Perfect Storm Beef Stew

Perfect Storm Beef Stew

Original Recipe by Heidi DeLap

This is not a recipe from an old cookbook.  It is, however, cooked in the same manner.  I used only whole ingredients.  Other than the steak seasoning, it is all ingredients you would have found in the late 1800's.  This is a hearty beef stew, perfect for a stormy night.  It makes a lot of soup. 

1 pound beef stew meat
2 TBSP butter
½ large sweet onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 cup of flour
2 large potatoes
3 large carrots
4 small stocks of celery
Seasonings (I use steak seasoning, paprika, basil, parsley, thyme, marjoram, salt and pepper)

In a large soup pot sauté butter, minced onions and minced garlic in butter over a medium-high heat. While that sautés rinse the stew meat and drain. When the onions are see through coat the stew meat in flour and seasonings (I use steak seasoning, paprika, basil, parsley, thyme, marjoram, salt and pepper).  I rinsed and drained the meat in a large metal mixing bowl.  I put the flour and seasoning off to the side in the bowl, then just tossed the meat with the mixture to coat.

Toss the stew meat in the pot. This is going to brown a bit while you cut up your veggies. Stir it every once in a while, but not too often.

While the meat browns, process the veggies. Peel and cut into large chunks 2 large potatoes. By the time you are done with the potatoes, you are ready to add water into the pot. Add about 2 quarts of water to your meat mixture. Give it a good stir.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to get the brown bits into your broth.

Add in the potatoes and carrots

While you wait on that to come to a boil, process the rest of the veggies. I put in 4 small stocks of celery. Normally, I would put in mushrooms at this point, but my kids are picky and I didn't feel like fighting them.

Bring the stew to a boil, stirring often. Then turn it down to a slow simmer for a couple of hours. Stir pretty often, it will want to stick to the bottom. After the first hour, start tasting your broth. Make sure the salt and pepper is where you want it. I deem it done when the potatoes are almost all dissolved into the broth.

Served with the Cream of Tartar Biscuits from this blog, it was really a perfect dinner for a cold stormy night!

If you are making the biscuits, a single recipe makes one pie pan of small drop biscuits. It's enough for my family of 6. But if you are feeding more (and there is definitely enough of the stew), I'd make a double batch of the biscuits.