Tip for beef stew.

[alfredo]

Roast all meat, veggies, and spices for about an hour before making the stew. Be sure to use water or red wine to dredge out all the drippings from the roasting pan. I did my stew with a meaty soup bone. It is fantastic. I used salt pepper, garlic, rosemary bay leaf, cayenne, and tarragon. I used tomato sauce as part of the broth. I cooked it slowly for about two hours. The meat turned out very tender.

[grasswire]

1. that's a great idea

I've been using tenderized stew meat -- chunks of chuck that have been run through the tenderizing machine -- and it works well. But your method would have a terrific depth of flavor.

Very cool.

[alfredo]

3. I think this method came from France. The poor usually had to settle

for soup bones, so they made the best of it.

I had a thread on cooking during the depression:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5118040

[Mojorabbit]

2. I have been playing with my pressure cooker

and made a wonderful tender stew in twenty minutes. The thing still scares me but I am determined to get over it.

[alfredo]

4. I've thought about getting one, but they scare me too. I've heard of

bean skins blocking the valve, but I don't know if that is enough to cause problems. I could imaging how good one would work with a roast.


Beans and pressure cooking:

http://www.missvickie.com/howto/beans/howtobeantypes.html

[Warpy]

7. Just know what you're doing

I've done beans in them for decades with no prolem. Yes, some beans foam like crazy, especially split peas. I do those in a steel bowl set inside a big aluminum pressure canner. I use the regular cooker for the larger beans and never have any problems. I live at 6000 feet and pressure cooking is the only way most of them get really done.

You'll know when pressure is building to an unsafe level because of what the rocker is doing on some types and what the gauge is doing on others.

In any case, both the rocker and gauge will be dislodged by a lot less pressure than it would take to turn the canner into a bomb. A bean skin is not going to survive that kind of pressure buildup, either.

Pressure cooking is really the way to go for tough old stewing hens and cheapo cuts of beef. Stuff that would be shoe leather with ordinary cooking methods, even slow braising, turn into melt in your mouth delights after being held under pressure for 20 minutes or so.

Pressure cooking is going to come back into its own, IMO, as the economy continues to sour and people need to improve cheap food while saving on energy costs.

You might as well learn how to use it now. You'll never go back.

[alfredo]

11. You convinced me. My wife is a confirmed meat eater, and doing cheap

cuts of meat in a pressure cooker might be the way to go.

[Warpy]

5. My tip is "burn it"

if you're doing it the old fashioned way, dredging it in flour and sautéeing it until brown. You don't want it brown, you want parts of it black because that's where the caramelization and the best flavor will come from. Oh, and yes, you toss veggies in when you're doing that last side of all the stew beef, to sweat them and provide a little moisture to start loosening the fond on the bottom of the pot.

Roasting might work, but it involves getting another pan dirty.

[alfredo]

6. I don't mind getting another pan dirty. I have arthritis and the warm water

feels good on my hands. I jump at the chance to wash dishes by hand.

[Warpy]

8. My dishwasher is at the ends of my arms, too

and for the same reason.

I just don't like to have the drainer jammed with a lot of pans if I don't have to.

[alfredo]

12. I try to have everything clean by the time the food is ready, and all dishes

clean before I sit down for the evening. I have a dishwasher, but I'd rather do it myself.

[kestrel91316]

10. I don't know if I have arthritis, but I SO totally get what you say, lol!

[Lucinda]

9. Great tip! Thanks.

I love the flavor roasting brings to the party. Makes perfect sense to use it in a stew, although I never have. I will definitely try this! :hi:

[alfredo]

13. It really softens up the meat too.