Melt in Your Mouth Beef Stew

On my return to Singapore I went a little nutso.  My fridge was so empty that I felt this compulsive urge to stock up.  This is a highly dangerous urge as it usually leads to much waste and self-recrimination when I cannot utilise all the food I had purchased.

Thus, I have been cooking up a storm to ensure I do not waste.

During my last visit to my local Cold Storage, there were a lot of items on promotion, especially the meats which had remarkably short expiration dates.  One such item was a lovely shin beef which had to be utilised the next day.  I bought that and went to work immediately on transforming this into a melt in your mouth dish.

Recently, I have been feeling nostalgic.  I blame it on Singaporean telly which has been harping on about the past in an attempt to cajole its citizen into appreciating how far the nation has come.  All the going-ons about life in the 60s and 70s made me crave my childhood comfort food.  Besides the jackfruit curry I made recently, I started hankering for a good, old-fashion, simple beef stew just like mum used to make.

The shin beef was perfect for this.  Again I am only cooking for myself so it is a small portion.

Melt in Your Mouth Beef Stew

About 200g of shin beef - cut into big chunks

1 medium-sized red onion, cut into quarters

About 1/2 handful of pearl shallots, peeled and topped

About 1/2 handful of garlic cloves, peeled, topped and crushed

1/2 medium-sized carrot, peeled and cubed

1 stalk celery, trimmed and cut into thick slices

1/2 medium-sized zucchini, topped and cut into cubes

About 1 cup mushrooms, trimmed and quartered

1 bay leaf

About 1 1/2 - 2 tsp tomato paste

Stock - I used a mixture of chicken and beef this time as I had both left over.  I typically use beef stock

About 1 - 1 1/2 tbsp dried mixed herbs

Flour 

Salt 

Pepper

Butter

Olive oil

Wine - I used white this time as I had quite a bit left over but I had to compensate by adding a little beef stock and brown sugar to the mixture.  Normally I would use either red wine, sherry, beer or ale instead but hey, you improvise

1.  Season and flour the beef cubes.  In the meantime, pre-heat your oven to about 200 deg C/about 375 deg F.

2.  Heat some olive oil and butter in an oven-proof casserole pot or dutch oven and brown the beef

3.  Remove the beef and set aside

4.  You can add a little more oil if required but let it heat a bit before adding the red onions and garlic.  Saute quickly to sweat them out a bit before adding the rest of the vegetables.

5.  Saute on medium heat till a little slightly soft.

6.  Add stock just enough to cover.  Add wine to taste.  Don't be an alkie and add too much as it makes more sense to drink with the stew than have it reduced in the stew and make it too tart (if using wine) or too more-ish (if using beer or ale).  I know it is a temptation but drink some as cooking instead.  Try not to burn yourself.

7.  Stir in the bay leaf and tomato paste. Season to taste.

8.  Stick the pot in the oven and leave to cook for 45 mins.

9.  Lower the oven temperature to 180 deg C and leave to cook for another 45 mins.

10.  You might want to check on the stew from time to time in order to gauge how much longer you need to cook it.  But after about 1 1/2 hours, take a knob of butter and stir that into the stew to thicken it and give it s nice gloss.  Sometimes I add some crushed crackers to it to thicken it further.  It really depends on my mood.

11.  Let it cook in the oven for another 30-45 mins.  You may test the meat to see if it is ready.  Poke.  Poke.  Is your fork going in smoothly like it's butter?  Then it's ready.  Is your fork rebounding back on you with a resentful pronggggg?  Leave it be to cook longer.Go have some more wine while waiting.  Try not to pass out.

12.  Serve with bread, mash anything, dumplings or even rice.

You may also choose to cook the stew with a slow cooker/crockpot.  It will taste just as yummy but the texture will be sightly different.  What's the difference?  The meat and vegetables always seem to hold their shape better when cooked in the oven yet they melt in your mouth if you cook them long enough.  You also do not really have to stir them as much when cooking them in the oven as long as you have enough liquid in your pot.

With a slow cooker, you need to stir because the distribution of heat is directly on the bottom and the sides.  Which means that with the stirring, the meat and vegetables get jostled around.  As they get tender, they tend to lose their shape with all that action, ya know?

Also, I tend to think there is a smokier, more, well, moreish taste to your stew if you are using the oven.   With the slow cooker, it has a cleaner taste, if that makes sense. 

So if you like fork tender meat and soft vegetables, use a slow cooker.  If you like a bit of texture and a smokier flavour, go for the oven.

But the most obvious difference is ... time.  Well duh.

Anyway, I'd made a trio of mashed potatoes, mashed parsnips and mashed pumpkin to accompany my stew.  I had all these leftover so I had to make use of them quickly.  I coated those babies with olive oil, roasted them in the oven, then I just mashed them with cream (yes, I used cream - yes, leftover too), salt, pepper and butter.

That was one satisfying meal and total comfort food.  I was a truly happy camper that night and I even had leftovers.  Nothing better than days-old stew.  Except for days-old curry.  Actually, I can't decide now ...

Conk.