Alicia’s Awesome Beef Stew

I make excellent soup of all kinds. Some are invented, and some are tweaked recipes that I find elsewhere.  One of the universal favorites is my beef stew which I have honed over the years. Although all beef stew has some similar ingredients this recipe is crafted by yours truly. It is really delicious. I don’t have a recipe per say, but after making it many times I have a similar process I can share. This is an art, not a science so don’t take the ingredients as hard and fast rules. Mine change regularly.

Necessary Ingrediants

You will have to judge the quantities yourself here. Some of it depends on the size of your pot, and some of it depends on your preference on how much you want and some of it depends on the size of the veggies.

• A Giant Pot
• Good dipping bread + butter
• .5 – 1.5 lbs beef stew meat
• 1-3 diced potatoes, diced skin on (I recommend yukon gold or red)
• 1-2 white onions
• 4-5 carrots (I use about equal carrot/potato proportions)
• 3-4 stalks of celery
• 2 cans whole or diced tomatoes (you can use fresh tomatoes, but you need to peel them)
• Beef stock or good bullion (I use “better than bullion” you can get it from whole foods)
• 4-6 tbsp flour (or corn starch)
• 6-8 diced cloves of garlic
• 1/2 – 3/4 tbsp Rosemary
• 1/2 – 3/4 tbsp Thyme
• 1/4 – 1/2 tbsp Bay Leaves (or one whole leaf)
• 1/4 – 1/2 tbsp Morjoram
• 1/8 – 1/4 tbsp Red Pepper Flakes
• Sea Salt (or table salt if you must)
• Celery Salt
• Alcohol, red in color (port, merlot, cabernet, whatever you want)
• Worcestershire Sauce or Balsamic Vinegar

Optional Ingredients

• Mushrooms
• Green Beans
• Peas
• Leeks
• Cream
• Shallots

Make the stew

First get all your ingredients ready to go. You can dice everything to any size of your liking. Lay it all out on a cutting board or in bowls to judge the ratios of the veggies and beef to each other.

Start by sauteing the onions, all the garlic and half the spices plus a dash of salt in oil. I tend to use olive oil.

When the onions are translucent add the beef and another dash of salt to the beef. If you’d like throw on a splash of Worcestershire Sauce or Balsamic Vinegar to the beef. Sometimes I throw in a tablespoon of butter for good measure too.

When the beef has finished browning, add all of the veggies at once. Add enough water to just cover the veggies. If you are using stock, add stock instead of water. If you are using bullion, liberally add bullion at this point. Use more than recommended per cup. Throw in the rest of the herbs/spices and taste for saltiness. At this point, you want it to taste overly salty. If it’s not, add some salt+celery salt until you get there. Also at this stage add another splash of Worcestershire Sauce or Balsamic Vinegar if you have it (but it’s not essential) and your red alcohol (which is essential). I would use 3-4 tbsp of port or 1/2-3/4 cups of wine. I am very liberal with alcohol in cooking. Whether you decide on 1/2 or 3/4 cup of wine should depend on the fruitiness of what you have selected. The more fruity, the less you should use.

Simmer for 30 – 45mns. (do not boil)

If all the veggies are soft, add enough water or stock to give the soup as much liquid to solids ratio as you would like. I tend to fill it most of the way up for whatever pot I’m using. You might need to add some more bullion and/or wine and or herbs at this stage. Let the new liquid warm, give it a taste and if it’s not very rich and pleasantly salty you’ll need to make some additions.

Now that you are at your final liquid level, you need to thicken the stew, because if you don’t, it’s just not stew. To do this with flour, start with 4tbsp in a glass and then add cold water. Whisk the flour and water until it is completely smooth. While stirring the stew, slowly stream in the flour mixture and you will feel it thicken. Let it simmer for about a minute and you will know what thickness level you are at. If it’s not thickened to your liking, repeat the process with 2 more tbsp.

Let it simmer for another 15mns or so, but you need to watch it carefully and stir it often now that the flour has been added. Now it’s finished. Let it cool. (I always burn my tongue through impatience.) Unless you want to drain a lot of energy, let it cool in the counter for a looong time before you put the leftovers in the fridge. (at least 2 hours or more) If you’re lucky enough to live in Minnesota, the garage is a good place to store soup.

Serve hot with good bread.

Things to know about the process

I give as little detail as necessary, but the things I listed and the order I listed them are important. You want to make sure you salt the stew at each stage a little bit. If you added all the salt in the beginning, the onions would be overly salted and other items would be less salted. The reason you add all your seasonings and simmer the stew when it’s much too salty for eating is because you want to infuse all the veggies with flavor and you just don’t if it’s watery. I know that many recipes have you add veggies at different stages and saute them but it’s really not necessary for this. We are simmering for so long that everything will get soft. Plus, carrots take just as long or longer than potatoes to soften so there is no reason to give the potatoes extra time. We add the beef first and cook it the longest so it becomes as soft as possible. One of the secrets to amazing soup it lots and lots of herbs. Do not be shy with them ever. If there is one you don’t like, then don’t use it and sub in something else. But keep adding herbs until you think you’ve added too much, and that will be the right tasty amount. Anytime you see a recipe that serves 8 and asks for a dash of an herb, it’s just for show. Lastly, if you want to add some cream, or half and half you do this at the very end. Turn off the heat, stir in a few tbsp of cream or up to 1/2 cup of half and half and let it cool down enough to eat.