Right. I need your best beef stew recipe

[tethersend]

Please

I have the French in laws coming, and I've run out of things to cook. I think they'd love a traditional English beef stew and dumplings, but I've never made one as I don't like beef very much.

Can anyone share their recipe? Beer or no beer? I'm a fairly confident cook, but have never used beef before, so any help appreciated

I've made loads of different ones over the years.

Our favourite is delia smiths braised steak au pouvire in red wine (or something similar!). Google it, it's online. Make the day before and reheat. Tis simple and there cannot be a more delicious beef stew recipe, in our opinion.

I love chilli, but the in laws cannot handle anything spicy at all on account of their delicate French palettes Wimps

I don't put beer in mine as I don't like it with beer. My best tip is a good dollop of Dijon mustard. And you need flavoursome root vegetables to get the lovely rich flavours. Oddly, butter can give it a lovely flavour if you use that instead of oil to brown the vegetables. I use a bit of stock but mostly the veg, and some dried herbs and salt and pepper to flavour it.

I've just made one actually with a tip from an American site which was to make a roux with some fried onions, add butter, add flour to the butter so it makes a paste and add beef stock. That was delicious - where I got the butter tip!

Get a tough cut of beef. Stewing steak is perfect. The "nicer" bits will go all dry.

I like to serve over baked potatoes or with mashed potato as the ultimate comfort food, but DH prefers to have the sliced potatoes in the stew and then he just eats it out of a bowl with some sliced bread and butter (crusty rolls or tiger bread would be nice.) I wouldn't do mash and dumplings, but dumplings and a roll each would work.

Oh and lots of garlic and the onions are important too!

Good tip, Bertie- which vegetables do you use?

It's the browning of the meat which will give it flavour. Worth investing the time to do it in batches so that it doesn't just swat in the pan.

I add flour after it has browned.

Sweat not swat.

No flies required.

Well, I think to be on the safe side use stewing steak- its what I always used for years -it won't take so long to cook for a first attempt -shin of beef is brilliant, but if not careful it can be a bit tough, and it is for the in laws I see. Any good butcher will cut it up for you. Make sure it has some fat marbling through it- you don't want it too lean when you slow cook. If you are doing stew, then the veg are already in, but I always serve fresh veg with it -usually green for a contrast, depending on season ( I grow my own veg) so at the moment, it would be steamed broccoli. And sad to say, I always make mashed potato to soak up any spare gravy. . Cogitos recipe is great- I normally also use a dash of worcester sauce and mushroom ketchup as well. And if you have it to hand, a dessertspoon of oyster sauce really adds oomph!

Marking place. Beef stew tomorrow but which recipe to choose??!!! Thanks

I just go to the supermarket and grab whatever looks good. What I've found work well are turnip, swede, carrots (orange and purple variety, although they taste basically the same), the purple will give the gravy a purple tint which can look odd.) Parsnips, celeriac, pumpkin (not the watery carving ones), butternut squash, sweet potato, mushrooms, green leafy stuff including the green leaves from cauliflower, although you might want to keep the greens for fresh as agoodbook says, for the contrast.

I have browned and not browned and it doesn't seem to make a difference IME, especially if you slow cook. But it does taste odd if you essentially end up boiling the meat unless you leave it for a really long time - then it doesn't matter because it dissolves so much that the flavour gets into the whole dish anyway.

Oh and if you get to the end and it's too salty, or the flavour is too strong or it's really thin, that's a good time to add potatoes. You can thicken with potato if you peel and cube them and basically boil them soft in the liquid, then stir it enough so that they all break up into it. If you use pumpkin be careful because that can get very soft and mushy/pureed as well and end up thickening it. It depends what you like.

I did it without coating in flour and it was do tasty I can't wait to make it again

I use beef skirt, it just falls apart. Delicious. If you have a Morrisons, they stock it.

You can't go wrong with Jamie's recipe (except I'd use about 300ml ale as it can be a tad thin)

here

Tits mine was too thick however I do think I left on too large a ring

Or maybe cause I cooked the dumpling after the cooking time next time would add them before it's finished.

I usually start mine on the hob then stick it in the oven. It's the only one my children will eat and then ask for more.

When you buy something labelled as 'stewing steak' it's usually a catch-all for various cheap forequarter cuts like shin, brisket, clod and skirt. I personally like shin or brisket for slow cooking because it's nicely marbled without big lumps of fat. Beef cut chart below...

Shin is very good for slow cooking. As Cog says, stewing steak can be anything, so you may find some of the bits aren't cooked to the same degree. Skirt is one of my favourites as it cooks in about two hours, but have also discovered ox cheek which takes about four hours but tastes wonderful. Waitrose sells them, though I get mine from a catering butcher.

If at the end you find the gravy is runny, remove the meat and then reduce the gravy till it's thick and glossy. This gives it a lovely intense flavour which should impress your in-laws. If it's too sweet from all the root veggies at this stage you can add some Worcester sauce to sharpen it up a little.

I am liking the idea of a suet pastry top.

I always use shin, stout, onions, carrots, celery, garlic. A bay leaf or two, Worcester sauce, a stock cube, a tablespoon of tomato puree, and a dash of dark soy.

Right, so I think I'll ask the butcher for skirt or shin... How much will I need for six (four adults, two kids)?

I would do Jamie's recipe, but I'm a bit doubtful at the addition of a tin of tomatoes... I wanted a thick, traditional, gravy-like sauce and am thinking tomatoes won't add to that.

So, I'll brown the meat in batches, fry off the vegetables (or just the onion?), add butter, stir in flour/cornflour, add (tomato purée?) Guinness, stock, herbs. Cover, cook on the hob for 2-3 hours. Add dumplings, put whole thing in oven until they're done.

Does that sound right? Should I do it today or tomorrow? It's for tomorrow's dinner.

Do it today. It is so much better when left and then reheated.

I suppose it will allow me to get something else if I fuck it up, too

Does my plan sound ok Norma? Would you change anything?

Shin beef all the way! Just tell the butcher how many you are feeding and he should be able to tell you how much you need. I would probs say a pound and a half?

Put it in the oven for 3 hours rather than the hob. You want a really long, gently simmer and hobs can be a bit temperamental at keeping a steady low temperature.

Also... if you've not done this before.... before you add the dumplings, check that the beef is cooked. The meat should be succulent, tender and you should be able to cut it with a spoon. Any chewiness and it needs longer in the pot.