With hearty vegetables and tender cubes of meat, a beef stew seems a simple recipe, when done right. If you visit website, you’ll discover the many variations of preparing this staple dish. All these variants will have your pot simmering away without demanding much attention.
However, handling the dish like a pro is something you can do by avoiding these common flaws:
Beef or Veal?
These are two kinds of meat differing in flavour and tenderness. Veal comes from a younger animal and is naturally tender. However, it has little taste and may leave your taste buds less contended.
On the other hand, beef comes from an older animal and offers rich flavours and taste. Consider cooking at 73 degrees Celsius to make this meat tender.
Choosing the Wrong Cut of Meat
Stew preparation demands that you can skip the leaner varieties of meat and choose the tougher cuts. Beef stew is best prepared with slow cooking, which may leave the lean meat, tough and chewy. Tougher cuts, on the other hand, tend to break down and become incredibly tender.
Braising in Water
Unarguably, a stew is nothing but meat braised in a liquid, along with ingredients like onions, carrots, potatoes, and tomatoes. However, water may not be an ideal choice as the primary liquid for your stew. While the beef stock is preferable, beef broth and veal stock can be substituted as well.
If you are out of ideas, visit this website, and you’ll see that mushroom and vegetable stock options are highly recommended. While water has plentiful uses, it falls short on enriching your stew with delicate flavours. Consider using these alternatives for relishing an incredible depth of flavours in your recipe.
Forgetting to Sear the Meat
Remember, adding raw meat to your broth can be disastrous for your stew preparation. Searing is an essential step in preparing beef stew that builds rich and deep flavours. While browning is necessary, you must take care not to overdo it.
Take the beef cubes in a hot pan and cook until the bottom gets a dark crust. Flip the meat and repeat this procedure on the other side. It may be time-consuming, but you’ll surely appreciate the extra flavourful stew.
One Pan for Meat and Vegetables
A drizzle of olive oil can bring that extra taste to your meat, so it needs to be cooked alone. Always brown it over a high heat that allows the Maillard reaction to set in. This is where your meat takes on a caramelised surface and becomes delicious and aromatic. Avoid turning the beef before the formation of the brown crust.
Overcooking the Veggies
When it comes to simmering, the beef may take over an hour or more to break down and release its taste. However, this does not imply you should cook potatoes and carrots alongside your beef.
Add the veggies 20 minutes before the end of cooking to get the right level of tenderness. Frozen peas will take only a minute to heat through and make a last-minute addition to your stew.
While the beef stew is one of the greatest recipes to savour, it does need a fair amount of cooking time. Hurrying the process will only compromise its delicacy and leave a less-favourable taste in your mouth. Use these tips the next time you are up for cooking some beef stew. You’ll surely be amazed at the improvement.
