How To Cook Beef Stew
On a cold day, try warming up with a big bowl of the simple yet versatile comfort food, beef stew. This hearty dish is a great, no-pressure way to practice the skills you have acquired while learning to cook. You can practice your knife skills while dicing and cubing the ingredients and experiment with ingredients like root vegetables, squash, corn and celery. Choose your favorite cut of beef – like brisket – for the main ingredient, and prepare to take in the wonderful aroma as the flavors blend together. If you are pressed for time, you can toss all the ingredients into a slow cooker in the morning before leaving for work and have dinner ready when you come home. In this video, Chef Mark leads an online cooking lesson for beef brisket that gives you all the details to prepare your own. For more great cooking demonstration videos, subscribe to the LearnToCookOnline YouTube channel.
Beef Stew Recipe
Ingredients:
1 lb. beef chuck
½ onion, medium
1/2 celery stalk
½ carrot, large
1 clove garlic
8 oz. red potatoes
6 ea. button mushrooms
coarse salt
ground black pepper
1.5 oz. flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups beef stock
3 oz. stewed tomatoes
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
Methods
PREPARATION METHOD:
1. Trim the sinews off the meat and cut into 1 inch cubes
2. Peel and cut the onion into small dice
3. Wash the celery and cut into small dice
4. Wash, peel and rewash the carrots and cut into batonnet
5. Peel and crush the garlic. Chop finely
6. Wash, peel and rewash the potatoes and cut into medium dice
7. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and cut them in half
COOKING METHOD:
1. Season the beef and lightly coat with flour
2. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan, put in the beef and brown on all sides. You may need to add the meat in stages otherwise the temperature may be too low and the meat will boil rather than fry. Remove and place in a bowl with a paper towel to absorb excess oil
3. Check the amount of oil in the sauce pan and if needed add more to sauté the onions. Add the potatoes and carrots and sauté until lightly golden. Add the celery, garlic and mushrooms and sauté briefly. Remove all ingredients and reserve in a bowl
4. Add ½ cup of the stock to the saucepan and deglaze to loosen all particles from the bottom of the pan
5. Add beef cubes back into the sauce pan, add the remaining stock, stewed tomatoes and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to the boil and reduce to a low simmer, place a lid on top. Simmer for 30-45 minutes then check the meat for tenderness
6. Add the vegetables and stir, cover and simmer for another 20-30 minutes or until vegetables are al dente (firm to the bite) and beef cubes are fork tender
7. Taste the stew and adjust the flavor with seasoning
If you have questions or comments about this video or recipe please leave them below.
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How would you add anchovy as a flavor booster?
Clara,
Well with anchovy paste…it incorporates better for your selected dish…what dish did you have in mind ?
Chef Mark
dish in mind is the beef stew…read anchovies enhance beefy flavor. Have tiny bottled fillets; never cooked with them before. How should I use the paste in your beef stew without the stew tasting fishy? What are your thoughts on using anchovy paste in beef stew in the first place?
Thank you…learning so much from your teaching and love your style. Like your voice too.
What kind of beer did you use?
I’m having a hard time deciding if I should use beer or red wine. Which one will create more flavor. Thanks
There is a general difference of flavor if you use beer or wine – traditionally in beef stew you would use a heavy red wine. Pinot noir or Merlot. If you go with beer it needs to be a flavorful brew – micro-brewed beer is best or dark ales or reds or even Guinness. A good tip – don’t put something in your dish you wouldn’t be drinking out of a glass. So stay away from box wine and cheap beer.
Why does the accompanying video not match the recipe’s ingredients; this is confusing for beginners, like myself, and defeats the purpose of Learn to Cook.
Thank you salrson that helps
The video that accompanies this article is quite entertaining, and it has quickly become my favorite instructional on the preparation of beef stew. As mentioned earlier, there are inconsistencies between the content on this page and the video, but I feel both comfortable with the YouTube presentation, and sufficiently confident to give this recipe an earnest try. Still, I remain curious as to the brand and amount of stout that was used to deglaze the pan in which the beef was browned. Per this recipe, should the stout AND the beef stock come to a combined measure of two cups? Who is the chef who appears in the video? I have watched this several times today, and I truly enjoy the presentation. Thank you!
Art,
I made the stew per the video. It was delicious!
Hi Arts,
Any stout can be used to de-glaze the pan. It’s just what you prefer/what you can get your hands on. The de-glazing with stout is an optional step. You can also de-glaze with red wine or just beef broth. You’ll want to use just a splash-maybe a 1/2 cup-as most of it will evaporate.
Hope that helps!
I too, enjoy watching and listening to Mark explain how to prepare beef stew. And like some of you, I too ask “Why does the video differ from the printed recipe”?