What can i add to my beef casserole to make it tastier?

[Jojay]

I'm making a beef casserole with onions, carrots, celery, potato and mushrooms.

I make the sauce from beef stock and tomato puree and add a bay leaf and some mixed herbs, and seasoning.

The sauce can tast a bit bland and watery. What else can I add to made it richer?

I am so going to cook stew and dumplings for dinner now, so thanks for inspiratyion!

My mum's stews and gravy etc are always so tasty and she swears by putting in an EXTRA Oxo. Also red wine would work very well - I always put it in spag bol, as well as a bit of worcester sauce.

You haven't mentioned garlic - we put that in anything. Just put a clove in if you don't want too much of a garlic taste, it will just give it flavour. And put more or less double the tomato puree the recipe says to put in. Same applies to the herbs. And put 2 bayleaves in, not 1.

I second whoever said flour the beef before browning - that would thicken it up a bit. Or you could do one of those flour and water pastes at the end and put it in to thicken it up. Or cornflour.

In fact if you do all of the above, including using everyone else's suggestions, you will have a lovely tasty sauce!

Marmite/ Lea and Perrins

For some reason i can never get the vegetarian suet to work in dumplings. has to be the beef suet.

I always do beef casserole with red wine

I would add one or more of the following: marmite, worcester sauce, mustard, stock powder, lots of black pepper.

Horseradish in the dumpling mix is lovely.

I add bacon bits to the frying onion.

And celeriac if I have any.

And Suet Dumplings with parsley in them..

Mmmmmm!

Well it's sitting in the slow cooker now bubbling away, and I'm taking it over to FIL tomorrow night as he is on his own while MIL has a routine op.

Not that I'm competitive or anything but it HAS to be better than hers!! (and hers is pretty good!)

little bit of mustard gives it some oomph and either flour or gravy granules to thicken

Anchovies are fab with anything, especially stew. Just pop them in when you saute the onions. It doesn't taste at all fishy (my DH hates anchovies and loves this sauce).

Or else guiness is fab, if you haven't any red wine?

Did one just before xmas and it tasted very bland, my brother had bought around some pickled walnuts which I have never really thought anything about but added some to the dish and it really made it yummy. Odd but delicious!

Always better a day or so later too.
Good soy (Kikkoman) livens up a meaty dish.
Better than stock cubes which provide thar bland glutinous saltiness.

Horseradish sauce

I always put in Pickled onions. I thought my MIL was crazy but it works

a star anise (it might disintegrate so warn people if you can't find it) -obv take it out after

a tip from heston blumenthal - he does it with spag bol i think - but makes beef taste marvellous!

Aromat!!

i add red wine
some gravey browning
and an oxo cube! yum!

i would add smoked paprika for a bit of a kick

if you add cream you make it a bit more like a stroganoff

i also like adding a dash of mushroom ketchup to oomph up the mushroom flavour - in italy you can get porcini/mushroom stock cubes as well and they do the same job.

red wine and anchovies

oh a spoonful of marmite also can help though not with the cream added recipe

Guiness or ale

Red wine

Tin of pureed chestnuts

Tin of tomato soup

Season the beef and toss in flour before browning it. Add tomato puree and cook off for 1 minute, add a cup of wine and reduce, add stock and a tin of chopped tomato. I also let it cook in the oven for 3 hours.
Just made this yesterday and it got a universal thumbs up from the kids.

guinessor brown ale

hth

oh and a dollop of marmite (only don't telldh - he HATES it but loves my guiness stew )

A 2" piece of orange peel.

red wine
dash of oyster sauce