How to Make the Perfect Stew

Cinzia Cuneo December 17, 2024 Eat Well, Recipes

3. Master the cooking technique

The time it takes to obtain tender meat depends on the cooking temperature. The higher it is, the faster the collagen will break down into gelatin, but the meat will be less juicy. It is therefore necessary to avoid boiling by setting the stovetop heat to its lowest level and the oven temperature between 135°C and 150°C.

As for the slow cooker, thanks to the very gentle heat, the meat retains more juices than with other methods and is therefore less dry. Depending on the size of the cut, it takes up to 8 hours to tenderise the meat.

Regardless of the cooking method, the stew is ready when the meat flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to overcook it though: After a while, the flavors and textures simply tend to degrade.

Important thing: you don’t want to add too much liquid so as not to dilute the flavor of the stew. Just enough liquid is added to get to half the height of the meat and no more.

If the recipe includes vegetables, they will be added at different times, depending on their type. For example, root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips) are added at the beginning of cooking, squash and sweet potatoes are added halfway through cooking and only towards the end are broccoli, zucchini, peas, and peppers added. If you want to garnish with fresh herbs (parsley, mint, basil, chives, etc.) you wait until the stew is completely cooked, because they lose their flavor with long cooking.

Final tip: Let the meat soak in its cooking juices, both when serving and during storage. In fact, we notice that stews are often better the next day, because during cold storage the meat reabsorbs some of its juices.

Recipes

Now that you know how to make the perfect stew, try some of our stew recipes:

Guinness Beef Stew

See the recipe >>

Slow Cooker Braised Pork with a Rum-Orange Sauce

See the recipe >>

Slow Cooker Chicken and Spinach Curry

See the recipe >>

Pages: 1 2

Author

Cinzia Cuneo

Cinzia Cuneo, founder of SOSCuisine.com, never wanted to neglect the quality of her food. She shares her special expertise to make good food quickly and without complications!