Cooking Tips

Throughout the summer the barbeque is the king of dinner. As the weather cool the crock pot comes out and the beef stew start too cook.

This is just a basic recipe but it is easy enough to modify to suit your own taste. This will get you started in the right direction and you can take it from there.

Start by getting the crock pot set up and heated. Fill the pot with hot tap water and start to heat it up. It isn’t a good idea to heat your crock pot without anything in it. I don’t want to crack it.

Then in a large saucepan add some oil to the pot and let it heat up add the beef and start to brown it. Seer the meat will lock in the flavor. Keep turning the cubes so all the sides get browned. Keep an eye on the heat , you don’t want to burn the beef to the pan. I generally use about 6 on my stove. Cook the meat about half way and then remove from heat and set aside.

Before adding the carrots and other veggies add a bit more oil to prevent the veggies from sticking. Get everything moving around so everything gets covered in the oil. You also want to scrape off the bits left on the pan from seering the meat. Cooking Tip: There is a ton of flavor left in the “pan drippings”.

Allow these veggies to start to cook down. You don’t want the saucepan to get too hot or to have the veggies start to dry out and stick. You can add a half a cup of soup stock to cool things down. Once the veggies have heated and start to cook add the cooked meat and continue to cook. Add about a half teaspoon of salt now also.

Now you can add some liquid~Now you can add some liquid}. It is ideal to use beef or vegatable stock for this but hot water will work also. You want to just add enough liquid so the veggies and everything are cover with about an inch. Cover with a lid and reduce heat. Let simmer for about 15 minutes.

By this time the crock pot is ready. Pour out the water and add the soup, be real careful. I have been splashed and it hurts so I have started to use a laddle until almost all of it is in the crock pot.

I let the stew cook for an hour or so on high and then I taste it and start to season. It will need some salt, pepper and garlic powder. The flavor can be enhanced with some beef stock cubes or onion soup mix. At this point you can also add some frozen corn and green beens or whatever else you want.

Let cook in the crock pot for about 5 hours on low and 2.5 or on high. Thicken the stew before serving. I use about 3 table spoons of flour mixed in 3/4 of a cup of milk. Pour in and stir. Let cook for another 20 minutes or until thickened.

Let leftovers cool and put into the fridge or freezer and enjoy when ever you fell the need for some comfort food. More Great Cooking Tips

Technorati Tags: , ,