What is your surprising twist for a stew?

[snaptoast]

Back when I lived in my university residence, stews were never on my menu. Took too long to cook in the shared kitchens, and beef is also pretty pricey. I know it is possible to make stews out of other meats, but the idea still surprises me. Chicken stew? Pork goulasch? It barely crosses my mind, and yet it seems like a popular option for many people.

Further than this no-beef stew (I'm pretty traditional in this sense, I guess, I still only make beef stews!), many ingredients have surprised me in my different experiences. For my meatball stew, recipes suggested cinnamon and ground cloves. For my Mexican stew, powder cocoa was listed along with the cinnamon!

I was so scared to try it. Cacao! With beef!

But I did and, to my utmost surprise, it turned out amazing. Phew!


What are your stories? Did a recipe ever surprise you with unusual ingredients? What are the biggest hits and misses that you got from adding something peculiar to your stew or casseroles?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I have melted dark chocolate into a vegan chili con carne which was a new one to me at least.

We have a mystery ingredient stew which stemmed from living on the road for a year and was usually as a direct result of contamination due to a bag splitting our something like that, so sometimes the stew would end up with coffee powder in it, other times it would have peanut butter in it, and one a polo (spearmint flavoured sweet) found its way into the meal, but when you are hungry and it is all you have... The polo didn't work BTW , the others did or were not that noticeable.

 

[Delftse Post]

Beer! I always make beef stew with belgian beer, typically Westmalle Dubbel.

Also, the proper Belgian way to make a beef stew uses Pain D'epices or spiced ginger cake. You cut three or four slices, smear them with mustard and then stick them on top of the stew as it cooks. The cake thickens and flavours - yum!