Beef Stew Meat question ...
shaun
16 years ago
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Terri_PacNW
16 years agocraftyrn
16 years agoRelated Discussions
I'm making beef stew... have a question!
Comments (8)I used one pound of beef to two cans of sauce... and one can of beef stock. I like it to be kind of like chili.... I want the sauce to be red and thick. The soup is quite thick... not liquidy at all! I used corn, carrots, 1 onions, garlic, thyme, 3 potatoes, 1 basil leaf, salt, and pepper... so I'm sure there was something in there that reacted with the tomato sauce to make the orange bubbles. I found out that my tomato sauce was fine. I was just being paranoid. I went to the store and bought more of the same brand. Opened it up and the brand new one smelled the same as the one I had in the pantry. I think I'm used to smelling tomato sauce after it's been cooked and mixed with other ingredients and since I haven't worked with it in a while, I forgot what it should smell like. I didn't want to waste the "test" sauce, so I put it in a sandwich bag and froze it... will it still be OK to use in things?...See MoreCooking stew meat
Comments (11)You can bet that what is labeled as "STEW-MEAT", in the chain stores, will be tough. It's usually meat that can't be used for anyrhing else but stewing (long braising). Yes, you should brown the meat first...but that has nothing to do with how tender it will be. When I want good meat for stewing, I buy a roast and chunk it up myself. I usually look for a top or a bottom of the round. Brown it well, and then braise it with the veggies in my slow cooker....using just about the same recipe that you would use for a pot-roast. DH does some of my grocery shopping and every once in a while he brings home what he thinks is a "bargain" in stewing meats. I even have tried the pressure-cooker to tenderize the meat....but it does not turn out satisfactorily!...See MoreBeef Stew & Fat Content
Comments (8)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...See MoreDifferent cuts of beef in beaf stew.
Comments (81)Ah. You learned your manners from this comic too. As the girl in the manga says: "Could you stop belittling me...? I can tell that much without eating it." If you respected this forum, you would know that if you want people to read things and watch videos you post them here. Sometimes we will go out of our way to follow links, but posters do not expect that all will. In ANY discussion forum, if you specifically want something to be read, you provide a link. I could Google, but why would I just to do your work for you, especially since one of us already had? The translation in the manga is very inaccurate. It's sufficient to kind of carry the meaning to an English speaker who can reinterpret it to make more sense. Your problem has been on insisting on using the language from this. The manga is right, though, where it said it in a sideways manner, that you can't make a "western" style dish with miso. :) It then says that beef belly is what is most commonly used for stew, but that's not true in North America, at least (I can't speak for the rest of the West), where, as you've seen, the go-to is chuck, which is from the shoulder. Then they compare the preparation of the stewed oxtail to soft shelled turtle burger! That is something we don't have, so I can't comment on the preparation. I'm pretty sure that our local turtles, where I live, are endangered and not allowed to be killed and eaten, though perhaps someone is farming them... And there are turtle pets. I suppose you could eat that kind if you wanted to... So, the last chapter you linked is where you got the ridiculous notion that boeuf bourguignon is "the origin of beef stew". That's another poor translation or misstatement. It might be the first one codified in a cookbook, or it might be considered by some to be the finest beef stew, but beef stew's "origin" is from about the time cavemen learned to cook meat in a vessel and had an animal of the family bos (beef) to eat. The manga proceeds to discuss "garniture" and "garnish" interchangeably, and use it to mean decoration, as we advised you from the beginning. They're talking about the vegetables, not the many cuts of beef. We do not normally put "croutons" in beef stew. Beef stew is also not strained. The juices/gravy and stew are served in the same dish. At the end, he brings out all these different cuts, does seem to be preparing each separately, as the young lady in the video did, because, as we said, it's the only sensible way to do it. His goal isn't a beef stew, it's to wow the judges of a fictional contest. I don't see a recipe. The whole thing is a fiction of a cooking contest. Like much fiction, it isn't completely realistic. That's fine for a story. Just as many manga hair styles cannot be achieved without glue, this all parts of the beef thing can't be achieved without a lot of pots, and the result isn't an actual Western beef stew, even though it seems to have won the contest. Which is what we've been telling you from the beginning without reading your book. Unfortunately, the lack of comprehension is on your side. The manga does not in any way controvert what we have said, though now I see where you got some of your misinformation. While it may be true that serious cookery is presented in manga form somewhere, in these chapters of this book it is not. It's a typical Young Adult story about winning a contest against a cheating, leering competitor, the cooking details are practically nil, and are hazy where they are presented. That is because they're there because the story is about a cooking contest, and serve the movement of the plot. They are not meant to be the presentation of a recipe. I see no reason to spend more of my time on this, so I will not bother with the anime, which one assumes are more of the same....See Morelindac
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