Do you have to sear meat for a stew or casserole?

[christiana]

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you don't have to, no.
I usually do but it's quicker just to chuck everything in the casserole dish and bung it in the oven.

I never bother.

Some people swear by it others swear by not doing it.

Try it and see which you prefer. Any imagined difference is minimal anyway.

I must admit I always brown the meat first. I roll it in seasoned flour first and then brown it. It is slow work but the added flour makes the end result a bit thicker IMO.

We are having a beef stew tomorrow so I shall be doing this later

If you dont brown the meat please report back on your findings.

i add the flour at the end of browning it but you can just mix some flour with a little water to make a paste and drop it into the casserole dish of meat/veg instead if you're not searing meat first.

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I never brown the meat anymore, not since I discovered a Jamie Oliver recipe called 'Jool's Favourite Beef Stew'. I don't even know why you're supposed to brown it first but this way certainly saves time. Easy peasy.

They do say browning it first is supposed to helo with flavours but TBH if you have got a nice flavoured seasoned gravy/sauce that you are cooking it in for several hours it doesn't make much difference as the meat will pick up all thos flavours.

Somtimes you are better off browning as well because if the meat is wuite fatty it gets rid of a fair bit of it but generally I do it now through sheer habit than anything else.

Yes, they do say browning helps with the flavour as it seals it in but have also read that when making a casserole it's best not to brown as you want the flavour in the whole dish. So, sometimes I do brown and sometimes I don't, it depends how I feel but I must say that I find the meat is more tender after casseroling if it hasn't been browned.

my grandma never seared the meat, it was a wartime thing as they thought it shrunk already scarce resources. so neither did my mother and neither do i. dh does, it makes a blasted mess of the kitchen and the hob and no discernible difference to the stew.

i never do now i used to but i cook it for hours anyway and flavours taste just the same so no i dont bother now

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This is all very interesting.

I always do this - the flour and then brown the meat.

So better without? I'm curious - Did it look/taste any different? Did you still have to thicken up the gravy at all?

I usually soften any onions I'm using at the same time otherwise they'd just seem sort of boiled. Or at least that what I assumed they'd be like.

HURRAAAAAAY!

now if you could just convince my dh of this...

i sear or fry nothing. i just bung everything in a pot with stock and a spoonful of flour and whack it in the overn for a coupoe of hours.

adding wine is never a bad thing

you have to soften the onions and veg imo, nothing worse than a boiled onion.

not if it has been simmered in wine/beer[ grin]

still no, i'm afraid. something to do with the cell structure. you need to pop the cell wall with a bit of zingy heat and no liquid, rather than let cell expand with liquid. or so heston blumenthal told me.

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i feel as if you should've said "here comes the science" before your last post Aitch

lol, except of course that i only have the very haziest idea of it.

Stopped searing after the Delia Cheat discovery Christiana - have been unable to tell the difference and saves on washing up