BS

[Yeast]

Beef Stew, actually. Waiting for the evening's activities to begin but I still have a bit of time to kill. I made some beef stew this evening. The house is filled with the aromatic aroma of garlic, bay and steak. What makes mine different is I don't rely on a usual stock and flour based gravy. Mine begins in a crock pot as two large cans of tomato sauce and those sorts of vegetables that just can't be overcooked like potatoes and carrots. Red potatoes are less starchy than russets and baby carrots are just the right size. The potatoes can be peeled prior to dicing but I leave the skin on for extra fiber. After setting this up I fill a pot with about 6 cups of water and bring it to a boil. I dice up whatever beef was on sale. It needn't be tender. The cooking will solve this problem. I add the beef to the boiling water and wait for it to start simmering. A grey brown froth will begin to form. This I will skim from the surface and discard. It has a somewhat bitter taste and is best removed if one wants an especially sweet and fragrant stew. I want an especially sweet and fragrant stew. If not immediately removed it dissolves and then it is too late. Once it is all gone I add a quarter cup of vinegar, some whole pepper corns and three or 4 bay leaves. Garlic can be diced but the best way is to use a garlic press. Thus, the vegetables cook for a few hours in the crock pot and the meat cooks as well in the stew pot. Then after the News Hour, a few drinks and what You Tube has to offer I turn off the heat and retire to bed. The next morning I turn the crock pot back on and check the level of the beef stock. If it is under an inch I can add everything to the crock pot. If not I just add the beef and boil the stock down to an appropriate level. It is now that I add diced peppers to the crock pot. Peppers cook slowly but can be overcooked. Mushy peppers are, well mushy. The stock is added to the crock pot when ready and I cook things about another hour. After a half hour I add the secret ingredient - sweet basil. Basil, bay, beef and a bit of garlic make a wonderful spaghetti sauce. The trick is to let the beef and tomato simmer for at least an hour so that the flavor mellows. The final ingredients added are those tings that cook the fastest and will also overcook easily. Celery is a bit resistant to this so can be added after a half hour. If overcooked it looses its sweetness. Mushrooms are next. They ought to be soft but not soggy. The last thing added is the diced onion. Onion cooks very quickly but it needs to cook a bit to sweeten it. Thus it is a bit of a balancing act to cook it just enough to sweeten it without it loosing all its crunchiness. In fact I usually turn the crock pot off and then add the onions. There is usually enough heat remaining to cook them properly. Beef stew is best served with some sort of Italian or French bread. This is traditionally a winter dish for me because I have an enclosed front porch which makes a great walk in refrigerator. Its good for hams and any other kind of stew I want to make.    

[Guest]

This is making me hungry. Thanks a lot.

[RoseGoesToYale]

Yum... in that case, I'd like some of that BS, please!

[Lord Jade Cross]

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[Guest]

@Jade Cross I think that might have been what it was supposed to look like.

 

I just realized this was click-bait. But the post wound up being a lot more interesting than a rant.

[Duke Memphis]

Besides the tomato sauce, that sounds a lot like the kind of home-cooked beef stew that gets made at home.

[Sleepy Otter]

I make mine in a pressure cooker, but I do not use tomatoes or potatoes (nightshade issue).  I quarter button mushrooms and throw them in, sometimes rutabaga.  I am also not as scientific.  I have found that if you do not use flour to thicken, you can use celery (not sure how it works, but once it has cooked down it works pretty well).

 

At any rate, I hope your stew turns out well, and it sounds good!  Now I am hungry too...