Eating help: What’s a good stew? - Help.com

Hands down, my favorite method for stew is slow cooking. You begin your day and end your day with stew. You wake up, get your latte, gather a bunch of ingredients for your stew, throw everything into a pot, and let it simmer on low - very low, meet some friends for lunch, catch an indie film, get another latte, head home, read a magazine or two, open a bottle of wine, and * viola * you have a tasty stew for dinner.

Here’s a recipe base I like - I say base because you can add whatever ingredients you like, but the key is a low simmer for several hours. The recipe has been adapted from a couple of sources and changed many times - use your favorite meat, vegetables, etc.. and make it your own.

Slow Cooked Beef Stew
2 lbs. very lean beef stew meat, preferably shank, cut into large pieces
10 whole garlic cloves
Lots of freshly crushed black pepper - start with 1 Tbsp. and add more if you like
1 1/4 lbs. drained canned whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/2 C. robust red wine, like Chianti (I’ve used 1-3 C. for my stews)
salt to taste (at the end)

Put all ingredients in a high-quality heavy pot (I really like Le Creuset), cover the pot, and set it over very low heat or in an oven preheated to 200. Cook for 10 hours or so.. very very gently so the liquid in the pot just barely simmers. If the liquid begins to boil away, add a little boiling water and turn the heat down even lower. At the end of the cooking time, the meat should have almost dissolved into a rich creamy sauce. Taste and add salt if you wish.

bon apetite!