mike's mom's savory beef stew

Recipe by
Mike Klein
Santa Clara, CA

Adapted from my Mom's recipe which probably originally came from a 1960's home magazine. My Mom's recipe called for flour, salt and pepper to coat the beef cubes. The coating in this recipe is adapted from a recipe for paprikash and should make the stew very thick and savory without any extra additions. The step where you cook the beef and onions together alone is adapted from many popular chili recipes and helps infuse the beef with onion flavor. The burgundy and consomme are key flavor components so don't skimp on quantity or quality. You can easily scale this recipe up by 150%, I often do.

yield 6 serving(s)
prep time 30 Min
cook time 3 Hr 15 Min
method Stove Top

Ingredients For mike's mom's savory beef stew

  • 1/2 c
    all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp
    seasoned salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp
    paprika, sweet mild
  • 1/2 tsp
    garlic powder with parsley
  • 1/4 tsp
    ground black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp
    ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp
    ground basil leaves
  • 2 to 3 lb
    beef chuck roast
  • 3 to 4 Tbsp
    cooking oil
  • 1 lg
    yellow onions
  • 1 can
    beef consomme
  • 3/4 c
    burgundy wine
  • 2 lg
    potato
  • 2 lg
    carrot
  • 1 c
    frozen peas

How To Make mike's mom's savory beef stew

  • 1
    Cut roast into 1 inch cubes. Mix flour and all spices together in a large paper or plastic bag. Coat meat by shaking a handful of pieces at a time in the bag with the flour mixture. Remove pieces from bag and let sit on paper towel until all pieces are coated. Add oil to the skillet and heat.
  • 2
    Brown meat in a heavy skillet with hot oil. Cook in batches to avoid letting the beef pieces touch each other while browning. Remove browned pieces to another paper towel to drain. NOTE: I prefer to brown the meat in the same pot in which I will cook the stew later to retain the beef drippings and oil. Your choice.
  • 3
    Chop onion into large segments, similar to size of beef pieces. Add onion and browned beef to a dutch oven or heavy pot. Simmer until onions are tender.
  • 4
    Add to the pot the consomme, burgundy and enough water to barely cover meat and onions. To make the stew thicker and more flavorful, you can add the leftover beef coating mixture to the pot at this point. Cover pot and simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours or until the meat is not quite tender but close. Watch the liquid level and add water (or wine) to keep the meat mixture covered.
  • 5
    Add potatoes and carrots to pot and cook until tender. Add water if needed to keep meat and vegetables covered.
  • 6
    Finish by adding the frozen peas and simmering until the peas are no longer frozen but before they cook.
  • 7
    You can serve immediately but I find giving the pot an hour or more of rest helps distribute the flavors.

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