Stewing

Hey, I’m not writing a rant for a change.

Just don’t get used to it.

While my body has still copped an attitude because of the season changes, it’s not as bad as it was. I can pull my stool up to the stove and get stuff done, especially when it’s something I can make in steps a few minutes or a few hours apart. Like the (largely eaten, hence the mess) above beef stew.

I’m payin’ attention, Dangerspouse. I could’ve cooked the beast in the crockpot and it would’ve fed us. However, I decided instead to put my stew meat on the stovetop and simmer for a few hours to keep it from being mushy. And damn… the difference is amazing.

Yes, hours. Nearly five hours altogether. I knew the cut of beef was tough and needed all the help it could get. I was a little afraid it would be overdone, but my fears were unfounded. Tender, yes. Mushy or overdone – not even a little bit.

I changed up a few things from my usual beast stew, actually. First, I caramelized my onions, then added my stew meat to the hot oil and seared it. Then I added a bit of flour to make a roux. I didn’t have a lot of time for that step so I didn’t let it get as browned as I wanted. Keep that little detail in mind. I’ll come back to it later.

I started cooking at the beginning of my 8 am lunch break. Added a whole lot of water, salt & pepper, a single packet of brown gravy mix, and brought to a boil, then reduced to a simmer and set the timer with instructions that the spousal unit check it 30 minutes later. This was simmering in a 5-quart Dutch oven. I don’t mess around with little batches, honey. And it was about 2/3 full.

The husband person’s instructions from me included: stir and add water as needed. I threw the instructions over my shoulder at 8:29 and made a mad dash back to my desk to clock in. Lunch break over.

It’s not unusual for my other half to stir and add water to meals – the extent of his cooking skills. But I forgot to tell him to reset the timer every 30 minutes. We were just busy enough at work that I couldn’t go check on it. The smoke alarm didn’t go off and I didn’t smell anything too scary, so I didn’t think about it again until my 15-minute break a couple of hours later.

At my 15 minute break, I checked in myself. And while it hadn’t burned, there was maybe half an inch of liquid left and the roux had formed a crunchy brown crust lining the bottom of the pan, with bits of cubed beef embedded in it. It honestly looked burnt and my heart sunk because I didn’t have a backup plan for lunch/dinner.

Amazingly it seems that’s all that happened to it, though: it was just reeeeeally dark brown. Since it wasn’t actually burnt (I tasted it to be sure there wasn’t the slightest smoky flavor, and it definitely didn’t smell burnt) I decided to add water, reduce the temperature, and let the spousal unit know this time that the 30-minute timer should be a recurring theme. I did stir to break things up and get liquid back to the bottom of the pan. (Ceramic pans are amazing but if you ever burn something really bad in them, they’ll never be the same.)

Turned out to be a good call. Once the water was re-added, not only did the crusty material re-integrate into the liquid, but it gave it an amazing color and taste. When I finally wrapped up my workday and got back to the kitchen, I added the chopped veggies: gemstone potatoes, diced carrots, celery, green beans, corn, all the usual suspects. Set the timer and other than the occasional stir, let it go long enough for the veggies to cook through.

The featured image on this post shows there’s food left in my bowl. The picture is deceiving. I cleaned that puppy up and had seconds, and that’s a sizeable bowl. My spousal unit had thirds and has threatened to hoard the remainder like gold for later.

But next time I’m letting the roux do the heavy lifting for flavor and giving my hubby better instructions.