8 Tasty Recipes With Stew Meat That Aren't Stew | Livestrong.com (2024)

FAQs

What is stew meat good for? ›

A full-flavored staple. Great for slow-cooking, chili and stews. The name “Stew” originates from a method of cooking where small pieces of meat are simmered in water or other liquid until its tender.

Sear the meat well.

Searing meat takes a long time, and it's tempting to skip it. Don't. Searing the meat until it develops a dark brown crust and a sticky “fond” starts to glaze over the bottom of the pan are both key to creating the kind of rich, caramelized flavors that make stews irresistibly good.

The most important key to making stew meat tender is being sure to cook it for a long time. If you want super tender beef, you'll need to cook it on a low heat in a Dutch oven on the stove or a slow cooker for at least a few hours.

Stew Meat is one of those meats that I love having on hand because it makes fixing quick dishes easy. It comes in smaller 1lb packages, you can chop it, marinate it, stew it or fry it. And it can be stretched for several meals too!

What Cut of Beef Is Stew Meat? Stew meat is made from cuts of beef with lots of tough connective tissue, namely chuck and/or round. When you simmer it in a liquid, the connective tissue breaks down and becomes melt-in-your-mouth tender. That's why it's traditionally braised in stock and turned into beef stew.

Two pounds of stew beef was diced, dressed in olive oil, and simply seasoned, seared hard to tender, rare perfection, then pushed to the exterior walls of the wok, and the veggies were loaded in, frying in the rendering beef fat.

While the chuck roast is a larger cut of chuck meat that you can use for pot roast, beef stew meat, or a simple roast beef, the chuck steak is a smaller portion of that cut. It's carved right from the roast and can include the rib bone or be carved around it to create a boneless steak.

Don't Stew the Stew Too Long Either

Your beef will be tough if you don't cook it enough and it will be tough if you cook it too much. It's just science, take it from us! We recommend doing a taste test or two throughout the cooking process to gauge the progress.

Toss meat pieces in flour prior to browning. The flour helps to thicken a stew as it cooks. Whisk a teaspoon of flour in a little cold water to make a slurry, then stir into the stew as it's cooking. Don't add dry flour directly to the stew as it may clump.

How long do I cook stew meat to make it tender? ›

Add the beef, beef broth and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a slow simmer. Cover and cook, skimming broth from time to time, until the beef is tender, about 1½ hours.

Start by marinating a roast in Tennessee Whiskey marinade overnight or marinating beef stew meat for an hour. Cook meat as usual and add to your vegetable stew for an extra tasty flair.

Two options really, either it is really a poor cut of beef, or more likely it hasn't been cooked for long enough. Usually 3 hours in the oven in a casserole dish at 180C/350F should make any cut of beef tender. You probly cooked it to hot to fast. Try using a crock pot for tender beef .

The best (and least expensive) beef stew meat comes from the front shoulder, also known as the chuck. The rear muscle (also called the round) would definitely make a great stew, but we like chuck better because it has more connective tissue.

Mixed Stew Meat is Tricky to Cook

—this isn't actually the best news for your stew. All those little scraps from different muscle groups often cook quite differently. Some might take longer or slower, resulting in some perfectly tender bites and some tough and chewy bites.

Stew may seem complicated at first glance, especially when using a non-conventional cut of steak, but it's an amazing hearty dish that anyone can make. NY Strip may not be the cut of steak that's everyone's first choice for a stew, but it can be just as mouth-watering as any other when prepared correctly.

Stew meat usually contains a tougher cut of meat (such as a chuck or rump roast) which is best suited for making Slow Cooker Beef Stew. Beef Tips should be prepared with a more tender cut of meat such as sirloin or tenderloin, unless they're being prepared in the Slow Cooker.