Beef is a valuable protein product and a constant source of iron. A variety of dishes are prepared from it, but it is most delicious in a stew. However, to make the beef juicy and soft, you need to know some secrets.
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Beef is a tasty and nutritious meat. This is a real pantry of protein, B vitamins and useful minerals. Of the many options for its preparation, the most convenient way is stewing. This process will make even the toughest meat soft and tasty. The time for stewing beef usually takes from 40 minutes to 2.5 hours. It depends on the age of the animal and the part of the carcass. The softest parts of beef are roast beef and fillet. Also, the most used parts include the shoulder blades, neck and hip part. If you decide to cook beef stew, the following tips and little tricks will help you to make the usual dish even tastier.
Stewed beef quite often appears on the tables of Russians due to its excellent taste and relative ease of preparation. It goes perfectly with any side dishes and fresh salads, is extremely nutritious and does not lose its taste after reheating. In addition, soft meat is recommended for feeding children. However, high-quality cooked beef stew is obtained only if a few simple rules are observed.
The taste, and the consistency of the resulting dish, will largely depend on which part of the animal was used. It is believed that it is best to use meat from the drumstick. It is usually sold already boned and is most often used for jelly. It happens, however, that it is simply cut into pucks, and the brain bone remains in the middle. In such a situation, it is not forbidden to stew meat directly with the bones. The excellent taste of the dish is guaranteed by the presence of connective tissue, which, when stewed, softens the meat and prevents excessive dryness and rigidity.
Beef neck can in principle be treated in a similar way, but the thermal treatment must be prolonged and in a humid environment.
Delicate stewed lung is considered a great addition to almost any side dish, and beef kidneys must first be soaked in water or milk.
In all cases it is better not to take old beef - the resulting meat has a rubbery taste and takes too long to cook.
To make the beef stew soft and juicy, you need to spend from forty minutes to two and a half hours in time. Usually, specific numbers depend on the age of the animal, as well as the specific part of its carcass. By the way, in the case when the cooks accidentally purchased tough beef, it can be pre-marinated for a period of two to eight hours. The meat in this case should already be cleaned of veins and films, and also cut across the fibers.
The pickling solution is selected depending on the wishes of the hostess. If you follow all the instructions, it turns out that the beef processed in this way has become more aromatic, and besides, the meat will be stewed much faster. Soft-boiled beef can also be stewed - it only takes about ten minutes after roasting.
The classic beef stew recipe requires the use of the simplest ingredients. It will be necessary to prepare about one and a half kilograms of meat, about three medium-sized onions, salt, about ten black peppercorns (the exact amount varies depending on the wishes), 50 milliliters of vegetable oil and one and a half glasses of clean water.
First, the selected meat is cut into small pieces - it is more convenient to make them of such a size that it is enough for only one bite. The bow should be divided into two parts. The first one will be chopped along with feathers - it will become the basis for the sauce.
The second is traditionally cut into ring halves or even quarters. A deep frying pan with thick walls is heated over high heat, after which meat pieces are immediately laid out in it without adding oil. It will immediately start to ooze, so the next step will begin when all the liquid has evaporated and the meat has a crust. At this point, it will already be possible to pour vegetable oil into the container, and after half a minute - all the onions and peppercorns. After mixing all the ingredients, you need to wait until the onion is fried.
At the next stage, the mass is covered with freshly boiled water so that the solid fragments are below the liquid level. After stirring again and waiting for the boil, you can reduce the heat to the weakest and cover everything with a lid. The extinguishing process will last from an hour to two and a half. Serve such meat with a side dish, gravy and slices of fresh white bread.
A step-by-step recipe for beef stew with gravy looks similar. For cooking, you need to prepare 1.5 kilograms of meat, three onions, one carrot, 300 milliliters of water, one and a half teaspoons of salt, 0.5 teaspoons of ground black pepper, a teaspoon of sweet paprika and 70 milliliters of olive oil. The selected piece of meat is washed, freed from films and veins and cut into fragments. Three large onions and one carrot are peeled and cut properly. Usually, onions are chopped into quarters, and carrots are grated.
