Beef Stew à la Mommel

Here at the Chicago chapter of TFK, it is universally accepted that my mom makes the best beef stew. However, when I asked her how to make it she mentioned things like onion soup and brown gravy mixes and other things I don't keep around the house. Over time, I developed a recipe that substitutes some vegetable broth in for these things though I have used beer and red wine instead to equal success.

Here's what you need to make this lovely beef stew:

2-3 lbs beef
4 russet potatoes
4 carrots
2 large onions
2 bay leaves
14 oz vegetable broth
1 tbsp oil or butter
~2 tsp salt
~1 tsp pepper
2 bay leaves

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

You start out w/ a hunk of meet like this. I bought this sucker labeled as a london broil but the grain of the meat was all wrong making it a perfect candidate for stew.

Trim excess fat and cube into pieces about one inch to one and half inches per side. I like nice big chunks that you have to cut w/ a knife and fork before eating.

 

You'll want to brown these chunks in about a tablespoon of oil or butter until they look about like this:

 

Use a cast iron pot or other oven safe one. This is the same dish you'll make the stew in. You want to get all the little brown bits in there. Brown bits are a fun ride to flavor country. I use an enamalized cast iron dutch oven. It wasn't free but it's great.

In the meantime peel and chop the carrots, onions and potatoes to about this size. Again, I like to keep them pretty big.

Chuck all this into the pot w/ the browned chunks of meat, pour in 14 oz of vegetable broth and add bay leaves and salt and pepper to taste. The ingredients don't need to be covered in liquid. As it cooks the beef will release juices and make more broth. Cook for about an hour to ninety minutes. Fun chefs go by their nose on this one. Once the house starts smelling great, give it about ten minutes and check to see if the potatoes and meat are cooked. Check every ten minutes after that if it's not. This is one dish that can be a little overcooked so don't worry. The meat will just get falling apart tender. The end result is quite soupy but I still serve it up on a plate. When mom's not looking, I slurp the juices out.

It's not pretty but it's delicious. I do a lot of variations on this. Frequently I use other root veggies like parsnips and turnips and generally I add some celery too. Red wine mixed w/ water is great substitute for the stock as is beer as I mentioned. If you use beer, you can be creative as long as you don't use anything too bitter (no IPA, no American Pale Ales or big stouts). Belgian beers work great and my favorite might be big, malty German bocks. I normally stick w/ just salt and pepper and let the veggies and cooking liquid shine but herbs and spices are also an excellent addition. Have fun and post a comment to let us know how it turned out if you cook it.