How to Make the Perfect Stew

Cinzia Cuneo December 17, 2024 Eat Well, Recipes

We love simmering stews! The aromas of a tasty dinner that has been cooking for hours is the perfect way to be welcomed home after a long day away. But sometimes the end result on one’s tastebuds can be a bit disappointing. Here are our best tips for making your stew a success every time.

1. Choose the right cut of meat

For a good result, it is necessary to choose pieces of meat from the muscles that have worked a lot during the animal’s life, such as the shoulder, thigh, and legs. These tougher cuts are also richer in collagen. During cooking, the heat breaks down the collagen, which turns into gelatin. This way, the muscle fibers come loose from each other and the meat falls apart, while the newly formed gelatin enriches the cooking liquid and gives it a soft texture.

Among the cuts of red meat that lend themselves better to long cooking there are, amongst others, stewing cubes, brisket, blade pot roast, cross rib roast or shoulder roast, leg of lamb, ossobuco. As for poultry, choose thighs and upper thighs, which are fattier and juicier pieces than breasts, which could become too dry after a long cooking time. Note that these cuts are cheaper than the more “desirable” and tender ones, such as fillets or tenderloins, which would not give as good of a result in a stew.

2. Have the right equipment

The principle of stewing is simple: the meat is cooked at a low temperature, for a long time, in a little liquid and in a closed environment to preserve the humidity. The end result is tender, juicy meat, which falls apart on your fork.

If you cook in the oven or on the stovetop, you should use a casserole dish with a lid that closes tightly, to avoid losing too much liquid through evaporation. An enameled cast iron casserole dish is a very good choice because it distributes the heat evenly.

As an alternative to cooking in the oven or on the stovetop, you can opt for cooking in a slow cooker, a very practical technique because it can be done almost unattended and consumes very little energy.

Whether you opt for cooking on the stove or in the oven, I would advise you to lightly cook and brown the meat before simmering it. This initial step, which is often neglected, produces a chemical reaction between the sugars naturally present in the meat and the proteins (Maillard reaction), thanks to which a darker and tastier sauce is obtained. The same treatment is recommended for the onion, which is caramelised at the very beginning, at the same time as the meat. Care should be taken to brown the pieces of meat in smaller batches, to avoid overloading the casserole and boiling rather than caramelising.

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Author

Cinzia Cuneo

Cinzia Cuneo, founder of SOSCuisine.com, never wanted to neglect the quality of her food. She shares her special expertise to make good food quickly and without complications!