Delicious All-American Beef Stew Recipe

While I’ve previously used a couple of their recipes, I recently added “Serious Eats” as one of my regular blog reads and I’ve been learning a lot from the site such how to make the perfect beef stew.  I normally would not make another beef stew blog post if it were not for what I learned from this one.  The recipe along with a lot of how-to’s came from their All-American Beef Stew post and I’ll let you visit the site for the details but here are their 13 rules: Select your meat wisely, Sear your beef before cubing, Go easy on the flour, Separate your vegetables, Booze makes it better, Use chicken stock, not beef, Break out the umami bombs, Don’t waste flavor, Powdered gelatin FTW, Yukon golds make for cleaner stew, Use the oven, not the stove, Don’t overcook it, Don’t eat it today, eat it tomorrow, it doesn’t matter.

I began by failing Rule 1 and used some meat that Bev had bought on sale – two sirloin tip roasts and a well marbled strip steak. 

Then I generally followed the recipe as best I could without going to the store but still made a few changes.

All-American Beef Stew Recipe

Ingredients:

4 cups homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock (our rich homemade)

3 tablespoons tomato paste

3 oil- or salt-packed anchovy fillets, rinsed

4 packets powdered unflavored gelatin (I only had 3 packets)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 pounds beef

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

10 ounces white button mushroom, quartered

5 medium carrots, 2 left whole, 3 cut into bite-sized pieces

8 ounces pearl onions (I used bite sized chunks of onion)

1 large yellow onion, unpeeled, split in half

2 small ribs celery

3 medium cloves garlic, unpeeled

1 cup sherry, dry vermouth, or red wine (I used Merlot wine)

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 bay leaves

4 sprigs thyme (1/2 tsp dried)

1½ pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 cup frozen peas

¼ cup cornstarch, optional (added by Larry)

¼ water, optional (added by Larry)

Directions:

Combine stock, tomato paste, anchovies, gelatin, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce in a blender and blend on high speed until homogenous. Set aside. (Larry used an immersion blender)

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and preheat oven to 300°F. 

In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat until shimmering.

Season beef all over with salt and pepper and add to Dutch oven. Cook, turning occasionally, until beef is well browned on 2 sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer beef to a rimmed baking sheet or large plate and set aside.

Look at all of that flavor.

Add mushrooms to Dutch oven and cook, stirring, until liquid is released and mushrooms begin to brown, about 6 minutes, lowering heat as necessary to prevent scorching.

Add diced carrots and pearl onions and cook, stirring, until well-browned on all sides.

Season to taste with salt and pepper, transfer to a bowl, and set aside.

Add halved yellow onion to Dutch oven, cut-side-down. Add whole carrots, celery stalks, and garlic. Cook, turning carrots, celery, and garlic occasionally until all the vegetables are well-browned, about 4 minutes.

Add wine, scrape up browned bits with a wooden spoon, and cook until reduced by 3/4, about 3 minutes.

Add stock mixture and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat.

Cut seared steaks into 1½ - to 2-inch chunks and transfer to a large bowl. Toss with flour. Add beef and any juices accumulated in the tray or plate to the Dutch oven along with bay leaves and thyme sprigs.

Stir to combine and return to a simmer over medium heat.

Transfer to oven, cover with lid partially open, and cook until beef is starting to become tender, about 1½ hours. Liquid should hold a slow, steady simmer the entire time. Adjust oven temperature if necessary during cooking.

Remove stew from oven. Using tongs, fish out and discard carrot, celery, thyme, bay leaves, onion (I added S&P and ate it for lunch), and garlic.

Add potatoes and reserved sautéed mushrooms, pearl onions, and carrots to stew, return to oven, and continue to cook, partially covered, until beef, potatoes, and carrots are tender and broth has thickened, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Remove stew from oven.

If necessary, place over a burner and simmer for up to 15 minutes to reduce to desired consistency or if needed thicken with cornstarch slurry.

Stir in peas and season to taste with salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve immediately, or refrigerate overnight or for up to 5 days and reheat to serve.

The Verdict:

Even though I didn’t closely follow the recipe, the stew was delicious and a big hit with everyone in our Friday card group.  I attribute it to browning the meat as steaks and the umami bombs for flavor.  The meat I used worked fine but I believe chuck would have been more moist.  While I can't imagine it being much better, I can hardly wait to make it exactly by the recipe to see what perfect beef stew tastes like.

Photos can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/12/25 event date