Everyone eats stew in some form or other! Stew dates back to ancient times and basically is any combination of two or more foods simmered in a liquid. Every culture has its own variation, the common thread is that most stews originally consisted of accessible and inexpensive ingredients and if meat was a component it was usually a tougher cut suitable for slow cooking.
I don't know about you but I tend to stick to the same old, same old when cooking a stew, invariably a Bourguignon or chasseur, however, I've been doing some research and I'm amazed at how many stews there are out there.
I was going to crack a joke about putting random ingredients together and taking 'pot luck' when it dawned on me that the etymology probably derived from that very process......doh! Sure enough pot luck, luck of what's in the pot, first appeared in 16th century England. This was also a common term used by Irish women who would gather to cook, with only one pot between them they would cook whatever ingredients they happened to have that day.
Where stew is concerned you really have carte blanche to combine any ingredients but I quess for many it's having the confidence to know which flavours work well together. Back to Masterchef, the cookery show I was talking about in a previous post, the common problem is that the contestants quite often combine flavours that the judges don't feel belong together. It's all a matter of personal taste but I guess if you've got some meat, which isn't cheap, you're not going to want to take a chance experimenting with flavour combinations if you know vegetables and wine work for you.
I on the other hand love experimenting, I would say nine out of ten dishes work and although on occasion I've seen Glenn and Bert grimace when I've served up a particularly strange combination, like my roast dinner curry, for the most part my meals are pretty good!
The thing I love about stew is that throughout history it has been a community dish, mulligan stew was often made by itinerant workers around a camp fire, cholent- a traditional Sabbath stew would be taken to the town bakers by Jewish families in individual pots to slow cook overnight in the baker's oven. In 1600, king Henry 1V of France declared: 'I want that no peasant in my Kingdom be so poor that he cannot have a poule au pot on Sundays.' To this day 'pot-au-feu' is regularly eaten in France.
On a recent visit to my friend Clarrie's I entered her house to the wonderful aromas of her beef stew
I knew I had plenty of vegetables at home that needed using up so after leaving Clarrie's I headed straight to my butcher's for some free range topside of beef. As I've said several times there really is no comparison between free range meat and the factory produced variety in either taste or quality (or morality.) Of course you get less meat for your money but quality is always better than quantity! In my stew I added lentils to bulk it out and they worked beautifully, they cost only pence for a whole packet and with the added vegetables my stew fed three of us for two nights!
Beef stew
Recipe
1.4kg free range topside of beef, cut into cubes
3 onions, roughly chopped
Vegetables of your choice, I used parsnips, carrots and potatoes
200g lentils, cooked according to packet instructions
Olive oil
1 chilli, chopped (optional)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed, peeled and chopped
1 bottle red burgundy wine
2 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
Heat a generous glug of oil in a pan
Add just enough meat to cover the bottom and brown evenly on a high heat, cook meat in batches
Add onion and cook for 4 minutes
Add vegetables, garlic, chilli, herbs and lentils
Cook for 5 minutes, add wine, transfer to either an oven proof dish, cover and place in a preheated oven 180c/gas 4 for 2 hours, alternatively place in slow cooker for 4 hours
When cooked the meat should be glossy and soft as butter, this is a meal in itself however, you could serve the stew with crusty bread
'Talk of joy: there may be better things than beef stew and baked potatoes- there may be?'
Ray Stannard Baker
Love Donna.........and Clarrie! Xxxxxxx
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