Tender Cuts of Beef for Stew
Winter is coming, and that ways one matter! It's time to get stewing. Nothing quite beats a hearty, rich, warming beef stew on a cold, night, winter'southward evening. Beef stew is condolement food for the cold, but before you crack out the cooking pot, you might be wondering: what is stew meat, and what is the all-time cutting of meat for beef stew?
In today'south article, nosotros'll explore what stew meat is and why it's so essential for your beefiness stew that you get the correct cut of meat. Grab your Dutch oven from the cupboard, set up the potatoes, and become ready to beginning stewing!
Spoiler: the best stewing beefiness might not exist the beefiness that's actually labeled 'stewing beef.'
Keep reading to find out more!
What is stew meat?
Stew meat, or stewing meat, is the principle cut of meat placed into a stew. Stewing is one of the oldest forms of cooking on the planet. It's been around for every bit long as we've had firepits and pots. Information technology'south a simple, all the same constructive mode of cooking that can leave tough cuts of meat as tender as a tenderloin steak!
The premise behind stewing is tiresome cooking. Cuts of meat are slowly, slowly simmered in a broth, soup, or gravy. This gives the meat fourth dimension to be slowly tenderized equally it's exposed to depression heat in a big pot or Dutch oven. The best stews take the longest fourth dimension to fix, merely in that location are relatively few ingredients that need to get into a good stew.
Stews are found all over the world. There'due south Irish beef stew from Ireland, beef stroganoff from Russia, and casserole from eastern Europe. Every country has its national stew, and traditionally, it's been the country'southward poorest that take eaten it. That's because stew meat is frequently considered to exist the lowest quality meat. Information technology'due south the leftover scraps and morsels that have been scrounged or scavenged.
You tin technically stew any office of the creature, merely that's non necessarily the best matter to practice. Equally, the most expensive beef cut isn't going to be the all-time option for stewing (and y'all're wasting your hard-earned money and a proficient cutting of beef by cooking it the wrong way). As you'll see, though, the best stewing meat isn't the worst meat either, just we'll take a proficient, cheap stew over a rare and expensive wagyu cutting whatever solar day!
And while a beef stew is the most popular style of stew, it'due south non the only ingredient. Yous tin can have chicken stews, sausage stews, cabbage stews, then much more.
What kind of meat do you use for beef stew?
Beef stew is a hearty, winter-warming favorite. Irish gaelic stew is served in a rich, gravy-like sauce with carrots, potatoes, and any other leftover vegetables you can detect. In France, beef bourguignon might sound very fancy, only it's actually but a tender, ho-hum-cooked beef stew. Even chili con carne is technically merely a slow-cooked beef stew with a Tex-Mex twist.
Beef is clearly a stewing favorite, and that's because when information technology'southward slow-cooked and simmered in thick sauces and gravies, y'all tin can actually bring out the flavors while producing tender parcels of meat. But to bring out the flavor and tenderness through stewing, you need to know what kind of beef for stew to cull.
Earlier we tell yous the prime cut of beefiness, we're going to tell you which cutting not to use!
Yous've probably picked upwardly a bundle of beefiness labeled 'stewing meat' or 'stewing beef'. Information technology's usually packaged upwards and sold in supermarkets, and it's remarkably cheap. It'southward likewise the worst kind of beef y'all tin buy for stewing (yes, despite its name!).
'Stewing meat' is comprised of the worst parts of the animal. It'southward the offcuts, the scraps, and the leftover gristle and fat from the meliorate cuts. The butcher just throws everything into a packet and labels it as fit for stewing. Unfortunately, information technology'south not the all-time pick, purely because information technology's made of all the leftovers.
Information technology's likewise a good idea to proceed your chunks consequent. If the pieces of meat aren't uniform in size, they will cook at different rates. If some of the cuts are non suited for stewing, yous'll be left with an uneven stew. Some parts volition exist tender, other pieces non and so much.
Equally, you don't want to exist using the most expensive cuts, either. These cuts tend to be the tenderest to begin. While what we're aiming for past stewing is a tender outcome, we actually demand cuts of meat that aren't already tender. The most delicate cuts of the beef are the cuts that are going to be toughened up by the stewing process. Tender steak is good for grilling quickly at high heat, only information technology'due south not made for stewing slowly at low heat.
The all-time beef stew meat contains collagen
So, what is the best stewing beef if it'south non 'stewing beefiness' and non the tender cuts?
At that place are a few contenders. You need a cut that's not fatty or tender, simply that's lean and full of what's chosen collagen. This is your hush-hush stewing ingredient. The more collagen, the better the cut is for stewing.
Collagen is also known every bit connective tissue. Collagen takes a long time to break down, but it gives you an incredibly tender cut of beef when it does. That's why collagen-rich meat is best for stewing. The tiresome stewing procedure allows the collagen to slowly breakdown, gently tenderizing the meat as it does.
Now and so, in that location are a few cuts of beef that practise the job well when you lot're looking for stewing meat, just the best cut is always going to be the classic chuck roast. The chuck roast is a collagen-heavy cut that comes from around the shoulder. It'southward keen for stewing and is also ordinarily used for roasting.
The high collagen content allows you to simmer the beefiness for hours, slowly breaking downwardly and tenderizing for a fall-off-your-fork cease. You buy the chuck roast equally a large, whole cut, so yous accept to exercise the chopping yourself. Even so, that works in your favor as you're able to die information technology upwardly into even-sized chunks for a uniform stew.
Other contenders include the oxtail, which is packed full of collagen but is besides quite fatty. Oxtail is incredibly bony, besides, so you'll have the de-boning process to bargain with if y'all opt for this cut. The brisket is also a skillful choice for stewing and is oftentimes a great value besides. You can get a lot of brisket for not a lot of money. Brisket cooks best when information technology's cooked slowly, but information technology can be quite tough to break down due to a lack of collagen compared to the chuck roast.
How to cook stew meat?
Whichever blazon of stewing meat y'all choose, you'll need to brand sure that information technology's equally evenly cutting as possible before yous kickoff cooking. Uneven pieces will result in parts of the stew existence cooked through and others being tough.
Stewing beef should exist lightly braised before you lot add it into your stew. Heat upwardly the skillet with a drizzle of oil and sautee your beefiness on either side. It doesn't need long, just until it has a brown outer layer.
When it's browned, you can add together the meat to the residue of your stew (y'all can use enameled dutch oven or double dutch oven for that) and let it to simmer in the gravy slowly. Stews tin have various other ingredients, and then this depends on what sort of stew you're looking to cook. Irish gaelic stews are heavy in seasonal vegetables, while a beefiness bourguignon is awash with carmine vino, mushrooms, and bacon!
What is stew meat? Now you know the best meat for stewing!
So there we have it, now nosotros have a decisive reply to the question, 'what is stew meat,' and let's be honest, the all-time stewing meat isn't always the meat you would expect it to be.
Our beef stew investigation's key takeaway is that any meat labeled 'stewing meat' in the supermarket probably isn't the best for stewing. That sounds counterintuitive, we know, but that's what you get when you throw all the offcuts and worst parts of the cow together.
The best stewing meat is, without a doubt, the chuck roast, a big, tough cut of meat that's packed with collagen—slowly stewing a chuck roast releases all that delicious collagen juice, giving you a tasty and tender beefiness stew!
Why not bookmark our beef stew meat guide for later?
Enjoyed this? Check our article on more Dutch oven uses!
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Source: https://unocasa.com/blogs/tips/what-is-stew-meat
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