Cowboy Stew - My Incredible Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good stew? ›

For most types of stew, it takes time to develop great flavor. Stew uses collagen-rich, tough cuts of meat, which need at least two hours to break down. If you try to rush it and boil the stew, the muscle fibers will shrink and become tough. So give yourself a few hours to let it do its thing.

I almost always add some beef bouillon crystals to my stew, it helps oomph (yes, a technical term) the beefiness of the stock. Sometimes also use a few shots of worcestershire sauce or soy sauce - both will also add some oomph to the flavor.

The most important key to making stew meat tender is being sure to cook it for a long time. If you want super tender beef, you'll need to cook it on a low heat in a Dutch oven on the stove or a slow cooker for at least a few hours.

Cowboy Stew Recipe. An easy hearty stew with bacon, ground beef, smoked sausage, onions, carrots, garlic, tomatoes, corn, and potatoes in a perfectly seasoned broth with chili powder, cumin, and smoked paprika.

But the liquid itself should not be thick in the same way that gravy is thick. So skip the roux, and don't bother dusting the meat with flour or cornstarch before browning, either, as some recipes will suggest. That will just interfere with getting a good sear on the meat, and gum up the stew with unneeded starch.

Vinegar can add depth of flavour to soups, sauces, and stews. Especially great for tomato-based recipes, you can add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar towards the end of the cooking process to amplify the flavours of your other ingredients.

Add the wine and tomato paste to the onions and other aromatics in a pan before slow cooking. Plus, this helps to really deglaze any fond that's left. This ingredient is one that your mum and nan would probably use in their stews. It adds a bit of tang, sweetness and savoury spices that give an extra punch of flavour.

It is a tough muscular meat. Longer cooking time at a lower temperature, especially in liquid can make it tender. Longer cooking time + low heat = tender meat. Pat the meat dry and brown it in the kettle you'll be using before adding the other ingredients to start the slow cooking.

What is the tastiest meat for stew? ›

Go for the chuck

The most common beef used for stew is chuck steak, also known as gravy beef or braising steak. Beef chuck comes from the forequarter of the animal consisting of parts of the neck, shoulder blade and upper arm. It is easy to find and it's affordable, making it a great choice for your stew.

What emerged was beef that dissolved into a dry, pulpy mass in your mouth as soon as your jaw moved. The flavor was there, all right, but the beef was totally destroyed (along with my mom's dreams of stew, and my ego). Turns out you definitely can overcook beef stew.

Canned beans with liquid - Such as great northern beans or pinto beans. The liquid is important because it helps thicken the soup. Medium potatoes - I use russets for the starch they add to the soup, but red potatoes and Yukon golds also work. Seasoning - creole seasoning, salt, and black pepper.

It wasn't cooked long and slow enough. That's simple, as stewing beef, like any beef cooked low and slow take hours to get it done right. Depending on the meat, I try to stick to the cooking time in a recipe as the meat cubes are MUCH smaller than say, a roast.

Vegetables: small chopped carrots, celery, and onion or shallot practically melt into the sauce. Mushrooms: button mushrooms are a nod to the quartered mushrooms many classic beef stew recipes call for, but are thinly sliced instead of being left in bigger pieces. Garlic: minced garlic brings lots of cozy flavor.

Whisk a teaspoon of flour in a little cold water to make a slurry, then stir into the stew as it's cooking. Don't add dry flour directly to the stew as it may clump. After adding the slurry, bring the stew to boil. This will cook out the flour taste and allow the starch to swell.

Stewing is like braising, with a few important differences: First, stewing is done with small cuts of meat instead of large ones. Second, in stewing, the meat is fully immersed in liquid (in braising, it's partially covered). Choose virtually any meat for your stew - lamb, rabbit, beef, or pork.