DELICIOUS OLD FASHIONED BEEF STEW

Delicious Old Fashioned Beef Stew image

This is definitely a recipe for all you frugal cooks out there. It is done the way my grandmother used to make it wasting nothing from the cut of meat. The flavor is so good though you will never make it any other way.

Provided by Deb Lund

Categories Beef

Time 3h

Number Of Ingredients 9

Ingredients

4 lb boneless chuck roeas
6 c beef broth (canned or bouillon)
1 french onion soup mix
1 c flour
6-10 large carrots diced into slightly larger than bite sized pieces
6-10 medium potatoes diced into chuncks
2 clove garlic
2 bay leaves, whole, remove before serving
1 handful of frozen peas for color

Steps:

1. Put the beef broth and whole garlic clove in a pan and heat to a simmer.
2. Put flour and Onion soup mix in zip lock bag and shake until mixed well. You will be adding batches of meat to be browned to this mix just like shake and bake. ( when done do not throw away. You will use this later for thickening)
3. Prepare the meat by cutting off all the fat. Take the fat and brown it in a large dutch oven until brown and crisp and all the fat has been rendered.
4. Add the browned pieces of fat to the broth and simmer.
5. Keep the fat in the pan on medium heat and put the floured meat in the pan in small batches to brown. I usually put about 8-10 pieces in and when they need to be turned I push them off to one side and then add more to that side removing them to a plate to make room for more. When finished browning add the onions and toss around the pan to brown slightly. ( If you run out of fat while browning you can add a small amount of vegetable oil.)
6. With a slotted spoon remove the crispy fat (which will not be crispy anymore) and the garlic from the broth.
7. To the slightly browned onions add the meat, the broth the carrots and potatoes in that order. If you add the broth to the onions it will spatter a great deal.
8. Turn on low and cover. Simmer for at least 2 hours.
9. Add the handful of frozen green peas or more if you like for color. You can also add cut up green beans if you prefer. Continue cooking to heat these up
10. Take left over Flour and add 1/3 cup to 1 cup of water and stir until combined and smooth. Add slowly to stew stirring constantly so lumps don't form. Continue cooking for 1o-15 minutes to thicken.
11. Eat with a crusty loaf of bread and a good red wine, Enjoy!