Next, the onion is sautéed in vegetable oil until it reaches translucency. Carrots are added to it, and everything is stewed together for no more than five minutes. Having added meat to vegetables, everything will immediately need to be salted and seasoned with spices, and then fried over high heat for five minutes. Water is poured into the container so as to hide the solid ingredients, and everything is stewed for about an hour and a half on minimal heat.
By the way, you should try to cook such beef in melted butter or lard - so the taste of the gravy will become richer and brighter. In addition, bell peppers can be added to vegetables, or vegetable meatballs can be used when serving.
Beef stew with vegetables is always delicious. It cannot be said that meat with carrots comes out quickly, but very nutritious. To execute this recipe, you will need 600 grams of meat, 200 grams of onions, 200 grams of carrots, five balls of black pepper, three bay leaves, a teaspoon of paprika, a third of a teaspoon of ground red pepper, ground black pepper, 100 milliliters of sunflower oil and salt.
Beef, cut into small pieces, is placed in a deep frying pan and immediately poured into a glass of freshly boiled water. And it will also be correct and convenient to carry out processing in a saucepan. After adding peas and bay leaf, the liquid must be brought to a boil.
At the first stage, the meat will have to be stewed for about forty minutes under a tightly closed lid and over low heat. By the end of the time period, the water should have almost evaporated. At this time, the peeled onion is cut into quarters of rings. Carrots, freed from the peel, are chopped into pieces of the preferred size. After a specified period, vegetable oil is poured into the pan and vegetables are laid out. The mixed ingredients are fried for about ten minutes. Finally, another glass of boiling water and the remaining spices are poured into the container. Until cooked, the meat will have to be stewed for about fifty minutes under a closed lid.
Stewed beef pairs well with potatoes, so they are often cooked together. The list of ingredients includes 500 grams of meat, 800 grams of root vegetables, a couple of onions, a tablespoon of flour, three bay leaves, two tablespoons of butter, a few cloves, three cups of boiling water, salt and ground black pepper, and five peppercorns. The meat is cut into fragments, immediately salted and peppered and rolled in flour. The pieces must be fried until golden brown, and then pour a glass of water.
Having brought everything to a boil, a couple more glasses of hot water are poured into the container, after which it is covered with a lid and stewed for a couple of hours. After the specified period, chopped onions and potatoes, as well as peppers, cloves and bay leaves are added to the meat. The stewing continues for about thirty or forty minutes, after which the dish can be served on the table along with fresh vegetables or a salad with tomatoes and cucumbers.
It is impossible not to mention that stewed beef often includes pilaf, traditionally cooked in a cauldron. Meat is also cooked in a sleeve with vegetables.
The meat is processed very easily in milk. Of the ingredients, only 500 grams of beef, 500 milliliters of milk and salt will be needed. The meat pieces are salted, peppered, if necessary beaten off and fried on each side. Then everything is poured with milk and stewed under the lid for almost an hour. You can serve the finished dish with any side dish.
A frequent solution for housewives is stewing meat with onions and sour cream. The list of ingredients includes 300 grams of meat, four tablespoons of twenty percent sour cream, 0.5 teaspoon of dried dill, two tablespoons of vegetable oil, one medium onion, salt and spices.
You will need to cut the beef into small and thin strips, and then fry in pieces in a pan along with onion half rings. Vegetable oil should be hot, and frying should take no more than four minutes, until a golden color appears. Water is poured into the container so that its level only half covers the meat.
Bringing to a boil, the dish will need to be closed with a lid and simmered for about forty minutes over low heat. If the liquid begins to evaporate ahead of time, then it will need to be added periodically. Then the meat is salted and seasoned with spices, including dried dill. Finally, sour cream is poured into the container, everything is stirred and stewed for another five minutes. At this time, in a separate glass, the flour is combined with 100 milliliters of cold water, and the resulting liquid is poured into the meat with sour cream. Again, the substance will need to be brought to a boil and simmered under the lid for another five minutes. The finished dish is infused for ten minutes and served on the table.
