Help me fix my beef stew!

[Legoleia]

I cooked it last night for 2 hours, casserole veg, stock, pearl barley and loads and loads of veg...

...but it tastes yuk! dark, and a bit bitter.

So what went wrong, and is it too late?

HEEEEEELP!!!!!!

you prolly need to cook it for longer.
when i do the exact same ingreds, put all in raw except pearl barley, cook for 5 hours (keep adding water/stock/tinned toms) then add pearl barley and cook for 2 more hours.

Thanks LJA! It's kill or cure, so think I will whack it back in for another go with some tomatoes!

OOps, I meant casserole beef, btw!

lol, i assumed that's what you meant.
the longer you cook a cass, the better imo.
esp when using stewing beef as it needs a long time to be soft and tender.

have you added any salt? That usually helps bring the flavour out. What about other flavourings like garlic, herbs, black pepper, worcestershire sauce, some marmite? Did you add onions? If not you could sautee some up till they are caramelised and add them.

Too late now if you didn't but did you brown the meat first in some butter or oil? The browned fried meat gives a much richer taste.

You could try adding redcurrant jelly. I often shove a dollop in. And was there enough fluid in as all of the veg and pearl barley will have soaked loads up. Good luck...

or a squeeze of tom sauce (sounds gross but it works!)

my guess is that the some of the veg got burned on the bottom (not enought liquid/too high a heat). You could either try to cover the flavour up and follow some of the suggestions of other posters OR take out the meat and the veg that are not burned and make a new gravy
v.gently fry onions in butter til soft and transulent (about 20mins) Then add some other veg finely chopped (if you have any left). Fry until veg are just starting to brown. Then add a dollop of tom pure and fry off. Lastly add liquid (gravy granules and/or red wine)

red wine, tomato puree,garlic and beef stock rather than veg stock.

Hi everyone and thanks for your top tips!

I did use onions, and browned the beef off first, I did use tomato puree, garlic and a dash of worcester sauce - think I will go with more liquid and in for another round! Hope it works!

Thanks for responses!