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A recipe for beef stew, try my slow cooker beef stew.

Updated on August 21, 2011

Beef Stew

Last year one of my work days was really bad. I left home at 8:30 am and did not get back til 6:30pm. When I got home there was a hungry family to feed and if left to them, no preparation done. To start cooking from scratch would mean that we would not be eating til nearly my sons bedtime which would not do!

It was then that I discovered this recipe for beef stew,there are various beef stew recipes , which ones to follow can depend on what you have in the store cupboard. I also learned in time that slow cooker beef stew is perhaps the best tasting meal that I have ever had.


Beef stew
Beef stew

SLOW COOKER BEEF STEW

The first stew I made was a disaster. I prepared a casserole dish and asked my long suffering other half to put the oven on at 4:30 pm. He forgot! We didn't have stew it was a trip to the take away.

I then discovered a marvellous gadget called a slow cooker or crock pot. This wonderful pot allows you to prepare the meal and leave it on a low setting all day so that when you are ready to eat the food is hot and thoroughly cooked. This means that a little work in the morning results in a warm filling meal at night. Magic! Serving a beef stew using this recipe for beef stew has saved my life on many a hungry night. What's for dinner? is an often heard phrase in our house, and slow cooker beef stew is an answer that is met with whoopees and comments such as "do we have dumplings"? from a family member who is taking a rest at home between study and work. We don't run a hotel, it just feels like it sometimes!

Ingedients

This recipe varies enormously. Usually feeds about four but has been known to more! That's the beauty of beef stew recipes, you can just add more vegetables or add potatoes if larger numbers than expected arrive.


1lb of stewing steak diced into 1" slices.

Vegetables- choose from any root vegetables that the family like. I have used:

Carrots, onions, parsnips, swede, turnip

stock- various methods. I have used- beef stock cubes and added water but I have also used bottles of stout such as Mackeson or Guiness and Ale. I tend to use the Supermarkets "own brand" as it is less expensive and its only for cooking anyway.

THE RECIPE FOR BEEF STEW

This recipe for beef stew was developed by the trial and error method, luckily my family are pretty tolerant of disasters but so far by using the slow cooker beef stew we have not had any real disasters.

1. In theory I think you should fry the meat in a little oil until it is brown to seal the juices in. In practise I tend to just chuck the meat into the dish.

2. Peel and chop the vegetables- make sure they have been washed first. - Throw on top of the meat

3. Prepare the stock- this involves either adding a stock cube and water to the meat or emptying the bottle of beer on top. It is at this stage that beef stew recipes differ.

4. Stir- making sure that all the vegetables are covered and that the crock pot is switched on.

5. Go to work

6. When home open the lid and appreciate the fine aroma. If the stock is a little thin add a small amount of thickening agent such as gravy browning and leave for a few minutes.

7 . Put the oven on and bung in some prepacked part cooked bread to cook .

8. Put something comfortable on and ask someone else to lay the table.

9. Dish your beef stew up into warmed bowls and serve with freshly baked bread.

WHAT A RESULT!

Beef stew

Following a recipe for beef stew is easy. Most beef stew recipes do not require any cooking skills, more really assembly skills, hence I am able to produce a tasty meal! If you can produce slow cooker beef stew then it will really be a  meal for all the family with little effort on your behalf, which is reallu useful if at the end of the a long day when they all clamour "what's for dinner" you can say "beef stew" and know that you will be met by happy faces.

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