Mom's Brown Stew
Submitted by tweetybarb
Mom’s brown stew with beef cubes simmered for two hours in a Worcestershire and lemon-spiked broth with potatoes, carrots, and pearl onions, finished with a flour-thickened gravy.
YIELD
10 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
2 hrsREADY
2 hrsThis is the kind of beef stew that tastes like it came from your grandmother’s kitchen. Cubed beef gets browned in a Dutch oven, then simmers for a full two hours in boiling water seasoned with Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, garlic, bay leaves, paprika, allspice, and a touch of sugar. That long, slow simmer turns tough beef tender and builds a deeply savory broth from practically nothing.
The vegetables go in at staggered intervals so each one cooks to its ideal texture. Whole peeled onions first, then diagonal-cut carrots 10 minutes later, then chunked potatoes last. Nothing ends up mushy or underdone because everything gets exactly the time it needs.
The finishing move is old-fashioned gravy making. The meat and vegetables come out, and a flour-and-water slurry thickens the stew liquid into a rich, glossy gravy that gets poured back over everything. No shortcuts, no cream, just proper technique.
Kitchen Tips
- Brown the beef in batches. Overcrowding the pot steams the meat instead of searing it, and you lose that flavorful crust
- The lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce seem like small amounts, but they add acidity that brightens the whole stew
- Add the vegetables in stages as directed. Dumping everything in at once means mushy potatoes and crunchy carrots
- Mix the flour with cold water before adding to the hot liquid. This prevents lumps in the gravy
Variations
- Add turnips or parsnips with the carrots for a more root-vegetable-forward stew
- Stir in a splash of red wine with the boiling water for deeper complexity
- Use sweet potatoes instead of white for a slightly different, sweeter take
Ingredients
Directions
Coat a Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray, brown meat.
Add boiling water, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, onion, bay leaves, paprika, spice and sugar.
Cover; simmer for 2 hours, adding more water if necessary.
Cut potatoes in 2 inch chunks and carrots into 1 inch diagonal slices; peel onions.
Add onions; cook 10 minutes. Add carrots; cook 10 minutes.
Add potatoes; cook until tender.
Remove meat and vegetables to heat proof casserole; keep hot in oven while thickening stew liquid with flour and water mixture.
Bring to boil. Pour hot gravy over meat and vegetables.
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