8 Tasty Recipes With Stew Meat That Aren't Stew | Livestrong.com (2024)

FAQs

What is stew meat good for? ›

A full-flavored staple. Great for slow-cooking, chili and stews. The name “Stew” originates from a method of cooking where small pieces of meat are simmered in water or other liquid until its tender.

The most important key to making stew meat tender is being sure to cook it for a long time. If you want super tender beef, you'll need to cook it on a low heat in a Dutch oven on the stove or a slow cooker for at least a few hours.

The first step to a flavorful stew is browning the meat. Searing it over high heat gives the meat a deeper, richer flavor thanks to the Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction that browns and caramelizes the exterior of the meat.

While traditional beef stroganoff often uses beef sirloin steak, you can save some serious dough by opting for beef stew meat instead. "This was a great comfort food dinner, perfect after a very long day — so easy to make," says reviewer MomSavedbyGrace.

Now if your meat is tough after the stewing process, then there's a few things that might have gone wrong. Two options really, either it is really a poor cut of beef, or more likely it hasn't been cooked for long enough. Usually 3 hours in the oven in a casserole dish at 180C/350F should make any cut of beef tender.

While the chuck roast is a larger cut of chuck meat that you can use for pot roast, beef stew meat, or a simple roast beef, the chuck steak is a smaller portion of that cut. It's carved right from the roast and can include the rib bone or be carved around it to create a boneless steak.

Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and let the stew simmer gently for at least 2-3 hours. The longer you cook it, the more tender the meat will become.

Your beef will be tough if you don't cook it enough and it will be tough if you cook it too much. It's just science, take it from us! We recommend doing a taste test or two throughout the cooking process to gauge the progress.

"The caramelized surface of the meat will lend rich flavor and color to the finished dish." If you are making a slow-cooked recipe that calls for ground beef, like chili, beef stew, or meat sauce, browning the meat beforehand makes a huge difference.

Use regular or hot paprika if you want a little warmth and Smoked Paprika if you're after more of a barbeque style smoky flavour. Chilli and paprika work well with tomato based dishes where as herbs work best with gravy based stews.

What not to put in a stew? ›

But the liquid itself should not be thick in the same way that gravy is thick. So skip the roux, and don't bother dusting the meat with flour or cornstarch before browning, either, as some recipes will suggest. That will just interfere with getting a good sear on the meat, and gum up the stew with unneeded starch.

Place a lid on top, turn heat down to low, then simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove lid then gently simmer for another 1-1/2 hours, or until the meat is tender and stew has thickened, stirring occasionally. If the stew begins to reduce too quickly before the meat is tender, place the lid back on top.

Beef stew is a healthy option. Right? It's full of veggies and protein after all. Although traditional beef stew recipes provide more nutrition than many meals, most still plague you with far too much sodium and calories.

Stew meat mostly comes from the tougher, larger parts of animals like cows, elk, deer, or pigs. Beef stew meat typically comes from the large shoulder of a cow, more commonly called “chuck”. But roast, top and bottom round, tips, and even steak can be used as stew meat.

They're literal cubes of meat labeled 'soup meat' and 'stew meat'. As the answer says, the soup meat cubes are probably from flavorful and semi-tender cuts and the stew meat cubes are most likely from tougher parts of the animal.