Winter Stew Thread - what constitutes a good one IYHO?

[aquarius1984]

Made a Beef Stew earlier in the slow cooker. Got me wondering what everyone puts in theirs? Im a firm believer that potato chunks are alien in a stew. I dont like the taste or texture of stewed potato. My own is Stewing steak, carrots, onion, celery if its in the fridge, mushrooms, leeks, swede again if its in. Gently cooked away in *Awaits judgement* Swiss Marigold Vegetable stock or if mum does it, an oxo cube solution for hours on end really slowly. Thickened with either cornflour if needed, or *again awaits judgement* some Bisto. Such stew recipe to me is perfect having been my Mums recipe and all I knew was stew until I went to College. Even now I look at Celebrity or whoever their name is Chefs recipes and think that this is better. I prefer my potato mashed and on the plate before the stew joins it. Dumplings optional as are Yorky puds! How do you do yours?

 

[petek]

I like pototoes in stew along with carrots,turnip,celery, onion, sometimes a bit of leek. Many times it's just what happens to be on hand. Use canned beef broth like Campbells and thicken it with Bisto mix (which is just cornstarch and beef flavoring)
The biggest change I've made is that I don't use a slow cooker anymore but instead do it all in a pressure cooker. Takes about 20 minutes that way and you would be hard pressed to tell any difference. The electronic pressure cooker is absolutely fantastic.. no guesswork, just brown the meat, toss everything in, press a button and voila, stew in 20 minutes.

 

[selectomatic]

I'm in the no-potato-in-stew group. My roommate loves potatoes in stew, and he's the one who does the cooking, so I usually have to put up with them.

I prefer beef with egg noodles or with the thicker, dumpling-type noodles.

I don't much like carrots normally, but when they're all mushy in a stew they're pretty good. We don't usually have leeks just sitting around, so they don't usually get included in stew. We generally only get leeks for making creamed leeks. Of course onion goes well in pretty much everything.

Roasts and stews are certainly welcome as the weather gets colder. And the long cooking time helps to warm up the house and make everything smell good. Quick methods like the pressure cooker are usually reserved for warm weather to save power and to avoid heating the house up too much.

-kevin

 

[aquarius1984]

oh

Pressure cooking? Has it changed that much? I remember my Mum having one in the 80s and everything that went near it tasted and smelt of the rubber gasket. Also Jamie "im a total muppet" Oliver made a soup in one on tv coupla weeks ago. Soup in 6 minutes? I wondered if it tasted of real soup that its ingredients had only been placed together for such a short amount of time. However I am glad 2 additions have not turned up yet in either recipe. I cant stand and i mean CANT STAND those who put peas or sweetcorn kernels in stew! No they dont go! My ex mother in law used to. Got told off for eating around them when I like both as vegetables and not to be so fussy. I made my point the week after by doing my stew and served sweetcorn and peas as a side veg. I think its the whole covered in gravy effect i dont like.

 

[petek]

Don't know why your MIL's pc cooked food would taste of the rubber gasket other than perhaps she was a lousy cook to start with. I use my pc for lotsa different things but mainly stew, rice (does that well) and plain old potatoes. It drives me crazy sometimes how long potatoes can take to cook on the stovetop. My partner long avoided using a pressure cooker but tried out my stovetop TFal and now he uses it quite a bit for soups etc. He likes it better than the electronic one whereas I prefer the electronic one with its fuzzy logic LOL

 

[aquarius1984]

news to me! Cheers, im curious about them especially now they seem to be gaining popularity again and wonder if i should try one out. I too hate waiting for potato to boil up to mash. Although i do think i would not use it for other purpose except maybe cooking wild and brown rice depending. Was my own Mum who had one in the 80s, and she is a pretty good cook, just needs to be encouraged to do more stuff. But yeah i remember the house reeking of hot rubber everytime it was used and the food seemed to taste of everything cooked in it, for instance any veg would taste of the veg cooked next to it along with a rubber taste. We had a Tower one I think. Maybe its time to bite the bullet and try one. Cheers Pete