformed. This is really the culinary equivalent of turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse. It’s delicious.

dcarch

John, some of mine include garlic, rosemary, thyme, parsley, bay leaves and red wine. I have a recipe we like for beef stew that includes horseradish. Not much...just enough to add a bit of zing.

When making something like vegetable or vegetable beef soup, I always add a couple tablespoons of red wine vinegar shortly before serving. It really boosts flavor.

I'm more in the fork, than in the spoon category. The sauce in my stew is not as thick as gravy but it's definitely not soup-like at all. I do cook all ingredients together.

Seasonings can include bay leaf, garlic, rosemary, thyme, whatever is in the herb garden and sounds good. I also sometimes add Worcestershire sauce, just a bit of tomato paste (I don't want it to be tomato-y, just rich) and/or my homecanned beef stock. I'll add mushrooms if it occurs to me, but I dislike beer, wine or vinegar in my stew.

Mine is usually served with good bread but Grandma used to drop biscuits on top of hers and bake it, then spoon a biscuit onto a plate and cover it with stew and gravy.

Annie

Definitely forky. I love red wine or beer. I want the sauce to be rich and comforting. Bacon that disappears, tomato paste for extra richness. And sometimes mash, sometimes dumplings and sometimes cobbles.

I made Instant Pot stew yesterday and I am of the thick gravy persuasion and a fork. I coat the meat in flour before browning and scrape up all those bits of the bottom of the pot. I season with bay leaf, sage, rosemary, Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of brown sugar and a splash of red wine. Also a few tablespoons of tomato paste.

Inbetween. Inevitably, I thicken all my soups with flour/cornstarch. I just can't abide watery food. I'm really awful to solve your argument, aint I?

The way you serve it doesn't sound like stew to me, but that's only because I've never eaten it that way. But it sounds delicious and I'm going to try it!

I too dislike watery food. I thicken my soups with red lentils. I like to joke that my ideal soup is one in which a spoon can stand up straight.

Stew to me is chunky beef, chunky veg and must include potatoes and carrots, as well as tomatoes. Always red wine. Always garlic (slow-cooked with the beef) and fresh and dried herbs. Bay leaf isn't usually optional but I'll live if I forget : ) As for the thickness? I like right in between... can eat the beef and veg with a fork but better to get that rich gravy with a spoon. The last bits soaked up with toasted bread : )

John, I'd not thought of slow cooking the beef, then adding the veg later so it'd taste fresher and have good texture but that sounds like something I'd love - mine has always been cooked to bits because I wanted the flavors to meld - surely there's a good in-between there! I'd also never tried to sous vide the beef (dcarch, you dear!) but you bet I will now! Seems like I have some experimenting to do with sous vide, making the veg less over-cooked, and melding... : ) As for who's right? We all are! To each his and her own, right?!

When making stew on the stove top burner., I have always browned and simmered the meat, seasonings and onion for 2 hours before adding vegetables. It is the only way to get the meat tender and make rich broth/gravy.

I slow cook the beef in wine etc, then drain off the liquid and use that with some broth or more wine to cook the veg, then combine all.

dcarch, one of these days I really need to try sous vide.

Yes, that's how I learned to do it, Elizabeth. Pot roast, too.

I almost always buy a large piece of meat to cut myself for stews. That way I get the size chunks I want. Some pre-cut packaged stew meat can be in smaller pieces than I like. I don't use thickeners (flour, cornstarch) with stew. The cooking liquids tend to reduce and thicken on their own during the cooking process.

I love stews and have done all kinds from dump everything you have in a pot of water to handle each piece of meat like an individual jewel.

My basic idea of lamb (or beef) stew is chunks of meat, browned, onions browned then mirepoix cooked some, meat added in, potatoes (my childhood favorite was canned new potatoes, but they were a treat for if we were out of fresh), peeled and chunked baby carrots added (my favorite), with tomatoes or canned tomatoes, and water, a little white wine, herbs and seasoning, cooked down so that there's still some juice, but it's a fork on plate stew, not a bowl and spoon kind.

Last week, I made a beef stew without tomatoes! I've was off nightshades for awhile, and now I'm fine with a few grape tomatoes in a salad or a drop of ketchup, but can't deal with tomato sauces and don't know what tomatoes in the stew would do. I threw everything I could think of at this stew! It was sirloin, so tasty meat, all the usual vegetables, and I used some dehydrated seasoned mushrooms as the base for the gravy, along with chicken stock (turns out I'm out of beef stock), port wine and better than bouillon which I used instead of salt. I'm not sure that it did anything else for it, but worth a shot. Herbs and red pepper flakes were essential. This ended up a bowl and spoon kind of stew, and it was more pronouncedly better than normal the longer it sat, as per proverb. It was really good!

That sounds very tasty!

So how about pork stew? Seeing as how the tariff war has slashed US pork experts to China and Mexico, causing US pork prices to sink. The other day I saw pork shoulder for $1.99/lb while beef chuck roast was $6.99/lb. If I'd gone for the pork, my (large quantity of) stew would have had a food cost $20 lower.

I've made pork pot roast, but not pork stew. It seems when I've tried to sub pork for beef in my standard stew process, I ended up with something more like pulled pork mixed with veg. By the time the pork gets soft enough to cut with a fork, it is ready to disintegrate, and often does so simply while being mixed with veg.

