Beef Stew

[Nearlyadoctor]

After reading another thread it seems a lot of posters are having beef stew tonight done in the slow cooker. Does anyone have a fail safe recipe please . Whenever I try to do one it always come out too watery no matter how little liquid I use.

Agree with the suggestions above re. getting the right cut of beef. Anything with some fat, sinew and connective tissue is good for slow cooking. As this all breaks down it will help to thicken the sauce and give it body. But it needs several hours slow cooking to break down. I cook my beef stew for several hours the day before, and then another hour or two before I want to eat it. I also always add bacon! And wine.

I shudder at the thought of the gristly stews I used to get served as a kid. For years it put me off buying those cuts of meat - until I realised that one hour simmering with a stock cube does not a good stew make!

@soupfiend - my butchers are very approachable and if I ask them what they’d suggest for a cheaper cut of beef for a casserole, they normally come out with something that doesn’t break the bank.

(Plus you support a small business and you probably consume better quality meat)

www.google.com/gasearch?q=slow%20cooker%20steak%20and%20ale%20pie&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5

This is my go to.

Well as an example, their oxtail was double the price of Sainsburys. I cant support that Im afraid.

So no, I go in there when its something specific that I know I wont get somewhere else, like they make their own suet puddings at five pound a pop, but they're for my dad as a treat, but I cant justify other things in there.

I think that’s the problem with a lot of butchers @soupfiend . I live somewhere with tons of them which probably makes them price differently. I’ve just counted 12 in my head within three miles.

Most people can’t afford to shop small or support small businesses.

My grandma used to make the best braising steak, it's a lovely fatty cut and she'd cook it really simply with a load of onions and beef stock, stick it in the oven mid morning on low, give it a stir every couple of hours and then serve at 5pm when grandad got in from work.

It would just fall apart as you picked it up with the fork.

I just cook in water then stir in gravy granules at the end to get the exact thickness you want, always delicious 😋

I use this recipe the most. I swap the wine for a bottle of ale and beef for the veg stock, and don't add parsnips as dd doesn't like them. I buy stewing steak in the undiced form and cut in thick slices, about four per piece. I find eating a lot of meat difficult to eat but this was really easy. Even my other dd who has arthritis in her jaw found it easy to eat.
When using a slow cooker I don't add any extra water a recipe calls for until it's near the end time, or in the case of this recipe, when I'm adding the muffin top, I'll add it if the gravy is a bit thick as I put it in the oven for the final cook time and it will dry out.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/muffin-topped-winter-beef-stew

Go to a proper butcher they’ll be wnle to advise.

@TakeMe2Insanity I wish we had a butcher! I'm reliant on supermarkets, our butcher closed and the next local one is in the town centre or only open mon - Fri

It's a pain, like when people say use your local shops but they're only open the hours I work

Yes thats another problem, they're not open weekends fully!!

Slow cookers always make dishes come out watery. What do you need to do is transfer it to a pot and cook it down until it thickens. I would remove any over soft vegetables though, and then add them back later. You can just reduce the stock and put it back in if you prefer.