I do the standard recipe but I use rutabaga in place of potatoes. They don't fall apart like potatoes sometimes do when I boil it to thicken the gravy. I love their sweet/slightly bitter flavor. You can, of course, add potatoes too.

or parsnips ...

Beef stew is one of those dishes I have never used a recipe for. I just include the ingredients and seasonings I think make it taste good and it always turns out perfect. At least to me :-) And like meatloaf, I never make it the exact same way twice.

Like Toby, I prefer to use rutabagas in place of potatoes as well. If I don't include potatoes, I often serve with fluffy dumplings cooked in the stew.

Brown the beef which is cut in cubes. When brown depending on how much grease may or may not drain. Toss in canned tomatoes and perhaps if it is a large amount some tomato paste. Allow to cook then add tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots. My husband did not like onions or pieces of garlic so used garlic powder. Cook until ready to eat. Sometimes I might add some wine during the cooking. No measurements because other than the tomatoes and paste there is nothing of a standard size in the other ingredients. Normally the potatoes would thicken it enough that it was not soup consistency but if not adding a little flour would solve that problems.

Well, I’ve always done the “busy day stew” from a fundraiser cookbook. It’s fine, really it is. But then I made Julia Child’s bœuf bourgignon and nothing will ever be the same. Oh, I’ll still make the busy day one because I can do it in my sleep. But, oh, Julia.

Busy Day

Clean and slice or cube 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, and 1 potato per person. Also 1 onion or shallot. Add mushrooms if you like. Put it all in the crockpot. (I’ve left out the potatoes and no one noticed.)

Brown beef cut into cubes, and add to the crockpot.

Add half a packet of onion soup mix, and 1 can of tomato or cream of mushroom soup, and 1 can of water to cover. Or a little red wine if you like.

Set the crockpot on low for 6-8 hours,

Turn the crockpot off, and make a loaf of Pillsbury French or Italian bread.

It was our Halloween standard and signaled the beginning of crockpot season when the kids were young.

My favorite is also Bœuf Bourguignon, but I seldom make it myself any more, since my brother will not eat it, and so I only get it as French restaurants. I've always made it with mushrooms and use Julia's recipe. I use Sangiovese, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, or Chianti wine, as those are the only red wines that we keep on hand - I very seldom buy Cabernet and never Burgundy, as I do not care for them too much.

I make beef stew in the crockpot with basically beef, carrots and potatoes but I use stir fry beef rather than the stew beef usually found at the grocery store. It cooks up so much more tender than stew beef. I just add all ingredients to the crockpot, turn it on low and cook for about 8 hours. Sometimes I add a can of cream of chicken, sometimes a little water, or red wine if I have it left over.

See Serious Eats website. For both stew and boeuf bourguignon, they include a few simple umami enhancers that really make a difference.

I brown bison or elk cubes and toss in the onion,celery, carrot, potatoes, rutabaga, a dab of tomato paste, a spoonful of brown sugar, some beef broth, black pepper, garlic powder and a bay leaf. Slow cooked in the Instant Pot. Thicken the broth. Serve with hot biscuits.

I start with cubed beef that I salt and pepper then dredge in flour. Brown that on all sides, add some onion and a couple cloves garlic (optional), then lower heat & use wine (or water) to loosen the fond. I use a couple Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, a couple Tbsp tomato paste, another tsp of kosher salt, and stir. Then add a can of low sodium small diced tomatoes and water (or more wine or a combo) to cover. While that simmers, I cut up carrots, celery and chunks of potatoes. Add those and more water to cover and simmer. Taste test and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Or I put all this in a crock pot on low if I am going to be out all day.

If you want it thick, I use water and a couple Tbsp corn starch with some liquid from the pot. Mix and add a small amount at a time while stirring.

Seems most use a tomato base. Don't think I have had it that way but I'll try it next time. I dredge beef cubes in seasoned flour, brown in large pot. Add sliced onions and cook until translucent. Add water to desired amount, sliced carrots, cubed potatoes and peas. Cook until beef is tender. May thicken a bit more if needed.

