Requesting help with beef & mushroom stew...

This is from a recipe I use:

4 pound chuck roast for the beef
1 TB of tomato paste
2 cups good red wine (Côtes du Rhône or Pinot Noir)
2 cups chicken broth

There's a lot of other stuff going on (garlic, onions, anchovies, etc) and this is done in a Dutch oven in the oven (which I do think is a better option), but the concept is the same.

Let me know if you want the entire recipe posted, and I'll add it. I've made it a few times, and it's a good one.

TastyReuben brings up a good tip for overall cooking. It is perfectly okay to use chicken broth with beef or pork. It sometimes actually tastes better that way. Nobody will know you used chicken stock, but they will notice your food tastes good.

BTW, I mentioned Better than Bouillon in my previous post. You should have a jar of both chicken and beef in your fridge at all times. You can have a pretty good stock in minutes whenever you need it.

CD
 
TastyReuben brings up a good tip for overall cooking. It is perfectly okay to use chicken broth with beef or pork. It sometimes actually tastes better that way. Nobody will know you used chicken stock, but they will notice your food tastes good.

BTW, I mentioned Better than Bouillon in my previous post. You should have a jar of both chicken and beef in your fridge at all times. You can have a pretty good stock in minutes whenever you need it.

CD
Agreed. I can't remember where I read/saw it (maybe SeriousEats) but apparently, yer basic canned beef broth is really a food lab-created concoction with little to no actual beef contents, and that you're almost always better off substituting canned chicken broth for canned beef broth, assuming you don't have homemade.

I also have the "Better Than..." options in my fridge. They're extremely sticky, but they do a good job. Another tip I picked up: depending on the dish, substitute powdered/cubed stock for some/all of the salt, since they're extremely salty on their own. It adds a little flavor boost. I'll also sprinkle the powdered stuff on veggies once they're done.
 
This is a truly wonderful way with 2 kgs of chuck my version is the same till the last 30 mins. I take the meat out and cut it into 1 inch square logs then add them to the blended sauce and simmer gently for 30 mins, Instead of prosek use a good Moscatel de Valencia. I also use 50/50 soft dried Dalmatian figs and prunes.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lospgSXf2E&ab_channel=Sa%C5%A1inaKuhinja
 
^ Parsnips, turnips and rutabaga give a nice sweet flavor to almost any oven-baked dish.

You can try double cream (or vegetable based light cream) and concentrated calf broth and white and/or black pepper. Another option is to dissolve starchy onion or asparagus soup extract/powder into the stew or mix plain flour or corn starch into the beef and mushrooms and add salted water, white and/or black pepper, dried rosemary, dried chirvel and fresh parsley. Canned cherry tomatoes, pickled onions, garlic, carrot sticks and lentils or pinto/borlotti beans make a nice combination with beef and mushrooms, too.
 
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