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Good Morning Motlies - and I hope you are warm and protected from the treacherous weather that the Koch brothers and King Coal have inflicted upon everybody.
So, a few weeks ago I was drafted to write a food diary every so often, and I have noted that as we head into the heart of Winter, to paraphrase Harry Nillson, everybody's talking about how cold, wet or snowy it is. And when the nights are long and the days are cold there is nothing better than a healthy stew to warm you up from the inside.
Now as a kid I was no big fan of stews, but as I moved around various countries, I found that each had its own take on the stew, using the same basic ingredients, but incorporating local ingredients for an individual taste. The most common variable is the liquid added to the basic recipe, and the second are the vegetables and spices. Thus you get the basic variations as follows.
1) Irish stew - Guiness for the liquid and root vegetables for the filler
2) Lancashire hotpot - beef stock for the liquid, potatoes and carrots
3) Boeuf Bourguinon - red wine for the liquid, lardons (pancetta) silver onions.
4) Carbonnade a la Flamande - Belgian Beer for the liquid and year round herbs (rosemary and Thyme) for the flavour.
5) Hungarian Goulash - beef stock for the liquid, but hot paprika and bell peppers for the extras.
I am sure there are many others, and there are also variations using chicken such as chicken cacciatore or coq au vin.
OK, so how do you go about making a stew in the depth of Winter. The answer is simple, and you really don't need to measure anything or follow a recipe. You just add the things that you like to the pot. Now this pot in my case is a large heavy bottomed pot, with a lid, but in the US could be a crock pot or slow cooker or whatever you call them. The simple fact is that no stew will be ready until it has simmered for a minimum of 2 1/2 hours.
Now if you were a tv chef, you would start by making a beurre blanc ( flour and butter) or a roux ( a beurre blanc cooked a little longer), but really this is not necessary. Quite simply you chop some onion and cook it in a butter/oil mix until it softens, and then add some chopped or crushed garlic.
Next you take you very cheap cut of beef (Brisket?), which has been cut into cubes about 1 inch square, dredged through seasoned flour (i.e plus salt and black pepper), and add it to the pot and turn it around until it is lightly browned. At this point you need to add your liquid - and the choice is yours, wine, beer, stock etc - and deglaze the bottom of the pan ( that it is scoop up all the bits that have stuck to the bottom). A bottle of beer is probably insufficient to cover all the meat, so you can add beef or vegetable stock until all the meat is covered.
Ok, so now you have your basic stew simmering contentedly, you need to think about your flavor enhancers and your bulking up.
As for herbs, traditional Winter herbs are Rosemary and Thyme as they are evergreen- I have them in my garden, and for a stew I always add a couple of dried Bayleaves. These days, with dried or freezedried herbs your choice is unlimited, but I find the classics are best. For a little extra kick, you can add a squeeze of tomato concentrate, or a drizzle of soy sauce or balsamico vinegar (go very lightly here).
To bulk up your stew, you need Winter vegetables - carrots, parsnips, potatoes or dumplings. Remember that the harder the vegetable the longer it needs to cook, so you can add carrots 1 hour before serving, but potatoes only 30 minutes before.
Basically, it sits there gently cooking. If it becomes too dry add some water, or if it is too liquid at serving time, add some corn flour. Serve with bread, potatoes, french fries, green veggies or whatever.
OK , now for some food porn - even though it isn't exactly my method
Carbonnade a la Flamande
Boeuf Bourgignonne
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