Homemade Southern Beef Stew

Like creamy butter beans, beef stew is another one of those belly warmin', budget stretchin' meals that's pretty popular this time of year. The weather this weekend was absolutely perfect for it too. 

This is an old standby that I've used since the late 70s and have made very few changes to the basic recipe since then. I have always used shortening since those days - you know... old dog, new tricks and all - but you can certainly substitute some canola if you prefer. I just always manage to find myself reaching for the Crisco when I make this for some reason. Nostalgia, maybe?

This is a wonderfully savory stew, with loads of herbs (use fresh if you have them), rich and just full of flavor. I like searing the meat with my stew because I believe that the caramelization really contributes to the richness. And Julia was right - wipe the beef dry with a paper towel first to pull out any leftover moisture - you want a nice caramelization on the beef and dry beef is essential to that.

Make sure you deglaze that pan afterwards to scrap up all of those yum-yums!

You can also use a variety of potatoes of course - I most often find myself using new potatoes - the larger of the red ones, sometimes peeled, sometimes unpeeled - because that is the type of potato that I usually have on hand. You can certainly substitute the more common russets, which I have used many, many times over the years, or another one of your own favorites.  I love the Better than Bouillon product - grab some up at the store if you haven't tried it yet! Look how rich it is.

Enjoy!

Homemade Southern Beef Stew
Posted at http://deepsouthdish.com/

4 tablespoons Crisco shortening
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
10 turns of the pepper grinder
2 pounds chuck roast, cut into chunks
1 large sweet onion, sliced
2 toes of garlic, minced
2 (32 ounce) cartons of beef stock or broth
4 cups of water
1 tablespoon of Better than Bouillon beef base
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon rosemary, crushed
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon Slap Ya Mama, or your favorite
   Cajun seasoning, or to taste
2 bay leaves
4-5 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
5 medium sized red potatoes, unpeeled and cut into chunks
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
Hot, cooked rice

Melt shortening over a medium to medium high heat in a heavy stainless skillet. You need a good sear on the beef. Cut the meat into chunks about 1-inch in size and dry them off well with paper towels. Mix together flour, salt and pepper in a medium bowl and toss the beef in batches, lightly coating with the flour mixture. Shake off excess flour and in batches, drop the beef into the shortening and brown. The meat will release from the pan on it's own when it's ready to be turned so if it is sticking it's not ready! Just let it cook just a bit longer.  Don’t crowd the meat in the pan either or it will end up steaming instead of searing. Transfer the meat to a deep stock pot and continue cooking the beef in batches until all of it is browned.

To the skillet, add the sliced onion and cook until lightly caramelized, adding additional oil to the skillet if needed. Toss in garlic and cook for one minute. Add enough of the beef stock into the skillet just to deglaze the pan.  Transfer everything from the skillet into the stew pot with the seared beef.  To the stew pot, add the remaining beef broth, the water and the beef base; bring to a boil. Stir the thyme, rosemary, celery seed, basil, paprika and Cajun seasoning into the pot. Reduce to a medium simmer, drop in the bay leaves and simmer uncovered for about 2 hours.

Add the carrots and potatoes, bring back up to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook an additional 15 minutes; taste and adjust seasonings. Please note, cooking times here at the end will depend on what type of potato you are using, so take care not to overcook the potatoes! You don't want them to turn into mush, but rather to be cooked through, but still firm. In a 2 cup measure, whisk together 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of milk until blended.  Spoon some of the liquid from the stew into the cornstarch and milk mixture and whisk in.  Pour into the stew and stir.  Cook another 5 to 10 minutes or until the vegetables are fork tender.

Serve over hot rice with hot buttered biscuits or homemade yeast rolls. Yum!