Hearty Beef Stew

I must say that this is truly one of the tastiest recipes that I have worked with.  Beef stew is best made with chuck steak, a flavorful cut that is perfect for long and slow simmering.  Its connective tissue and high amount of marbling helps to thicken the stew.  Grocery stores often do sell it pre-cut in chunks for stew, but it is better to buy a whole steak if you can and do your own cutting to ensure more evenly sized pieces (about one and a half inch cubes).  I unfortunately had no choice in the matter when I went to the grocery store- there was only the pre-cut option.  Most of the pieces were smaller than I would have liked, and there was little consistency in the actual size.  At least it was the correct cut of meat, and it is convenient to not have to do your own chopping.

I pulled the recipe almost directly from Cook's Illustrated, with only a few minor changes.  A bit more garlic, for instance, and I used a cabernet sauvignon as opposed to a drier red wine.  They also recommended waiting to put the vegetables in halfway through the cooking time, but the first time I tried this, I ended up having to cook the whole thing an extra hour because the potatoes and carrots were still quite crunchy after only one hour.  This is very likely due to my oven being very old and inefficient, so if you have a more modern appliance, you may want to follow Cook's Illustrated's lead unless you like very mushy vegetables.

Ingredients

3 lbs chuck steak, chopped into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1 lb red potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
1 lb baby carrots
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
1 cup thawed frozen peas
1 cup dry (and/or) full-bodied red wine 
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp flour
5 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 bay leaves
fresh or dried thyme, to taste
ground black pepper

If you are feeling up to the task, pearl onions are a wonderful addition to this stew.  I meant to try to add portabella mushrooms this time, but I forgot that I had them in the refrigerator.  I'm sure that they would be delicious, too.  A dutch oven would be perfect for this; alas I do not yet have one.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.  Liberally season the beef with black pepper.  Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil over medium high heat until it has a lovely shimmer to it.  Working in batches, brown the meat on at least two sides.  Tongs are very helpful for this.  The reason you should work in batches is that if each cube of meat doesn't have a bit of breathing room around it, they will not brown.  Instead, they will steam, turn gray, and become tough.  It takes about 4 minutes for smaller cubes to brown, and I only flip them once (regardless of size).  Keep an eye on them; don't entirely rely on the timer.  About halfway through browning the beef, you will need to add another tbsp of oil to the pot.  Put the browned cubes in a bowl to the side once finished.

Now, turn the heat down to medium low, add the last tbsp of oil, and add your onions, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to dislodge all of the browned bits left over from the meat.  Once the onions have softened (about 4 to 5 minutes), add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds.  In goes the flour.  Keep stirring and mixing everything together for another minute or two, at which point the flour should become a light brown.  Add the wine, stirring everything together and again scraping the bottom of the pot, until the wine begins to thicken.  At this point, gradually stir in the chicken broth.  Once all the liquid is in the pan, put your thyme and bay leaves in, and bring to a simmer.  Add the beef, carrots, and potatoes; stir and bring to a simmer once more.  Cover and put in the oven for two hours.

At the end of the two hours, take the pot out of the oven and stir in the frozen peas.  After about five minutes, the stew will be ready to serve.  Enjoy!

PS- This recipe works very well for venison stew meat as well.  I treated the venison in almost the same manner; browning time was decreased by a couple of minutes, and I allowed the stew to cook for three instead of two hours.  All other steps were identical, and the results were fantastically delicious!