dry tasting stew

"Bill" <wls%intac.com> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've cooked a beef stew a number of times over the past few months and a couple of times the meat
was "dry" and a little tough when eating it. does the searing have anything to do with it?

No but browning the meat adds a lot of flavor.

Quoted message said:

The question is did I not cook it enough, or did I cook it too much. The

recipes call for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours.

Quoted message said:

Bill S

The likelihood is that the meat you used was very very lean like a round steak or bottom round
roast. This type of beef tends to be as you say "dry" as there is not enough fat in the beef to keep
it moist. Next time try using "Chuck" or a cut with some marbling.

Dimitri

Bill wls%intac.com said:

I've cooked a beef stew a number of times over the past few months and a couple of times the meat
was "dry" and a little tough when eating it. does the searing have anything to do with it? The
question is did I not cook it enough, or did I cook it too much. The recipes call for 2 1/2 to 3
1/2 hours.

What cut of meat did you use? It would help to know the full recipe.

Bill said:

I've cooked a beef stew a number of times over the past few months and =

a

Quoted message said:

couple of times the meat was "dry" and a little tough when eating it. d=

oes

Quoted message said:

the searing have anything to do with it? The question is did I not coo=

k it

Quoted message said:

enough, or did I cook it too much. The recipes call for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours.

My guess you be that you boiled it. Boiling it makes the meat tough and = dry. Best bet is to brown
the meat, saut=E9 some garlic and onion, celery, diced ca= rrots and mushrooms. Add beef broth and
let it *simmer*. Do not boil. I prefer to= do the simmering part in the oven at about 300 degrees
for a few hours. If you = want to thicken the sauce, remove the meat before you add the thickener
and boil= , then return the meat to the sauce.

at Thu, 08 Jan 2004 22:46:14 GMT in <[email hidden]>, wls%intac.com
(Bill) wrote
:

Quoted message said:

I've cooked a beef stew a number of times over the past few months and a couple of times the meat
was "dry" and a little tough when eating it. does the searing have anything to do with it? The
question is did I not cook it enough, or did I cook it too much.

You probably cooked it at too high a temperature, or with too much water. Good stew really needs to
be on a very low setting - so that it never boils, and at most, simmers occasionally. Adding too
much water also has the effect, paradoxically, of drying out the meat - the water simply leaches out
liquid which then evaporates. I almost never add any water to a stew - that from the vegetables and
the meat is usually more than enough. As for temperature, I put mine on the lowest burner on the
stove at the lowest setting. There's always one burner that has the least heat - find out which one
it is on your stove and use it.

As other posters have mentioned, it's also possible you were using one of the super-lean cuts, like
round (not a good choice for stew) or tenderloin (an extravagant waste for stew). These dry out very
easily. You can correct for this, to some extent, by adding a fatty meat like bacon, but this only
goes so far and, of course, changes the flavour.

The times you quote I don't think of as nearly sufficient, especially at the low temperatures I
recommend, for a good stew. 12 hours or more is better. I have a pot of stew on the stove right now
that I started at midnight last night, and I don't expect to eat it until after midnight tonight.
That gives it all sorts of time to develop and also to cook thoroughly. In 3 hours, parts of the
meat and vegetables were still almost raw at the temperatures I use.

--
Alex Rast [email hidden] (remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

[email hidden] (Alex Rast) wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

at Thu, 08 Jan 2004 22:46:14 GMT in <[email hidden]>, wls%intac.com
(Bill) wrote
:

Quoted message said:

I've cooked a beef stew a number of times over the past few months and a couple of times the meat
was "dry" and a little tough when eating it. does the searing have anything to do with it? The
question is did I not cook it enough, or did I cook it too much.

You probably cooked it at too high a temperature, or with too much water. Good stew really needs
to be on a very low setting - so that it never boils, and at most, simmers occasionally. Adding
too much water also has the effect, paradoxically, of drying out the meat - the water simply
leaches out liquid which then evaporates. I almost never add any water to a stew - that from the
vegetables and the meat is usually more than enough. As for temperature, I put mine on the lowest
burner on the stove at the lowest setting. There's always one burner that has the least heat -
find out which one it is on your stove and use it.

As other posters have mentioned, it's also possible you were using one of the super-lean cuts,
like round (not a good choice for stew) or tenderloin (an extravagant waste for stew). These dry
out very easily. You can correct for this, to some extent, by adding a fatty meat like bacon, but
this only goes so far and, of course, changes the flavour.

The times you quote I don't think of as nearly sufficient, especially at the low temperatures I
recommend, for a good stew. 12 hours or more is better. I have a pot of stew on the stove right
now that I started at midnight last night, and I don't expect to eat it until after midnight
tonight. That gives it all sorts of time to develop and also to cook thoroughly. In 3 hours, parts
of the meat and vegetables were still almost raw at the temperatures I use.

Also over crowding the pan when browning the meat will cause the meat to sieze up and be tougher and
dry tasting.

--
Once during Prohibition I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water.
--------
FIELDS, W. C.

in article [email hidden], hahabogus at
[email hidden] wrote on 1/8/04 8:14 PM:

Quoted message said:

Also over crowding the pan when browning the meat will cause the meat to sieze up and be tougher
and dry tasting.

Overcrowding the pan will only serve to cause the meat not to brown. That happens because too much
meat in the pan gives off enough liquid to "water down" the oil, thereby lowering the temperature
and preventing it from browning. But it won't prevent the meat from getting tender.

For tender stew meat, you need to brown it and then simmer it in plenty of flavorful liquid (I like
a combo of beef stock, tomato sauce and red wine) for at least two hours.

If the meat is dry, it's because the meat was too lean to start with. Personally, I am not a fan of
round, I prefer cutting up a chuck roast or even a chuck shoulder steak, since there is more
marbling in chuck than in round. Chuck comes from the front of the animal, round from the
hindquarters.

If the meat is tough, it's because it wasn't cooked long enough or with enough liquid.