Friday, December 20, 2019

Crockpot Beef Wine Stew Tutorial


My own recipe made especially for the crockpot.
Recipes & pix below:


2 lbs. stew meat - cut into similar, medium size chunks
1 C wine   ( I use Pinot Noir to make a 'light' wine stew)
1 C broth (chicken or veggie)
1 T tomato paste
8 oz. mushrooms (I cube mine or use sliced)
2 med. onions - chopped
4 slices bacon (more if your bacon is thin)
2 bay leaves
drizzle of soy sauce
1 tsp. each rosemary & thyme - and a sprinkle of ground marjoram
2 carrots - chopped
1 potato - chopped

salt & pepper to taste when stew is done

This recipe fits a 6 qt crockpot - do not double.
Cooking time: 6  hours HIGH 
                      8-10 hours on LOW


 Slice up and cook bacon in a large, heavy pot. (Do not clean - you will be searing your stew meat in this later using the bacon drippings.)
  Put cooked bacon in crockpot, along with the wine, stock, tomato paste, soy sauce, bay leaves & spices. 
 (you can add bay leaves at the end if you want, in case they break when you stir everything together ... just don't forget them).

Cut and chop up carrots, potatoes, onions and mushrooms ...  add to pot - stir everything together.

  
Cut up your stew meat into medium, similar sized chunks, and pat dry.

In a big bowl - put a generous amount of flour and sprinkle in some salt and pepper.  Add meat and coat with flour mixture.  Lift out meat with your hands and shake off excessive flour.  

Heat your pot with the bacon fat - (add a little more oil if needed) - start to sear the meat in 4 batches - don't crowd your pot. 
 For each batch you sear - you will have to add a little more oil to prevent sticking.
Put each batch of warmed/seared meat into the crockpot.  Basically, the flour on the meat will help thicken the stew - also, starting a crockpot meal with cold meat takes longer to bring up the cooking temperature - so sear meat if you can.

Dab pot with a paper towel to remove excess oil after cooking the meat, and deglaze the pan with either wine or broth.  Scrape it all up and add to the crockpot.
Stir everything together and put in your bay leaves if you havn't already. 

Write down the time you start cooking and what temperature:  HIGH or LOW. You will forget.

Combine left over wine & broth to freeze and use for another batch.

The time is a little bit of a judgement call - depending on whether you added a few more veggies or a little more meat ... if your ingredients were refrigerated to start with, whether you seared the meat, and how much you lift the lid to stir.

I cook it on high for 6+ hours until it is done - then drop the temperature to LOW or warm until we are ready to eat.  

When the stew begins to 'bubble & burp' - I tend to stir every half hour.  I know people say NOT to but ...  if you were cooking this on a stove on simmer - you would stir often - so I figure, why not in the crockpot.

 Notes:    If your crockpot does NOT have venting holes - your stew will start to bubble & burp the lid after 3 hours on HIGH, or about 5 hours on LOW.                                                             
 If this happens - remove the lid and stir every once in a while - or put a bamboo skewer under the lid to make a gap that allows steam to escape.
  ** wait for the bubble & burp BEFORE you vent**

My soy sauce of choice is this: 







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