For ribs, I've gotten slow-cooked pork very soft but still holding together by slow cooking, then refrigerating (to firm the meat up) then deep frying (to create a crust that holds the meat together). But that process, which ended with stir frying (to flavor the crust) was a real pain in the whatever

Definitely a forker...if you need a spoon and a bowl it's soup.
Beef stew? Seasoning? about all you mentioned!...somewhere I have a recipe for beef stew using dried cherries....can't remember what else but there are no carrots in that.
And another calls for green olives and prunes...and I think port wine....but maybe that's the one with the cherries.

I love stew....but don't want it with "skinny gravy"....

Sous vide pork for fork tender meat. Belly of pork is fantastic. Shoulder us melting.

I think pork lends itself well to sautée dishes when traditionally cooked, with a luscious sauce, but not stew. I like pork cooked in hard, dry cider.

Pork stew made from pork loin is awesome! One of my all time favorites. I cook it in a spicy tomato base with onions and zucchini.

I've never found the beef to be tough in stew.

I'm with your wife John. I like a brothy stew. But I add most of the vegetables later after the meat is tender. Like FOAS, though, I want the vegetables cooked. Not tender crisp. I also like stew served with dumplings.

I want my stew with a thick gravy.....not a broth! So I use a fork but always with a crusty bread on the side to sop up any remaining gravy :-) And since stew is cooked low and slow, I cannot imagine it being anything other than fall-apart tender. Seems like one is not cooking it properly if the meat is too tough or chewy.

For those of you who like lamb, this stew is one of my family's favorites. The recipe is from Jeff Smith...remember him? I've tweaked it over the years by adding less tomato paste (half can) and less onion (one large). I add part wine and part chicken stock and use closer to 1 1/2 cups total. You can use all stock, if preferred. Check the liquid during cooking time, and add more if needed. Also, I never cook the stew for as long as the recipe states. Maybe an hour before adding the artichokes, dill and lemon, then another 45 minutes or so. Just check for tenderness.

Lamb and Artichoke Stew (From Jeff Smith's "The Frugal Gourmet")

4 T. butter
2 pounds boneless lamb, cubed (leg or shoulder)
3 yellow onions, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
Salt/Pepper, to taste
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine (such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc)
2 (14 oz.) cans artichokes in brine (not oil), drained
1/2 tsp. dried dill
3 T. lemon juice

In a large Dutch oven melt the butter. Add the lamb and saute until lightly browned. Remove the meat. Saute the yellow onions along with the garlic and parsley. Return the meat to the pan, and add salt, pepper, the tomato paste, and white wine. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours or until the lamb is tender. Add artichokes, dill weed, and lemon juice. Simmer on low for about another 1 1/2 hours.

Thank you chloebud : ) I've got a lamb stew recipe we love, but yours is quite different and being an artichoke fan, I'm excited to try it.

I love "The Frugal Gourmet". It was the first cookbook I ever made a recipe from. We were in a vacation cabin somewhere and there was a dog eared copy of that book. I picked it up and said "why don't I try to cook something tonight". When SWMBO finished laughing, she agreed to let me try. I think the dish was clam pasta. We were at some seashore so it seemed right.

Going to be working on pork dishes a lot, while pork is so inexpensive!

2Many, I always felt the recipe needed more than the one cup of liquid. See what you think if you try it. It's pretty tasty. For me it's all about the lamb, lemon and dill. Great with pilaf. I'd love to see your recipe!

John, I had to check...Jeff Smith died in 2004. A rather unfortunate last years of life, for sure.

However I make stew it ends up brothy. I either reduce it or make gravy out of the broth and then mix it back in with the stew. Flavor-wise, I think brothy is better, since making a gravy muddies the flavor a bit. I don't much care either way, being vegetarian. You can always save the broth for wife and then make yours less brothy. Or cheat and splash a little boxed beef broth in with your wife's stew.

chloebud, thank you for your notes - always appreciated! I had been looking for a lighter lamb stew, and yours looks like the perfect one for our tastes : )

This is the one I've been making, and very rich as you can see but we do love it. Great on a cold, wintry night, served with crusty bread.

Notes:

1. I didn't use Guinness, I thought that'd be too rich, but did use a very malty beer.
2. Also, this is best when made 1 day ahead, refrigerated, then reheated : )
3. I cut the recipe in half the first time I made it to be sure we liked it, but always make the full amount now and freeze any leftovers.

Lamb Stew

• 3/4 pounds thickly sliced bacon, diced

• 3 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 2 inch pieces (may use less if needed)

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

• ½ -1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• ½ large onion, bite size

• 1/4 cup water

• 2 cups beef stock

• 1 teaspoons white sugar

• 2 cups carrots, bite size

• 1 large onions, cut into bite-size pieces

• 3 med-small red potatoes, bite size

• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

• 1 bay leaves

• 1 cup Guinness Beer

1) Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.

2) Put lamb, salt, pepper, and flour in large mixing bowl. Toss to coat meat evenly. Brown meat in frying pan with bacon fat.

3) Place meat into stock pot (leave 1/4 cup of fat in frying pan). Add the garlic and yellow onion and sauté till onion begins to become golden. Deglaze frying pan with 1/2 cup water and add the garlic-onion mixture to the stock pot with bacon pieces, beef stock, and sugar. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes and add carrots, onions, potatoes, thyme, bay leaves, and Guinness to pot. Reduce heat, and simmer covered until vegetables are tender.

4) Chill in fridge overnight, skim off excess fat, reheat, and enjoy!

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