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Stewed/braised beef is all about the flavorful chuck roast. Yummy!! Chuck starts out tough (a slow moist cooking environment breaks the fibers down), but comes out easily shredded with a fork when prepared correctly. If it's coming out tough, you're probably cooking it at either too high of a heat, not long enough, with not enough liquid, or some combination of the three.
That just means you didn't cook it well, sorry. Stewing is all about cooking tough meat low and slow to tenderize it. It's not something you can do in a couple of hours.
Slow cookers are marvelous, because they can allow you to get that low, slow, even heat that allows for all day cooking without heating up the whole kitchen. Then you can add the vegetables for the last hour for a great finished dish.
You got it. Take some meat that would normally chewy and has some fat in it, result after 10 hours is moist & tender. Depending on veggie and whether it is used for content or flavor they can be up front or in the last 1-2 hours. IMO a properly cooked a piece of meat from stew should be relatively easy to split in two with a fork.
Man this thread has me somewhat wound, I've made lotsa pot roasts over past few years but have been lacking stew. Need to check on bay leaf supply.
I'll add my vote for chuck roast - for stew, add a healthy splash of dry red wine and do a slow simmer. Use a crockpot and put all the veggies (potatoes, carrots, onions, etc.) at the bottom of the pot, and rest the meat on top. It can cook pretty much all day long, and be tender and juicy and delicious by the time you get home from work. Just cut it, or shred it, toss it on a plate, and eat.
Personally, I prefer using the pre-cut stew beef already packaged in the grocery (my Dad always called this stuff the canner and cutter meat - so tough the cow probably died of a heart attack!). When I make beef stew ( which I do frequently in cool weather and have been thinking about making it soon) I cook mine on top of the stove, low heat, and for several hours. I have used sirloin, or round steak which I cut and trim myself, but if I can find stew meat already done that is what I prefer. I have never had a problem with the meat being tough, and I do have plenty of liquid in the stew, and keep the temp low like I said. Personally, I find chuck roast, while very tasty, has too much fat in it for me. I spend too much time trying to cut most of the fat off of it. I guess it's a matter of preference.
I use the pre cut stew meat cook it slow on top of the stove too. I add some canned whole tomatoes, seasonings and make sure it always has plenty of water. Comes out great every time.
I have a local butcher and I could get a chuck roast and have him cut into cubes for stew.
That would probably work, but truthfully, it's not hard to cut it yourself at home. Getting it pre-cut is the lazy gal solution at my house!! It is actually easier if the meat is somewhat frozen and make sure your knife is sharp. Not sure how he would trim it really well though as chuck is pretty marbelized. I can taste it now, though!!!!
When we buy a cow, the processors package "stew meat" for us as well, that's what I use, but I like it in smaller chunks than the way they cut it so I cut the pieces smaller with a sharp kitchen knife while it's still partially frozen.
For goulash I use hamburger or ground round.
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Chuck starts out tough (a slow moist cooking environment breaks the fibers down), but comes out easily shredded with a fork when prepared correctly. If it's coming out tough, you're probably cooking it at either too high of a heat, not long enough, with not enough liquid, or some combination of the three.
