Old -Fashioned Beef Stew—Kitch’n Kin Cookbook

Old -Fashioned Beef Stew

Aunt Florence’s note: “Mother tasted the stew as it cooked and added more salt, pepper, and etc. as needed.  She cooked by taste.  Whatever she cooked always tasted good. There was no finer cook than she. Ask those who ate her cooking.  She always cooked for a crowd, and a few more at our table never seemed to make any difference to her.”

Mammaw Chapman’s Beef Stew

2  lbs. boneless beef chuck cut in 1 1/2” cubes
2 tablespoons fat
1/4 cup flour
1cup chopped onions
pepper to taste
1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
6 carrots cut in quarters
1/2 clove garlic, minced
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
4 cups boiling water
3 or 4 large potatoes cut in medium sized pieces

Flour meat and brown well on all sides in about 2 tablespoons hot fat. Add rest of ingredients except carrots and potatoes. Simmer 2 hours, stirring as necessary. Add the vegetables and cook slowly about 30 minutes longer or until tender. Thicken with flour for gravy.                  
Floy Davidson Chapman

Linda’s Favorite Beef Pot Roast (thanks to the Pioneer Woman’s recipe)
Photo credit: Pioneer Woman


Pot Roast
Prep: 20 Minutes Level: Easy
Cook: 4 Hours Serves: 10
Description
Pot roast, when made according to a few fundamental rules, can be a totally delicious addition to your repertoire. The meat you use is important. My favorite roast is the chuck roast; it has wonderful marbling throughout the meat, and when given an ample amount of time to cook, chuck roast winds up being tender and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
Ingredients
• 1 whole (4 To 5 Pounds) Chuck Roast
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 whole Onions
• 6 whole Carrots (Up To 8 Carrots)
• Salt To Taste
• Pepper To Taste
• 1 cup Red Wine (optional, You Can Use Beef Broth Instead)
• 2 cups To 3 Cups Beef Stock
• 3 sprigs Fresh Thyme, or more to taste
• 3 sprigs Fresh Rosemary, or more to taste
Preparation
First and foremost, choose a nicely marbled piece of meat. This will enhance the flavor of your pot roast like nothing else. Generously salt and pepper your chuck roast.

Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil (or you can do a butter/olive oil split).

Cut two onions in half and cut 6 to 8 carrots into 2-inch slices (you can peel them, but you don’t have to). When the oil in the pot is very hot (but not smoking), add in the halved onions, browning them on one side and then the other. Remove the onions to a plate.

Throw the carrots into the same very hot pan and toss them around a bit until slightly browned, about a minute or so.

If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the very hot pan. Place the meat in the pan and sear it for about a minute on all sides until it is nice and brown all over. Remove the roast to a plate.

With the burner still on high, use either red wine or beef broth (about 1 cup) to deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom with a whisk to get all of that wonderful flavor up.

When the bottom of the pan is sufficiently deglazed, place the roast back into the pan and add enough beef stock to cover the meat halfway (about 2 to 3 cups). Add in the onion and the carrots, as well as 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary and about 3 sprigs of fresh thyme.

Put the lid on, then roast in a 275F oven for 3 hours (for a 3-pound roast). For a 4 to 5-pound roast, plan on 4 hours.

Ree Drummond’s recipe