This stew hit such a sweet spot of convenience, tastiness, economy, and vegetable density that I cooked it weekly for about 2 years, eating the leftovers for several days of each week. It's mostly based off of Mark Bittman's Beef Stew with Guinness (the url is broken, sadly) and the Classic Beef Stew recipe from his How to Cook Everything (p. 435).
I get the packs of stewing beef at the closest Superstore. The price is usually fine and I enjoy the variety of cuts they contain and the intermediate fat content. Mark Bittman recommends round or chuck. In Canada I think chuck is called either blade or shoulder. Blade is the more flavourful of the two but it's maybe too fatty, and the flavour isn't always the best. Round is relatively tough, bland, and lean, but it's consistent and I consider it the safer choice. Round roast also seems more likely to be available.
I've cooked this many times, some browning the beef and some not, and I'm not sure I could tell a difference in the taste unless I do a particularly good job on the browning, which is an arduous task on the stovetop. Browning the beef is messy, smoky, and time-consuming, so for me it's not worth it unless I'm trying to please someone. Maybe there's some technique I could learn where I'd consider browning worth it. J. Kenji López-Alt's discussion of browning covers some novel techniques, like reducing moisture loss by browning steaks before cutting them into cubes, and cooking the stew uncovered in the oven so the top can get browned. It'd be a breakthrough if I could figure out how to brown steaks in the oven without making any smoke.
As is, this recipe fills my 8qt pot. Depending on the style of pot, myoglobin froth from the beef can build up on the lid and cause the stew to boil over---even while simmering---so it's best to keep at least a couple inches of headroom in the pot. Plan to adjust the recipe to reduce volume as necessary if your pot is smaller. Myoglobin is a protein that stores oxygen in muscles, and when muscles are damaged water and myoglobin are mostly what leaks out. This muscle juice is different from blood: as you know, blood is contained in the circulatory system and is drained during slaughtering, and while muscles have famously good blood supplies they don't normally contain it. I suspect the froth doesn't taste the best, particularly if the stew has been cooked too hard, and it also makes the broth cloudy with grainy coagulated bits, so it's good to skim it off if convenient. If there's not too much stirring it in is fine, though. In any case, you don't want to be pouring any extra myoglobin juice from the meat packaging into the pot.
In contrast to the beef, if I use mushrooms I always brown them. This is easier than the meat, as I can get good results doing them in one batch while I'm cutting up the other vegetables and I suspect it significantly improves their texture, although I've never tried not browning them to check if this is true. A full pound of mushrooms seems like a lot but they take up much less space after browning. For me they're a desirable addition however they're cut: when sliced and browned I'd guess they add more flavour overall, but they'll be more noticeable and delightful for mushroom lovers when left whole or in larger pieces.
I was once skeptical of peas in beef stew, but now I love them. I use frozen peas instead of ice to cool down the stew immediately before eating, both after the initial cooking and after reheating leftovers to boiling in a small pan. I would never use canned peas or cook frozen peas for more than a few minutes.
Also, by adding the peas after reheating the same volume of leftovers can go further. And you're increasing vegetable consumption in a delicious way. So many birds; so few stones.
I cook the garlic a bit with the onions. Garlic provides significantly different flavours depending on how it's been cooked. In particular, when significantly browned garlic can have a distinct and pleasant bitter flavour. Presumably to take advatange of the different flavours garlic can offer, some recipes call for garlic to be added while the onions are cooking as well as while simmering, but unless you're intentionally putting in the effort to go for a particular effect I doubt it matters much when you add it.
I'm also not sure if frying the onions matters. If you're thickening the stew with flour you'll want to cook the flour to improve its taste, and it's convenient to do so by adding it to the onions while they're softening, but otherwise I bet the onions would be just fine if they were thrown in with everything else. So much cooking starts with frying onions, though, that I cook them first out of habit.
I can't tell if I prefer stew thickened or not, so I save time and leave it soupy.
Sometimes I'll use red wine instead of some of the stock if I have a suitable bottle around. Doing this is fairly expensive unless it's homebrew, though. If you don't like the taste of the wine on its own, I wouldn't use it in the stew, as anything unpleasant about the wine seems to remain after cooking. In particular, don't try using wine that's old or has obvious faults. I've regretted using low-quality wine several times.
I feel like carrots add a lot to stew but I never want a burst of carrot flavour, so I keep the slices thin. Slicing the carrots at an angle stops the slices from running away as much---it took me way too long to realize this.
The tolerances for all of these ingredients are generous, so go wild with adaptations, omissions, and substitutions.
For example, you can change the carb composition by leaving out the potatoes and making up some of the space with more carrots, onions, and peas. I find this only marginally less satisfying.
- prep: 0.5h
- unattended cooking: 1.5h
-
a few tablespoons of neutral oil to cook the mushrooms and onions in; I've typically used canola or olive.
-
1 lb white or cremini mushrooms, cut however (see above). Optional.
-
4 medium onions, cut into eighths
-
heaping tablespoon of minced garlic. I'm lazy and use the jars of pre-minced stuff.
-
4 medium carrots, sliced
-
4 medium to large waxy or all-purpose potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks.
-
3-5 lbs beef, cut into cubes
-
~8 cups beef stock. Enough to cover everything. I use Better than Boullion.
-
1 tsp salt
-
freshly ground black pepper. I'm liberal with it.
-
5 dried bay leaves. Has anything ever tasted too much like bay leaves? Do they make a difference at all?
-
2 tsp dried thyme. I'm not sensitive to it but I've heard thyme can be overdone so exercise restraint if freehanding.
-
frozen peas, to taste, to cool off the stew before eating
- Slice the mushrooms and brown them in oil in a large frying pan over high heat.
- Cut the onions and start cooking them in oil in a large (8qt) pot over medium heat.
- While waiting for the onions to soften cut up the carrots and potatoes, and assemble the spices.
- After the onions have softened up, ~10 minutes later, add the garlic and let it cook it for a few minutes.
- Add everything else to the pot except for the peas.
- Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 1.5h.