To ask you how I can fix this?

[gchali]

I think I've had a cooking disaster

I just put a beef stew on low in my slow cooker to cook overnight and the recipe said to add 5tbsp of flour which I did, but now the stew is an awful pale colour and I don't know how to fix it

Can I salvage it or is it ruined? I've tried to Google it but it's not giving me any answers.

Too late I know, but I'm wondering whether the OP misread the instructions and used 5 tablespoons of flour instead of 5 teaspoons.

5 tablespoons sounds like a lot - though of course it depends on how which meat was involved.

5 tbspns is a lot, even rouxs only need 50g of flour.

I hope it came out well, even if just the beef is edible, and not the stew, as you’re putting it in a pie?

I spoon of marmite, depending how much you like it.

This was the recipe. Unfortunately I couldn't salvage it so it went in the bin it was awful!

I never put anything tomato based in a beef/lamb casserole or stew, I don't know why. Gravy browning is great. Also something called thickening granules help thicken instead of flour for me (I do still coat meat before browning). It's just potato starch.
Years ago when I had my first DC, I used to use something called gravy salt in stews etc, wonder if you can still get that?
Sorry you couldn't salvage it OP, hopefully next time it'll turn out fine.

An oxo cube is your friend! But it will go brown once it's cooked anyway. The sauce always looks pale before it cooks.

And the mixture has to boil for around 4-5 minutes to break down the flour proteins. Otherwise it will taste odd - 'floury' unsurprisingly! Hope it turned out ok

What a shocking waste of the meat. Really poor OP. It definitely could have been used in something else.

@missmouse101 Trust me I hate waste too and was gutted but it really was a mess.

You could have frozen it in smaller portions and added them to curries etc. Throwing it seems - dramatic. Still, what's done is done (unless salavagable from bin... no, prob not.)