Can I Sub Chicken for Beef Stew

How To Make the Best Beefiness Stew from Scratch

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(Image credit: Lauren Volo)

Like a skillful chili or chicken noodle soup, homemade beef stew is one of those dishes that is only skilful to accept in your back pocket. Information technology's a dish that will serve you well through long winters and family visits and other pocket-size moments of need. Making i isn't hard and will surely nourish y'all through several meals. Hither's my tried-and-true method for making a very good beef stew.

(Prototype credit: Lauren Volo)

There are a few non-negotiable steps to making a beef stew. First, you lot must sear the meat. Truly sear. Getting the sides chocolate-brown isn't the same. You demand to lay the cubes in a hot pan and let them sizzle for a good five minutes before nudging them. When the bottoms take a dark crust and come away easily from the pan, and so you can move on with the other sides.

A "fond," a.k.a. sticky nighttime glaze, volition start to form on the lesser of the pan every bit you proceed searing your meat in batches. This fond is the source of the stew'due south corking magic. Information technology's full of caramelly, roasty, and nutty flavors that will make y'all swoon when you gustation the final dish.

The second non-negotiable is fourth dimension. Chuck meat is a hard working musculus and it takes a good long stretch of cooking for information technology to go tender. Rush things too quickly and your beef will be tough and chewy. Melt information technology low and deadening for at to the lowest degree two hours, and fork-tender meat will be your reward.

There are besides a few aspects to my version of beef stew that you might find controversial. I use chicken stock instead of beef stock, and accept done then ever since an commodity of Cook's Illustrated gave me permission years ago. I always constitute that beef stock gave soups and stews an oddly tinny flavor, and the proficient folks at Cook's Illustrated agreed with me. Unless you lot actually make your own beefiness stock (a whole different animal from the canned diverseness), I recommend using chicken stock. Try information technology; I bet y'all'll like information technology.

(Prototype credit: Lauren Volo)

I likewise look to add together my potatoes and carrots until halfway through cooking. There is nothing I hate more than mushy carrots, so I try to time their perfect moment of doneness with the stew meat.

For seasonings, I like Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and a skilful red vino. I've also used a dark beer in place of the wine and been very happy with the results. You lot can certainly play with your ain favorite seasonings, but I would recommend keeping them fairly elementary. If y'all've seared your meat well and cooked information technology long enough, the stew can really stand on its own without much else.

I know this is one version of beef stew, though I'll confess that I think it'due south a particularly good one. How practice you like to make your stew? What do yous do differently?

• dairy-costless
• egg-free
• peanut-gratuitous
• soy-gratis
• tree-nut-complimentary
• shellfish-free
• pork-gratis

Per serving, based on

8

servings. (% daily value)

• Calories 476
• Fatty 15.9 one thousand (24.5%)
• Saturated 4.9 m (24.half dozen%)
• Carbs 33.2 g (xi.1%)
• Cobweb 4.8 chiliad (19.3%)
• Sugars vi.8 yard
• Poly peptide 49.1 chiliad (98.three%)
• Sodium 1240.7 mg (51.seven%)

Ingredients

• 3-4 pounds

  beef chuck roast

• 1-3 tablespoons

  vegetable oil, divided

• ii

  medium onions, diced

• 3

  celery stalks, diced

• 2 cloves

  garlic, minced

• two tablespoons

  lycopersicon esculentum paste

• 2 tablespoons

  Worcestershire, divided

• 1 teaspoon

  salt

• 3 tablespoons

  all-purpose flour

• one cup

  red vino or amber beer, plus extra to stop

• 3 sprigs

  fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dried

• i

  bay leaf

• 4 cups

  chicken stock

• 3

  carrots, diced

• 1 ½ pounds

  red bliss potatoes, cubed

• 1 loving cup

  frozen peas

• Common salt and pepper

Equipment

• A large Dutch oven or soup pot

• Sturdy wooden spoon

Instructions

1. Cube the beef. Trim off any large pieces of fat from the exterior of the roast, then cut it into small bite-sized cubes. This is nearly easily done if you cut the roast into slices, each slice into strips, and so the strips into cubes. Use a sharp knife and don't forget to keep your fingers out of the way and your pollex tucked in every bit you're slicing through the meat.

2. Warm the pot and begin searing the meat. Set a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium-high estrus and film the bottom with oil. When hot plenty that a drop of water sizzles off the surface, work in batches to sear the beefiness. Add a single layer of beef cubes to the pan, beingness careful non to crowd the cubes too closely, and sprinkle them generously with salt and pepper.

3. Keep searing all the meat. Permit the cubes of beef melt undisturbed for 4-5 minutes, until the undersides develop a dark brown crust and come up away easily from the pan. Toss and proceed searing on all sides, another 4-5 minutes. Transfer the seared meat to a clean bowl and continue searing the remaining meat in batches. Add together another teaspoon or two of oil between batches if the pan looks dry out.

4. Watch for the "addicted," a.chiliad.a. sticky dark coat, to form: A sticky dark glaze will start to form on the bottom of the pan. This is technically called "the fond," and it is a major source of deep, caramelized flavour in your stew. We'll get back to it in a few more steps. However, if at any time you lot remember the crust smells smoky or is starting to fire, dissolve it with a few tablespoons of h2o and pour over the seared beef.

5. Cook the vegetables. In one case all the meat has been seared and transfered out of the pan, cook the vegetables. Reduce the heat to medium and warm another teaspoon of oil. Add the onions and celery, and cook until the onions are softened and translucent, 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato paste, salt, and one tablespoons of the Worcestershire sauce to glaze.

6. Add the flour. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables. Stir until there is no more than visible flour and the veggies look slightly mushy from the flour coating.

7. Deglaze the pan with the wine. Raise the rut back up to medium-high and cascade in the vino. The wine should immediately start bubbles and steaming. Scrape the pasty fond from the bottom of the pan; the wine will help information technology to dissolve. Proceed scraping and stirring until the wine has reduced and thicken slightly.

8. Return the meat to the pan and add the broth. Return the seared meat to the pan and add the whole thyme sprigs, the bay foliage, and the broth. Stir to combine.

9. Cover and cook for one ane/2 hours. Bring the goop to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low. Encompass the pot and simmer for i ane/ii hours. Stir occasionally. Make certain the stew stays at a very low simmer. (Alternatively, encounter Additional Notes for oven version.)

10. Add the potatoes and carrots. Add the potatoes and carrots to the stew. Encompass the pot again and go along cooking for another 45-60 minutes. When done, the meat should be tender enough to flake apart with a fork and the potatoes cooked through. If not, re-cover and melt in additional xv minute increments until cooked.

11. Add the peas and remaining seasonings. Stir the frozen peas into the stew. Add the remaining tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and a splash of carmine wine. Remove the thyme stems and bay leafage. Taste and add actress salt, pepper, or other seasonings every bit y'all run into fit. The stew can exist served right abroad, refrigerated for upwards to a week, or frozen for up to three months.

Recipe Notes

Oven directions: Preheat the oven to 300°F. Once the broth has been added, bring the stew to a simmer, encompass, and cook in the oven. Cooking times are the aforementioned.

Emma Christensen

Correspondent

Emma is a sometime editor for The Kitchn and a graduate of the Cambridge School for Culinary Arts. She is the author of Truthful Brews and Brew Improve Beer. Check out her website for more cooking stories.

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Source: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-a-very-good-beef-stew-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-184050

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