How do I make my beef stew tasty

[ouch321]

Tried making beef stew and dumplings in my slow cooker crockpot. But it comes out a bit bland.
Do you have suggestions to improve?

Currently...

• sliced carrot
• diced beef
• sliced onion
• dissolved stock cube/s

Left on slow for c8 hours and then I put the dumplings in for an hour or less at the end.

It just tastes a bit bland at the end.

What would make it better?

Brown the meat and onions properly first.

Mixed herbs, white pepper, beef stock, english mustard.

I second the red wine suggestion as well as using herbs- a bay leaf, some thyme and rosemary. Not just any red, go for a full bodied Burgundy or Merlot. I don’t brown the meat myself, instead I start the meat five hours before the scheduled dinner time and let it cook alone with the wine and herbs. Then I add the veg in at the 90 minute before dinner mark. I also tend to use more veg than just carrot and onion! That is boring. Experiment with adding any of the following: potatoes, parsnip, swede, turnip, radish, Pearl barley, mushrooms, savoy cabbage, etc. Just mixing and matching different veg will mean you can have several different beef stews with completely different tastes. I also do not use gravy granules...ugh...that ruins the taste imho. I’ll thicken it with corn flour or plain flour.

If you want an Irish beef stew then pour in 4oz Guinness stout at the end when you thicken it. (No wine in Irish stew obviously)

For a variation from dumplings, consider making cheese scones or having a loaf of crusty peasant bread as a side instead now and then.

Couple of spoonfuls of Chinese black bean sauce - trust me it was a taste revelation & I've never looked back!

I add herbs (or sometimes a dollop of pesto), garlic paste and a tin of tomatoes to mine. Sometimes I also add Worcester or tobasco sauce plus some tomato purée. My mum also adds tea spoonful of marmite and Same of mustard powder to hers (she doesn’t add tomatoes though). Today I’ve Also iced potato, cabbage, swede and grated a courgette as I didn’t have flour or onion to thicken.

Sounds weird but pickled silverskin onions give a lovely taste too.

Marmite, soy sauce, little pearl onions (frozen are fine). Make herb dumplings (mix in parsley, thyme, etc with dry ingredients).

Tablespoon black treacle

Mustard powder mixed with flour. Coat meat in this and brown it.

Other good options to add deeper flavour - soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, red wine, tomato puree or can of tomatoes, more stock...

Sweet potato does go well but I would serve with rather than adding to the stew

Another vote for pickled silver skin onions - rinse to get the really salty vinegar off a bit, then bung in along side a good glug of red wine, & a few anchovies - they melt in but add lots of umami. & definitely sear the beef first - you want it looking almost burned on the outside but still raw inside. Use a reasonably fatty cut. Anything lean will be quite bland.

If in doubt, mushroom soy sauce - but check for saltiness first.

I always fry off the meat first, caramelise the onions, add garlic and fry off the tomato puree.

I add chopped celery, swede, carrots, teaspoon of marmite and salt and black pepper.

I add grated cheese and a pinch of mustard to my dumplings.

I don't brown the meat first. But you need more salt than just stock, herbs, enough stock for the water and some acid. Tinned tomatoes/tomato puree, wine, beer, mustard or worcestershire sauce, there's your acid.

DH adds bisto granules at the end to thicken the sauce up as well.

Wine, balsamic, herbs, Worcestershire/soy sauce. All or any.

Guinness

Just as everyone else says - slow cookers need things browning first, and also need only a small amount of liquid because it doesn’t get hot enough to reduce. I made a cracking stew in mine today:

Soften onion, brown beef, add garlic, mixed herbs, chopped mushrooms (finely chopped because the kids don’t like them but they cook down and give deep flavour), sprinkle pan with plain flour and allow to cook through (this will thicken the gravy), then a good glug of red wine, add carrots, celery, knorr rich beef stock jelly thing, squeeze of tomato purée. Add some water, but not too much. You’re looking for it to be a thin gravy. Heat through and transfer to preheated slow cooker (high). Add in some soup/casserole dried pulse mix (split peas, barley etc). Leave for 3-4 hours checking occasionally. Can be served with all manner of things: mash/roasties, rice, bread, or put into a pie

Thyme/rosemary
Mustard (2 tsp approx)
Tomato purée (really good squirt)

Always sprinkle flour on meat and brown in a pan before slow cooking. Increases flavour and the flour will also thicken the sauce.

Garlic

Can't believe no one has mentioned sugar! A heaped teaspoon is a game changer. Also a tin of tomatoes, a shlosh of worcestershire sauce and red wine.

Also, you need to fry everything in butter, not oil

A decent stout or cheap red wine
Several onions chopped finely and cooked slowly to point of being almost melted.
Leeks.
Pearl barley
Pickled walnuts
Herbs in dumplings
Tomato purée and mushroom ketchup.
Worcestershire sauce
A dollop of horseradish.

Not all at once necessarily.

There's several things you can add -

Worcestershire sauce
Mushroom ketchup
Stock pot
Bovril
Marmite

And strange as it might sound a tablespoon of cocoa powder! A friend who is an amazing cook also swears by adding a teaspoon of coffee!

Hendersons relish, tomato ketchup, herbs, garlic, gravy granules.

Probably unhealthy and definitely cheating but the tastiest slow cooker meals have always involved the packet powder mixes made specifically for slow cookers🙂

Bay leaves. I also like mushrooms in mine.

I always add chunks of sweet potato and then at the end I use a fork to quickly mash them and give the whole thing a good stir. This helps to thicken the casserole as well as adding lovely flavour.

bay leaf or bouquet Garni (bunch of appropriate herbs)