How the F*CK do I make good beef stew, nerds?

How the F*CK do I make good beef stew, nerds?
I moved to a new place recently and my parents bought me this great clay pot.Was thinking to finally try it with some delicious stew, but I've never really done one.

Was thinking of just cutting the beef in slices, put them in some flour, fry them for a few minutes with some olive oil and putting them in the clay pot with onions/carrots/potatoes/mushrooms/whatever vegetables i have, maybe a can of tomato, spices and herbs and some water, put them in the oven til all the water boils out and bake for an hour or two.
Good idea?

>a can of tomato

what the fuck are you talking about

...

you know they have fresh tomatoes in the same store right?

Use stock instead of water. Your vegetables will be mush by the end, it's best to add them part way through simmering. It also won't be very thick if the only thickener you use is a coating of flour on the beef.

its winter, "fresh" tomatoes taste like plastic trash, might as well use canned ones desu

fair enough, that actually makes some sense. your recipe sounds alright i think.

they dont really sell beef stock in my country or at leasts is pretty hard to find and i cant be arsed to make my own right now.

can i just use some of those Maggi cube beef boullions dissolved in some water?

some worcestershire would probably not be bad to add

thanks lad
also, now that i think about it, cant i just use either some dark beer or red wine instead of just water/beef boullion?

the most important part is to get OX FUCKING TAIL

BEST fucking meat for a stew by far.retards usually go and waste their money on a high quality cut that doesnt even taste good in a stew.Ox tail is both cheap and tastes godly

Yeah this works too but where the fuck do you live that they don't have beef stock? Vegetable stock would work too.
Add red wine, but not instead of the stock. Use it to deglaze the pot after frying the beef for a few minutes. Also grate in a bit of potato to thicken the whole thing during the last hour it's cooking.

What kind of dumbass cooks with fresh tomatoes? They've all been engineered to be a textural component of sandwiches

are you a fucking retard

Where do you live that Oxtail is cheap?

well, its cheaper than the quality cuts for steaks and shit, at least

I have no idea how the Asian restaurants make such savoury beef strips. I've tried everything and still nothing

Nobody uses quality steak cuts like ribeye or something in stew dude. You get chuck or round roasts.

This is the beef stew I make:
2 pounds of stew beef (I assume chuck, don't really know too much about different cuts of meat, I just ask the butcher for stew beef)
5 or 6 potatoes about the size of my fist, diced into ~1 inch cubes
Similar amount of carrots, sliced into wheels
2 medium sized onions, diced a little smaller than the potatoes
2 big cans of stewed tomatoes
1 full garlic bulb, minced
A six-pack of porter as the liquid
Cook on low heat with the lid on for maybe 4 or 5 hours, or until meat and vegetables are tender.

Recently I've also been experimenting with adding roux and red wine, and I liked the results. Added maybe 3/4 of a bottle of some mid/low price pinot noir, and made roux in the pot before putting the rest of the ingredients in, using half a cup of flour and maybe twice as much butter.

a little bit of bean paste faggot.

This. If you want to make a "high quality" stew you should get that.
There are cheaper options but that is the best and most expensive meat you should use for that

Don't fry the beef, the breading will turn to slop in the stew. Season it with salt and pepper and brown it so it's still med-rare inside, and drop it in the pot with beef broth, juiced from your canned tomatoes, and water if necessary.

Onions should be sauteed in your beef grease until they're turning translucent. Hard vegetables and tomatoes go in first: beef, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, celery, and garlic, along with your herbs (typically some rosemary, thyme, and bay leaf). Bring that to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and let it sit for 30-40 minutes.

Next, add your softer fast-cook veggies: corn, peas, green beans, etc. Thicken with a small can of tomato paste, and jazz it up with some worcestershire and/ or hot sauce to taste. Serve with a good crusty, toasted bread for dipping.

>Don't fry the beef
wrong

wat

That's the most manly recipe I've ever seen.

Find an original copy of The Joy of Cooking. Look up the recipe for Beef bourguignon. The main infedients are cubed beef, shallots, smoked pork fat or bacon, and red wine. You’ll also need some flour and peppercorns. Fucking excellant. The newer Joy of Cooking editions add extra shit like carrots. Find the older edition.

many americans think fry means cover in thick breading/ batter and deep fry

Doesn't it?

no