Mine is cooked in one of those oven bags. The usual suspects, beef, celery, carrots, potatoes along with dried onion flakes, catsup and beef broth. You flour the bag before adding all the ingredients/

Easy clean up/

I love stew, I just bought 3 packages of stewing beef to make stew this weekend. I coat the beef in seasoned flour and brown. Put in the roasting pan, add beef broth and a tin of consomme, some water if I think I need it. Add the vegetables, usually large chunks of carrots, about 4 onions halved, turnip, pearl onions, garlic, 2 bay leaves, salt, pepper. Potatoes, I usually like to add potatoes, my Mom never added potatoes preferring to serve the stew over mashed potatoes. I sometimes add sliced fresh mushrooms or whole small button mushrooms. Near the end of cooking I toss in small baby peas. Put a lid on it and cook in the oven until meat is tender. I like dumplings with my stew and that helps thicken the gravy at the end, if I don't have dumplings I will thicken the gravy.

I like sliced fennel bulb, green beans and winter squash chunks in mine - along with onions, carrots, garlic, tomato, parsley & potatoes.

No formal recipe here either.

P.S. I like to add tarragon to this and chicken stew - adds a sort of umami flavor.

P.P.S. Also have to have homemade buttery biscuits with it - made into 'sticks' for dipping 😊

I'm looking forward to the season. I'll add a type not shown here -- the boeuf on daube. Here's a recipe pretty close to what I do (but I add the tomatoes at the start, includes some cloves, extra garlic and cinnamon, sometimes a dollop of tomato paste). It is a sassier Southern cousin to the boeuf bourguignon, simpler and a little bolder, just the like the wine you should use.

My favorite beef stew recipe comes from America's Test Kitchen. I'm trying to find the recipe online so I can repost, but no luck so far. I'll keep looking!

We've been watching Britain's Best Home Cook and some of the contestants made a steak and ale pie. It's basically a beef stew in a pastry crust but it has a few ingredients I've never put in a stew.

Here's one recipe that looks good, and it's from a British cook.

https://culinaryginger.com/british-steak-and-ale-pie/

To me, the differences between soup & stew are that soup has a thinner broth and more ingredients. If I am making stew, it generally is beef chunks with carrots, potatoes and celery in a flour-thickened base. I do flavor it with herbs and bay leaves. I know most people put onions in theirs, which does add a lot of flavor but since I can't have them we do without.

the Williams Sonoma site has a hearty beef stew recipe that is very good

Serious Eats Bœuf Bourguignon recipe; but it takes forever, so I only make it about once a year. I make simpler stews and soups more often. But that Serious Eats recipe is my favorite.

I make beef stew in my crockpot. I prefer to buy a chuck roast, trim it and cut into stew-sized pieces. I salt & pepper the pieces and brown them in some olive oil in a large skillet in batches, transferring to the crockpot as they brown. Then I add about 2 Tbsps. of concentrated tomato paste from a tube and stir that around a bit and deglaze the skillet with about a cup of red wine. Add that to the crockpot.

Shortcuts as follows: frozen pearl onions, baby baby carrots, package of sliced mushrooms all into the crockpot with the beef and wine. A can of undiluted beef consommé, a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme and then cook until I'm happy with it. We prefer mashed potatoes or thick egg noodles with ours so those get done separately.

@Bumblebeez --- actual Hungarian goulash can be so awesome. I like it over spaetzle or mash.

Ina G has a couple I like...her Beef Bourguignon and Parker's Beef Stew. The Silver Palate has a good recipe for pot roast that I often use for stew.

Gooster, that recipe is from Culinary Imagination and I looked at a lot of authentic goulash recipes, lots of variations but this is not unauthentic. Some add different vegetables, red wine, etc.

I make chili stew. That's what I call it. To the stew meat after browning I add chili seasonings, etc. When the meat is tender add pinto beans and corn. Serve with hoe cake.

