Brad, I'd leave out the can of onion soup and instead, sautee an onion until browned and add that. The canned soup is like adding a shakerful of salt to your dish. If you want to use it, then leave out all the other salt, or else the whole stew will be too salty.

Thank you, sushipup!

The recipe calls for a cup of chopped onion, but I'll probably add a whole small onion instead to give it a little more flavor. You're right about the saltiness. I read that one can of the French Onion soup has 750 mg of sodium in it. Too salty for sure.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Whole onion? Do you mean little bitty onions, pearl onions? No, you'll get the most flavor by caramelizing that chopped onion.

Here is a link that might be useful: Caramelization

No, I meant a whole small onion, chopped. I will caramelize it, as directed in the recipe.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

OK. I think the recipes all vary so much about amounts when they talk about things like onion. 1 small, 1 medium, 1/2 cup chopped, etc etc. I figure that if I like onions, I add more, it's fluid, like you've discovered.

Beef stew is one of my favorite things!

Yes, usually it's all a matter of taste for ingredients like that. Some like more, some like less, and some not at all lol. A good example is the parsnips in this recipe I found. Mom doesn't care for parsnips at all, so if I make it for my parents and I, I just won't add them.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

I love stew. I think there are a few essential things to do,then the rest is up to you and what you like - like leaving out parsnips if you don't like them!

1) make sure you trim the meat well. I hate finding nasty bits of fat or gristle on the meat.
2)toss the meat in a little flour and brown well in some oil, then soften the onion. Do you like garlic? If so, add that now to the onion.
3) do you like wine in your stew? You can add wine, water or stock.
4) decide on which herbs you like. Bay, thyme, parsley......
5) you can continue to add veggies at stage 2 like celery or carrots.
6) you can fry off som bacon chunks and mushrooms and add them to the stew half an hour before the end of cooking.
Have fun inventing your "stew style"!

When you add the garlic, make sure that the onions are almost done. It doesn't take much time for the garlic, and you don't want to over-do it.

Danged, I'm thinking stew sounds good right now....

We actually prefer Julia's boeuf bourguignon recipe

Here is a link that might be useful: This is like Julia's

islay_corbel, the steps you posted are somewhat similar to the instructions given in the recipe I found. It calls for 3 cups of beef broth or boullion. Here are the seasonings they call for: 1/2 tsp. minced garlic. 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes. 1 tsp. paprika. 1 1/2 tsp. chili powder, divided. 1 tsp. salt. Then a garnish of shaved Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves if desired. The veggies listed are: 3 potatoes, 2 parsnips, 1/2 of a 16 oz. pkg. baby carrots (I will just cut up some regular carrots). 1 cup frozen corn or mixed veggies. You add the paprika, chili powder (1 tsp.), and salt to 2 T. flour and shake the 1 lb. of beef cubes (stew meat) in it to coat and then brown them.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

The fun of stews is that no 2 people's taste the same! My ex MIL used to make a lovely stew that had the grated rind and juice of an orange in it. It sounds odd, but was really tasty. You can use beer for the liquid and that's really good. I think you'll have fun experimenting.

Some tomato paste or anchovy paste, for umami.