How to flavour stew

[Stillmonday]

I know it's bad but I normally add 8 oxo cubes to a large beef stew which serves 6 people.
How would you season without t make more healthy? I'm worried about the salt content but it doesn't taste as nice without :/

New recipe discovered this week.
Brown 2 kilos beef shin
add six onions, 2tsp caraway seed and 8 allspice berries. Stir around and dry for a few minutes.

Cover and cook until the meat is tender (about 2 1/2 hours)
Meanwhile cook two tbsp tomato puree with 2 tsp brown sugar and two cans tomatoes until you have a thick sauce
When the meat and onions are ready, add the sauce to the pan together with a small bunch of chopped coriander and a small bunch of torn up basil and 4-6 cloves finely chopped garlic
Cook for only a few more minutes and season with salt and pepper

Best stew recipe I have come across. I may add some carrots next time

Onions should be sliced or chopped, obviously

Chuck a bouquet garni in and let it simmer, you'll get plenty of flavour from the herbs in that. At the moment you're pretty much serving gravy.

Using the same ingredients as you already use, minus that much oxo and plus a few flavour things.

Brown the meat in some oil, add to slow cooker, with a handful of pearl barley or red lentils if you are gluten free (this thickens the gravy).
In same pan with a little more oil fry the onions until they are soft and start to colour. Add a crushed clove of garlic and the celery, fry a little more. If your lot eat mushrooms, add a couple of big open ones.
Add a sprinkle of celery salt, 2tsp of paprika and the rest of the veg, give it a good stir. Add a tin of tomatoes and a tin (possibly two) of water (you could use a tin of french onion soup, but don't add celery salt with it).
Transfer to slow cooker. Add 2 oxo (don't cry), a big sprinkle of mixed herbs, 2tbs of balsamic vinegar, splash of Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, pepper and 1 tsp of brown sugar.
Do not add too much water, it is fine for veggies to stick out of the juice and steam.
Ten mins before serving, stir and taste. Add fresh herbs and finely sliced spring onions, this adds a bit of fresh taste. Adjust with salt (you can add one more oxo if you must), lemon juice perks things up, with that much veg a little sugar or redcurrant jelly will work wonders. Dark soy sauce also helps with the unami taste .

Good luck.

If you added Marmite at least you’d get a few B vitamins

I like to make gulash which is a kind of beef stew.
so it's onion carrot paprika powder chilli powder oregano
beef
passata
lentils
slow cooked
I often add lentils for extra veg (red ones dissolve to thicken sauce)

salt & more chilli to taste at the end

Sounds like it is mostly a veg stew, with a tiny bit of meat. So you'd never get the rich stew flavour.

I brown meat in butter (quite a lot of butter)and add beefstock (1 or 2 cubes) lots of onion, garlic, thyme, black pepper and a whole bottle of wine and leave for 4-5 hours.

So I guess your stew is still miles healthier

Try doing it in the oven rather than the slow cooker.

Brown the meat.

Add umani (anchovy in my case)

Use fresh herbs. I like rosemary and sage.

Add 2 oxo (don't cry),

lol

10thingsdailymail is the on the money with her recipe bloody Nora a full bottle of wine

I'm doing a stew on Tuesday so I'm going to cut right down to 2 oxos and try adding Worcestershire sauce & red lentils.

It goes in the slow cooker while I'm out so can't do in the oven. I'll bung a load of herbs in too - wish me luck!!

I'm flabbergasted. Not at the 8 oxo cubes but that you don't use any herbs or aromatics at all. Bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, some garlic...

Spices? Try garam masala, cumin, a bay leaf. Or try some Dijon mustard, I put 1 oxo cube in a Shepard's pie and can definitely taste it!

Or paprika and garlic and a bit of chilli, makes a goulash flavour, very nice.

Eight?! That's insane

I use garlic onions one beef stock pot a few bay leaves and worcestershire sauce

If you properly brown the meat and onions you barely need anything beyond salt and pepper for a basic stew. You'd also get better results if you slow cook it in the oven instead of the slow cooker.

How much water are you putting in with it? Slow cooker needs loads less, so if you’re adding lots it will dilute the flavour. You only need enough to not even cover what’s in there.

Let us know how you get on..

Eight?? Wow
The most ive ever needed 3 and that fed 12.
I had a friend who used to add a tin of oxtail soup to beef stew and that was very tasty.

balsamic vinegar.
mamite
worcestishire sauce.
brown sauce
tom puree
jar of dolmio
pinch of smoked paprika
garlic
fenugreek

It was awful! I put a teaspoon of extra hot chilli powder in it which ruined it, plus too much water!

I'll try again next week :/

How about cooking it in fruit juice or non-alcoholic beer?

You need home made beef stock.

www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_beef_stock/

Sorry it was rubbish SM

Well those red lentils won't have added anything flavourwise.