Not certain what to call it to use the paprika but make a cream gravy with whatever you have on hand. I used to use slices of beef. Add the paprika to taste and serve over noodles or potatoes.

Interesting although both comments are off topic I had a English translation of a Hungarian cookbook. The goulash recipe started with a whole pot of onions cooked down then the paprika and I seem to remember some water was added. Was cooked until most of the onions were basically dissolved then a small amount of meat was added for another hours cooking. The whole thing by following the timing took over 6 hours. Probably had salt added to draw moisture from the onions. Was served over noodles and only then was a spoonful of sour creame put on top.

I use the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook recipe, but I add one or two beef bouillon cubes to enrich the sauce and add more vegetables so that it is a one dish meal. I buy a thick chuck steak and cut it into 1 -2 inch cubes. Often I have enough meat to freeze some for the next time I make stew. Be sure to trim off all silver skin and the thick chunks of fat. I add onion, potatoes, carrots, celery, and frozen peas. A few minutes before serving, I stir in 1/4 c cold water mixed with 1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch to thicken the sauce into a nice gravy.

I only make stew once or twice a winter. It doesn't reheat from frozen very well for me so I don't make a big batch that will have lots of left overs. I am looking forward to making some with the beef from the steer we processed this spring. We got some very meaty leg bones that will be perfect. I usually use my mothers recipe that is pretty standard.

Thank you so much to everyone for your ideas! The recipes all sound so tempting and I look forward to a winter of delicious stews. Surely one of the coziest kitchen aromas is a cooking stew, which will be very welcome during this year's season that is predicted to be colder than normal.

The last time I made it it was in the instant pot. After maybe an hour of cooking it was far more tender than any other beef stew I've made. I have the recipe link somewhere around here.

The meat takes forever and I'm never quite sure about the timing of the vegetables, but I don't want them overcooked. So I make what I call Hokey Pokey Stew. I put everything in and then I take things out when they are cooked, and then add them back in when the meat is done. Also, my "secret ingredient" is a spoonful or two of pomegranate molasses. I think it adds a nice depth of flavor, and may help tenderize the meat.

Recipe? Beef stew? Whatever the spirit moves me to put in....however I never put peas or green beans in a beef stew.
I have made a yummy one with pretty well just caramelized onions, browned beef cubes, and dried sour cherries, generously doused with dry red wine as the cooking liquid....and served next to either boiled new potatoes of wide noodles with lots of fresh parsley.
And another w that I do need a recipe for that has prunes and pitted calamata olives.

My standard:

Chuck roast, cut in large cubes, salted

Brown in very hot pan

Into pressure cooker with red wine to cover (may be most of a bottle). Optionally also some/all of tomato paste, anchovy paste, beef boullion, onion, garlic, mushrooms, your fav herbs. But just beef and wine works.

High pressure 45 min

Open cooker (cold water method), pour off and reserve the liquid, leaving enough to just cover. Add veg - carrots, potato, parsnip, rutabaga, turnip, mushrooms, etc.

High pressure 15 minutes. Meanwhile, reduce the reserved liquid, add a little more wine, optionally thicken - some like stew soupy, others like it dry.

Open cooker, add thickened liquid back, eat.

The whole process takes about 1.5 hours.

I'm with Lars. I like Boeuf Bourguignon. It's starting to get cool. Think I will put it on my list for things to make.

I remembered another recipe I like from Fine Cooking some years back...Beef Stew With Root Vegetables and Horseradish.

1. @bob_cville When you find the link, please post. I, too, have been looking for a great beef stew recipe.

It depends on the mood. Sometimes more French with red wine, sometimes more British with beer. Traditional boeuf bourguignon has large chunks of meat, but we prefer bite sized.....sometimes a daube like above......all are good.

Do any of younever cook a traditional Lancashire hotpot? Absolutely delicious and easy. https://www.kitchensanctuary.com/traditional-lancashire-hotpot/

@bob_cville, I'd appreciate the Instant Pot recipe or link as well. I don't have a recipe for this using the IP. Thanks!