Cider Stew

Beef and veggies in cider gravy...

I just love Autumn – my favorite time of year. Crisp cool air, color-bursting leaves, earthy root veggies, crunchy leaves. And when I'm inspired the scent of simmering stews.

Autumn in Scotland, on the river (Photo credit: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/06/26110733/4)

 

In September I start craving apples, especially Honeycrisp and Jonathan variety. I want hot soups and thick stews and brown bread. And use the last of the summer rhubarb for bumbleberry crisp. Then in October I get fixated on pumpkins and stories about Halloween. I mash sweet potatoes and do the Monster mash, too.  Come November I get just as excited about what to create with leftover turkey as I do with the Thanksgiving feast. And pears are in season. December is all about baking, cookies, cardamom, rich dishes, and planning leftovers with ham. And cutie clementines. Darker evenings make homes seem cozier and I like to have simmering stockpots on the stove to delay turning up the heat.  With school back in session and scheduling getting kinda hairy with my sons' new activities - karate, chess, and trombone this year - it's nice to plan a hearty meal that doesn't need much attention and simmers slowly, patiently, while it waits for you to sit down, breathe deeply, and savor your food.


Today I'm sharing one of my family’s fall favorites. We really like the sweet tangy sauce and melt in your mouth beef.

The key to the fork tender meat lies in the essential braising before stewing. (Learned the hard way that boiled meat is as tough as and as tasteless as the tongue on a hiking boot.) The secret ingredient is the vinegar; it counters the sweetness of the cider and breaks down the meat fiber. This can be a meal in a bowl or serve with side salad and biscuits.

I adapted this recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens, New Cook Book, circa 1980’s (ISBN: 0-696-00011-3). 

Cider Stew

Chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots, & celery in apple cider sauce

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs beef stew meat, cubed

3 Tbsp wholewheat flour

1 tsp kosher salt + ¼ tsp ground black pepper

½-1 tsp dried tarragon (or substitute with dried thyme)

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 cups fresh Apple Cider* (preferably from a local orchard)

½ cup water

2 Tbsp malt vinegar

3-4 medium potatoes, diced (or large handful of fingerlings)

4-8 oz baby carrots, cut in halves or thirds (for bitesize pieces)

1 small red onion, diced

2 stalks celery, sliced into thin crescent moons

2 cloves garlic, minced (or use a garlic press)

*NOTE: Only cider will do. Do NOT substitute with apple juice! Cider is made from the entire apple, pressed raw in a machine to extract juices, unfiltered and with no extra sugar added. Most cider makers use a blend of apples to balance out sweet & tart flavors.

Directions:

•  Get big freezer bag and carefully dump in flour, salt, pepper & herb. Seal bag completely and shake dry  mixture around to combine and somewhat coat the bag. Then drop in stew meat cubes, reseal, and shake to coat the meat pieces.

•  In big stock pot, heat up oil. Braise the meat. Probably easiest to do in 2 batches. Rotate the meat (I use tongs) to brown all sides. As meat is browned, remove to waiting plate. Replenish pot with uncooked meat until done. When all meat is browned on all sides, return all meat (and juices) to the stock pot.
• Add in the 2 cups of apple cider + ½ cup water. Stir with wooden spoon to ensure no meat is stuck on bottom of pot. If there is any flour mixture left in freezer bag, dump into pot & stir, then throw out bag. Add in 2 Tbsp of malt vinegar. Stir. Bring up heat to boiling point for liquid, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 1¼ hours. Check on pot periodically and stir as needed.

This is stew meat simmering in the cider broth

• While meat is stewing, cut up the fresh veggies in bite-size chunks. I use approximate measures in the ingredients list; in general you want your chopped piles of potatoes, carrots & onions to be roughly equal. 

Veggies - red onion, celery, fingerlings, carrots

Veggies added to the pot with meat and cider broth

•  Add veggies & garlic into pot after the hour and a quarter cooking time. Add a bit more liquid (½ cup water, then ½ cup cider) only if needed to mostly cover veggies. This liquid makes your tasty sauce, but don’t turn it into a soup! Allow the veggies to simmer for about 30 minutes, until fork tender.

ALLERGEN INFO: Contains wheat

ALLERGY ACCOMMODATIONS: Substitute gluten-free flour or ground oats to coat meat before braising