When there is not much time for cooking, and a hot dish is intended for children who are not used to a long wait, then it is quite possible to stew beef in a pressure cooker. Thanks to the proven technique, tender, soft and juicy meat is obtained, and the time required to create a dinner is much less. The ingredients will require a kilogram of beef, a couple of onions, two tablespoons of sunflower oil, salt and spices. Of the last hostesses, I recommend dried dill, ground black pepper, as well as suneli hops. Cooking begins with the fact that the meat is thoroughly washed and dried with napkins or paper towels.
Next, the beef is cut into small pieces. The pressure cooker is placed on the stove, and vegetable oil is poured into the bowl. Onions chopped in half rings are fried over low heat until a beautiful golden hue is obtained. After that, meat is added to the same bowl. Roasting continues until excess liquid has evaporated from the beef.
When all the juice disappears, it remains to fry the pieces for another ten or fifteen minutes until a delicious crust appears. Then the fire is reduced to a minimum, and the dish is filled with water so that the pieces of meat are below its level. The lid closes the bowl, and the heat treatment lasts from thirty to forty minutes. As soon as the specified period expires, it will be necessary to slightly open the valve and release steam.
Next, the lid is opened, the meat is salted and seasoned with spices, the lid is closed, and the stewed beef is cooked for about a dozen more minutes. At the end, you will have to release steam again, and then the finished meat can already be served and served at the table.
The combination of meat with prunes is also appropriate. To prepare such a dish, you will need to add about 600 grams of dried fruits per 700 grams of meat, which will be added to the total container after stewing for half an hour.
For information on how to properly stew beef, see the following video.
It is still unclear why the world-famous traditional dish of Russian cuisine bears the English name "beef stroganoff".
“Stroganov-style meat” is considered a symbol of Russian cuisine all over the world, so we must be able to cook it, but first we will find out how much and how to stew beef in a pan.
Cow meat is not as simple a product as it might seem, but we will reveal all its secrets and tell you step by step how to cook a delicious Stroganoff treat.
To make beef stew in a pan a success and turn out tender, melting in your mouth, you should follow some rules for its preparation:
The best way to cook beef is to stew small slices in sauce, gravy, or with vegetables in their own juice. So the meat is really very soft, fragrant and tender.
One of the most popular ways of stewing beef - in onions, is also the simplest, not only in terms of cooking technology, but also in terms of the amount of spices.
For 1 kg of meat, in this case, you should take 1 tsp. salt, 3 large heads of juicy onions and 10 pieces of black peppercorns.
A great option to stew beef with potatoes. This dish is very easy to prepare and has a mesmerizing effect on men. And how to cook a traditional dish of Russian cuisine is described step by step in our previous article.
To cook chic beef at home, like in a real French restaurant, our step-by-step recipe will help. The most delicate meat slices in fragrant sour cream sauce can conquer any gourmet.
This method, although not very fast, is quite simple, and most importantly, it allows you to make the most delicious meat dish you have ever tried.
The readiness of meat is determined by its softness. Ideally, the fillet should be easy to separate into fibers.
You can serve a treat prepared by your own hands to the table with any side dish: boiled rice, pasta, mashed potatoes, as well as stewed, steamed, fresh or boiled vegetables.
Bon appetit!
Be it roast beef, porchetta or any other impressive piece of meat, its preparation is inextricably linked with the oven. Baked meat conquers with its aroma long before it hits the table. However, the traditional method has a more economical alternative - quenching at low temperatures. Compared to roasting, the method has at least two advantages: tough, inexpensive cuts are ideal; the meat does not need to be constantly turned or watered - just add all the necessary ingredients to the pan and put it in the oven. To make a tough piece of beef incredibly tender and fragrant, it is enough not to repeat these typical mistakes.
As you know, tough, inexpensive parts of the carcass are best suited for extinguishing. Logically, any non-premium cut will do, but this is not entirely true. If the meat contains little connective tissue, after a long simmer it will either become too tough or turn into a mess. To use such meat for slow languishing is only in vain to translate products. For cooking at low temperatures, you need to take meat rich in collagen, such as shoulder, shank or brisket meat. With prolonged slow heating, the coarse collagen fibers of the connective tissue dissolve, making the texture of the meat tender, and the flavor bright and rich.
