V-8 Beef Stew Recipe - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good stew? ›

"Soups and stews really need to simmer for long periods to allow the ingredients to meld together. Taking that a step further, most soups and stews are better if you prepare them the day before serving. Allowing them to cool and then reheating them really helps bring out the flavors and textures."

Chuck meat is your best bet for beef stew, but it's also a pretty tough cut so it needs time to break down and become tender. Rush the cooking process and the beef will be tough and chewy. Follow this tip: For really tender meat, cook the stew low and slow, for approximately two hours.

Add stock or wine/beer

You can get all kinds of stockpots and stock cubes these days but I find those three to be the most useful. Wine: Red wine works well with beef and lamb, white wine works well with chicken. Rose is best drunk whilst you're cooking and not used actually IN the dish itself!

The three main thickening agents for gravies are flour, cornflour and arrowroot. The first two are normally used in savoury dishes while arrowroot tends to be used in sweet dishes – that said, arrowroot will work in a savoury dish as it has no flavour.

Laurence further reveals that "adding wine or other alcohol brings out different flavors (those that are alcohol-soluble) that wouldn't otherwise be expressed in the dish. There are flavors in tomatoes that are alcohol-soluble, so adding red wine along with tomato paste also helps to enhance beef stew."

Short rib is one of the best stew meats for rich and hearty stews because of its robust flavor and large surface area that absorbs the sauce during the long cooking time. These short ribs also contain a great deal of connective tissue, which breaks down in the slow cooker to produce a very soft and succulent meat.

Tomato paste: Tomato paste adds body to the stew and infuses the cooking liquid with a tomatoey flavor. If you don't have any on hand, try one of these tomato paste substitutes. Red wine and beef broth: Red wine and beef broth create the liquid base for this stew.

Coating the meat in flour and searing adds incredible color and flavor to the beef, which is then infused throughout the stew. It also creates browned bits on the bottom of the pan, and when we deglaze those with red wine, it takes the flavor to new heights.

Cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour. When a gravy, sauce, soup or stew recipe calls for flour, use half as much cornstarch to thicken. To thicken hot liquids, first mix cornstarch with a little cold water until smooth. Gradually stir into hot liquid until blended.

Do you have to put cornstarch in beef stew? ›

Beef stew will thicken a bit naturally thanks to the starches in the potatoes and the dredging of the beef, but I always like to thicken it a little bit more. Stew can be thickened by giving the vegetables a quick mash or you can use either flour or cornstarch.

There is no real wrong answer for your beef stew potatoes — russets or red potatoes will work fine — but Yukon Gold potatoes have the best balance of texture and flavor to complement a meaty stew.

Not necessarily a recipe but a few ingredients will make a huge difference. The first one is tomato sauce, tomato paste, or roasted chopped tomatoes. They lend a richness and a bit of sweetness along with acidity.