2 lb boneless chuck 1 1/2 thick
4 thick bacon slices
2 large yellow onions
2 large cloves of garlic
3 tbsp flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup red wine, beer, more broth
2 parsley sprigs
2 tsp fresh tyme or 1/2 ts. dried
6 large carrots
2 large baking potatoes
8 oz frozen pearl onions
1 chopped parsley for garnish
1 cooked egg noodles or rice
Directions
Trim of all fat from beef chuck. Cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Pat meat
dry with toweling. Cut bacon into 1/4 wide strips. Cut large onions
into 1/4 inch wide wedges. Mince garlic. Cook bacon in a heavy
bottomed 4 1/2 quart dutch oven, until crisp. Remove pieces with
sloted spoon. Pour bacon fat into a bowl. Return 1 tbsp fat to pan.
Heat over medium-high heat. Add enough beef cubes to cover bottom of
pan. Cook, turning cubes with tongs, until browned on all sides. As
beef cubes brown remove from pan and add uncooked beef until all
pieces are done. Add bacon fat as needed to keep meat from sticking.
Remove all meat from pan. Add 1 tbsp bacon fat. Add onion wedges and
cook until onion wilts and is golden brown. Add garlic and cook and
stir for one minute. Return meat to pan. Add salt, pepper, and
flour. Cook and stirover medium heat to brown the flour slightly,
about three minutes. Pour broth and wine, if used, into pan so meat
is barely covered. Stir well to scrape browned bits from bottom of
pan. Stir in parsley and thyme. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat
to very low. Cover pan and let simmer for until meat is almost
tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Shortly before meat is tender, peel
carrots, and potatoes. Cut into pieces. Stir into meat mixture.
Continue cooking until carrots and potatoes are tender but not mushy,
about 20 minutes. Heat any remaining bacon fat in a large skillet,
add pearl onions and cook, stirring, until onions are golden on all
sides. Stir onions into stew. Cook five minutes. Sprinkle stew with
crisp bacon pieces and chopped parsley. Sevre over cooked noodles or
rice.
Servings: 6 servings
Basic Beef Stew Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Beef; Beef Stew; Dutch Oven; Meat; Soup
The History of Recipes
It is quite feasible to track the history of transcribed cooking instructions way back into distant history, in fact as far back into history as the early Egyptians, and maybe further still. Interesting though that maybe, generally, these early cookbooks were just basic hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for food preparation.
Fascinatingly, the oldest recipe in existence, according to historians is a series of ancient tablets in Sumerian which recount the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who drank it feel wonderful and blissful. Moving our culinary historical trip onwards, there are two recipe books from the 1300s : one book called `Forme of Cury`, and another titled `Curye on Inglish`. Perhaps surprisingly, these have no connection with the spicy food that is served today, but instead recipes for the types of food cooked for the rich and wealthy people of the time. Over the following few centuries, the wealthy families of the West competed to serve up the best banquets, and as a consequence, chefs and their collection of recipes were much in demand. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the 19th century the formal cooking and recipe publications became popular. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, devoted much of their lives to assembling, verifying, and writing down popular recipes of the day. The arrival of TV brought us TV cookery programs and the spin-off recipe books. Which brings us neatly to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting us all to access massive numbers of recipes just like those on our site. |
We hope you enjoy this Basic Beef Stew recipe.
