what is the best cut of beef for slow cooking?

[MooMinCow]

really fancy a beef stew this week, but everytime I've made one in the slow cooker it's come out dry and chewy. I normally buy the stewing steak/beef from the supermarket and cook on low for 6-8 hours - am I using the wrong cut? have tried marinating, browning, not browning, but still not tender! (have no problem with lamb, curry comes out lovely!)

Am prepared to go to a butcher if it means my stew is tender enough to eat with spoon (dribble).

We had a yummy beef stew cooked in the slow cooker today. It was 2/3 stewing steak and 1/3 skirt (not sure what the difference is). I coated it in flour and browned it first. It was delicious and not a bit dry. Drool. And enough left over for tomorrow

shin beef from a proper butcher-it has fat marbled through it so cooks properly. Supermarket beef is usually much too lean

Brisket pot-roast (with root vegs but NO LIQUID)

Tanfastic.

If you have that, snice, does it not taste fatty?

You are coking it for too long. 4 to a max of 6 hours.

I'd say brisket too. I cut the fat out though and cook with tomatoes and red wine as a basic, if I want a different flavour I'll add cumin & chilli for a spicy mexican (ok I know cumin isn't exactly mexican but it goes great with lime) or basil at the end for an italian taste.

Should have added I cook on low in a slow cooker for c8-11 hours depending on length of working day.

no not fatty-it doesn't have big chunks of fat just marbling

Shin of beef, definitely.

Unfortunately the supermarkets rarely label the meat in terms of where it comes from, so you will see 'braising' or 'stewing' steak. Stewing steak is what you want. If it's shin, you should be able to see the piece - it is in a round, with the fat around the outside, as if it were a cross-section through the leg.

You only need to trim the fat off the outside.

It will cook beautifully if you cook it slowly, and the meat itself will remain tender and moist. If you use a lower fat meat (like braising steak) it will be quite dry when you have cooked it.

ok thanks everyone - off to search for shin or brisket tomorrow.

out of interest what are your opinions on browning Vs not browning meat? is it worth doing?

pot-roast cooked without liquid, the fat cooks out and some of it burns away. You can also pour off any excess that you don't need for the gravy.

p.s. browning does improve the flavour, if you are slow-cooking it will not brown otherwise. I brown the onions and other roots as well when doing a pot.

Depends on what finish you want on the meat. With my brisket I don't cut it up I cook it in one or 2 solid blocks and shred at the end in the juice as I generally like to eat it in tortillas or with spaghetti.

If i'm doing a casserole the browning does add a nice flavour and keeps the pieces in a lump form.

Browning means a degree of caramelisation, which adds more flavour. If you're using a slow cooker, brown the onions as well as the meat before you put them into the SC.

yy to brisket! Goes like a tough old boot at first and then suddenly melts into the most tender meat ever after about 8 hours slow cooking. Heavenly! And it's a really cheap cut, too! :)

I always flour then brown before slow cooking it.

Definitely shin or skirt - yum!

I bought some skirt from Waitrose last week (butchers counter) and used it in a meat pie, was really really delicious.

you're making me feel hungry...

sometimes I do a whole brisket, which is quite a big piece and might feed 8. I usually do the no-added-liquid recipe, I tried a Delia recipe which was wet, and it came out tasting like an ordinary casserole, took much much longer to cook, and was not as tender.

The roots and onions are overdone by the time the meat is perfect, so I whiz them up to add to the gravy, and cook a separate batch of vegs.

Find a decent beef producer in the area. Supermarket even Waitrose isnt up to par with me. To get good beef you need to obtain it from a pedigree animal such as longhorn, angus, hereford etc. It needs to be aged (hung, matured). Good marbeling too which you only get from beef animals that are traditionally breed outside (not store cattle).

A small producer will produce beef that is far superior to lots of these on the net - these animals are stuffed on grain, the maturing of the animal needs to be slowww. The best beef comes from around 30 months and plus.

There must be a farmers market or local producer on your door step?

has anyone cooked oxtail in the slow cooker?

bacon Mon 31-Oct-11 11:08:25
"Find a decent beef producer in the area."

I'm sure you're right for steaks and roasting joints

But slow cooking is intended for poor-quality cuts, so I'm not convinced it matters here. Peasant food like coq au vin, hotpot, irish stew, pot roast are designed to use up the cheap stuff.

right, found butcher and come home with a kilo of shin (nicely cut & trimmed by jolly man in apron )

was planning to cook on Wednesday - am I better off freezing it?

Will be ok in the fridge until Wednesday.

Lulumama , yes my Mum always cooks her oxtails in the slow cooker. It comes out fantabolissimos [hsmile]

I cook ox heart in the slow cooker just tell the family it's "beef" and it comes out deliciously tender and juicy and lovely. It's dead cheap too, so we can have a stew bursting with meat instead of having to count out three peices each and fish for them

Shin or oxtail but it needs cooking reeeeaaaaly slow. Over 3 hours on a low temp in a covered crock pot sealed with foil in the oven if possible