Beef stew

[sparklefarts]

Does anyone have a fool proof tasty beef stew recipe?
Anytime I've followed a recipe is ends up a bit bland, but I don't know why!

Jamie Oliver’s ‘Jools’s favourite beef stew’ is dead easy and always works.
If your stew is bland, you probably need to put more salt in it!

Yes - coat the meat in flour then brown the beef in a casserole suitable for use on the hob and in the oven. Take the meat out and put on a plate. Then add some more oil to the pan and cook chopped onion, chunked up carrots and crushed garlic in it until the onion is softened but only lightly browned. Add a tablespoon of tomato puree and cook it for a couple of minutes. Deglaze the pan with a glass of red wine (optional) and beef stock - I use the Knorr Rich Beef concentrate, but fresh stock or Stock Pots are fine. If you don't have beef stock the use chicken or veg stock instead. Put the meat back in and add a bouquet garni sachet if you have them or a couple of bay leaves and some sprigs of thyme. Add salt and pepper - go easy on the salt as the stock already has it. Put the lid on and cook in lowish oven for around three hours or at a low simmer on the hob. I do variations on this in a slow cooker - where I just bung everything in - or in the pressure cooker but let the pressure release naturally or the meat will be tough.

Actually, I lie. He’s changed that recipe and now it is more of a faff. The original was:
Fry onion. Add carrots/other root veg you have lurking. Toss beef if seasoned flour. Add it to the veg (no frying needed!). Cover with liquid - either stock or a bottle of red wine + water if needed. Some dried thyme goes well. I usually chuck in a beef stock cube/stockpot to boost the flavour. Bung in oven for a couple of hours.

Don't put flour on the meat if using a pressure cooker - you need to thicken the sauce after the stew is cooked.

Thanks all!

I have a fair bit of beef so will probably try all ideas

Another variation is to pot roast a piece of brisket. I use the slow cooker for this and put a couple of sticks of celery, a halved onion and a couple of carrots on the bottom, put the beef on top, add wine, stock, herbs and seasoning and cook on low for six to eight hours. The meat will put apart with a fork at the end of the cooking time and you can remove the fat. Use a stick blender to blend the veg with the stock and sieve. Mix the gravy with the meat.

Just make sure you multiply the other ingredients by how much meat you have - so an onion per pack of beef pieces, etc. Stews are often improved by leaving them to cool once cooked and reheating the next day to eat.

Nigella's beef stew with thyme anchovies is a family favourite. You don't taste the anchovies btw, they just make it very rich. I don't use marsala in it as I never have any and i just put in as much red wine as I happen to have. I'll get a link for you

www.nigella.com/recipes/beef-stew-with-anchovies-and-thyme

Thank you! Will let you know how they go

If o have frozen some diced beef as it was purchased on use by date , do you think it'll be ok to cook in the slow cooker once defrosted or do I need to get it to temperature quicker?

It'll be fine cooked in the slow cooker.

I always add sweet potato to beef stew, then once it’s cooked mush it up into the gravy.... it makes it lovely and thick and tasty 😋

I always keep individual portions of wine (around 100-150 ml) in the freezer for this sort of thing.

This is the nicest beef stew I've made so far pinchofnom.com/recipes/cumberland-pie/ . You obviously don't have to bake it as a pie, and I just use normal oil and cheese rather than the low fat alternatives the recipe suggests. I suspect the reason it tastes so good is the beef stock pots rather than cubes.