Some believe that there is no point in bothering with roast meat if it will languish later anyway. In fact, there is, because fast frying is what distinguishes a delicious piece of stew from a very tasty one. It enhances the aroma. For some 6-7 minutes, the meat is covered with a ruddy crust, and with it it acquires a unique taste. It is preferable to fry the meat in the same pan in which you will simmer it later - this will greatly enrich the taste and aroma of the dish.
Before adding all the extinguishing liquid to the pan, you can add only a small part and clean the sides of the dish from adhering pieces of meat with a spatula. This simple technique will make the taste of the gravy more concentrated. Instead of pouring the broth alone, pair it with wine or tomato paste and fresh herbs. Thanks to deglazing, the meat is even more flavorful.
As a rule, meat is stewed with vegetables. Since they cook at different speeds, putting them all together in a pan, you will most likely end up with something mushy with pieces of meat. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary that after deglazing, for some time, the meat languishes in a broth with seasonings without vegetables. Usually a piece of beef weighing about 1.5 kg is stewed in the oven at 160 degrees, with the lid of the pan closed, for about 1.5-2 hours until it becomes soft, but still does not fall apart. Then vegetables are added to it and simmer all together already without a lid. As soon as the vegetables soften, the pan is taken out of the oven. If the dish is overexposed, then overcooked meat with vegetable puree will turn out.
Meat is served along with vegetables and gravy, in which it all languished. To obtain the desired consistency, the gravy must be slightly thickened, and at the same time give it a rich and velvety texture. The whole difficulty is that this must be done without the formation of hated lumps and, it would be nice, without additional soiling of the dishes. A simple and convenient way to thicken gravy, and, in principle, any sauce, is bere-manier. In equal proportions (about 2 tablespoons each), mix softened butter and flour. Roll into a ball and put it in the gravy without meat and vegetables. Cook until it thickens, then add vegetables and chopped meat and heat them up.
This type of meat is one of the most useful, because it contains protein, B vitamins and useful minerals. Stewing beef is the most successful way of cooking, because in the process the pieces become very soft and tender.
First of all, it is necessary to remove the film from the piece of beef, cut it across the fibers into medium pieces, then marinate. With this approach, it will be necessary to stew beef much less. Marinating time takes from 2 to 8 hours. The prepared meat is fried for several minutes in a pan, and then transferred to a container where it will be stewed.
The advantage of such a dish is that the calorie content of stewed beef is 232 calories per serving of 100 grams, which is sure to be appreciated by losing weight. If you want to enjoy the tender taste of meat, learn how to stew beef with gravy or vegetables, how to stew it in pots. Marinate the meat in advance and try out your favorite beef stew recipe.
In order to save money, many people prefer to take beef goulash as a basis, because the meat does not differ in taste, for example, from the pulp. To stew beef in a pan, you need to take a container with high sides - so the juice that stands out will not flow out or splash onto the stove. Stewed goulash goes well with vegetable salads, providing the whole family with a hearty lunch or dinner.
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If you like soft meat that melts in your mouth, then check out a simple recipe on how to cook it step by step. Braised beef with gravy is ideal for many side dishes, and the calorie content of such a dish is only 101 calories per 100 grams. When adding bell pepper, remember that the flavor of the finished dish directly depends on the color of the selected vegetable.
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Meat prepared according to this recipe will be appropriate on any table: lunch or during a reception. Beef stew with onions and mushrooms is a gourmet dish that is suitable for any side dishes: various cereals, mashed potatoes or pasta. Follow the step-by-step steps and do not ignore the cooking of mushrooms, because this is an important step in the proper preparation of the gifts of nature.
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It may seem to some that the dish takes too long to cook, but once you try it, you will cook it again and again. Stewed beef with prunes and potatoes will turn out deliciously tender if you lay out the ingredients in layers in pots, and then send them to bake. Ready lunch will amaze you with its taste and wonderful aroma.
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This option is suitable for those who want to diversify an ordinary family dinner with an original and tasty dish. Beef stew with carrots, although it takes a very long time to cook, but it turns out to be simply delicious, the main thing is to make the fire smaller and simmer the meat longer. Watch carefully for the readiness of the ingredients: they should be soft, but not overcooked.
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If you are impressed with the appetizing look of the dish in the photo, then you just need to learn how to cook beef stew, and what to consider before you start the process: