Beef Stew
This is my Mom’s beef stew recipe. She always made a double batch, so if this seems like too much, you can always halve it. This doesn’t stay around long, in my house, though. It’s so good it usually gets eaten for both lunch and dinner ’til it’s gone!
INGREDIENTS:
- Enough Olive Oil to cover the bottom of the pot
- 2 pounds of Stew Meat (or 2 pounds of beef tri-tips, cubed)
- 2 cloves of Minced Garlic
- 1 chopped Yellow Onion
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 2 tablespoons of Salt
- 2 teaspoons of Sugar
- 2 teaspoons of Paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon of Black Pepper
- A dash of ground allspice (or cloves, your choice)
- 1 package of Baby Carrots (or 6 regular carrots, cut up)
- 3 stalks of Celery, finely sliced
- 8 red Potatoes, peeled and cut into 8 pieces each (approximately – just make them a good size for stew)
(I buy the stew meat that is already cut up, which is what Mom did in the last few years she was alive – I think that was when they first started selling it all cut up for you. Before that, this recipe called for you to cube 2 pounds of beef tri-tips.)
DIRECTIONS:
Cover the bottom of a large pot with olive oil and set heat on the stove to medium. Dice the onion and slice the celery. Put into the hot oil and make sure it doesn’t sizzle too much (that means it’s too hot). You don’t want the onions and celery to to crisp up. Sprinkle some of the salt over the onion and celery and stir. Once they are translucent, add the garlic to the top of the mixture, sprinkle a bit of salt on it and just let it sit there. It needs to warm and for the salt to soak in a bit, but it shouldn’t touch the bottom of the pan yet as garlic burns easily. Turn down the heat a little bit and wait about 3 minutes, then stir.
Let the water cook out of the mixture (water is drawn from the vegetables during this process and will accumulate in the pan) for about 5-10 minutes until you’re back to just onion, celery, garlic and oil in the pan. Turn the heat back up to just past medium. Add the beef and let it brown on all sides, stirring occasionally.
Once the beef is browned, but not cooked all the way through, add water enough to cover everything plus at least an inch. Add the Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, salt, sugar, paprika, pepper and allspice (or clove) and and stir.
Cover, turn down the heat to below medium, and let cook at a simmer for 1.5 hours. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
After 1-1/2 hours, remove the bay leaves (it is very important to do that at this point, or they will cook down and start to break up and be difficult to remove later). Add the potatoes and carrots, cover, and cook at a slow simmer for 45 – 60 minutes (or until potatoes and carrots are cooked through).
Remove the cover and let cook down slowly until it is the proper stew consistency. This can take from one to two hours, depending on how much water is left at this point.
This beef stew recipe doesn’t fall under the “easy” or “quick” category, but it is so delicious and nutritious and very worthwhile to make. Especially on a cool October Sunday!
Its starting to get cold out side. This stew looks very good, and looks like it would warm your insides.
I have been making an almost identical recipe for years. The only difference is that once the potatoes and carrots are tender, I stir in a mixture of about 3 tablespoons of flour with about 1/3 cup of cold water. Then, instead of cooking it for another two hours, I cook it for about another 10 minutes. The whole recipe should be done after about 2 1/4 hours. I also use “choice” grade beef chuck cubes, and I brown the meat in two batches, about a pound at a time. It is the best beef stew recipe I have ever had!