I’m making a stew. What are the best ingredients to add?

[thelerner]

I'm really digging my Instant Pot.  A multi-function 7 in 1, that actually works well.  I haven't used it for for bone broth yet, but for stews and soups and casseroles its been great.  It saves time and clean up to be able to saute then pressure or slow cook in the same pot. 

 

Pressure cooking allows me to use leaner cuts of meat in stews that wouldn't work well slow cooking and things that would take hours are done in 45 or so minutes. 

[Taomeow]

5 hours ago, KuroShiro said:

 

You don't pressure cook oatmeal.

 

 

Now you're telling me.  

 

That was one of the few instances in my life when I actually regretted that I don't read instructions to appliances.  Normally you don't need to read them.  Monkey see, monkey do.  But mistakes have been made. 

 

  

[Phoenix3]

I made the bone broth exactly how it was suggested in this thread, and it had an awful taste 

[thelerner]

51 minutes ago, Phoenix3 said:

I made the bone broth exactly how it was suggested in this thread, and it had an awful taste 

It's sad but some of my bone broths after a day of cooking just aren't right.  Some because I got greedy and didn't put in enough bones.  Remember there is no salt in many recipes and you're expected to taste, which is usually quite a bit. 

 

Otherwise my secret ingredients tend to be a little bit of fish sauce (you shouldn't be able to taste it, just for umami) and at vinegar.  

Edited April 20, 2019 by thelerner

[Phoenix3]

14 minutes ago, thelerner said:

It's sad but some of my bone broths after a day of cooking just aren't right.  Some because I got greedy and didn't put in enough bones.  Remember there is no salt in many recipes and you're expected to taste, which is usually quite a bit. 

 

Otherwise my secret ingredients tend to be a little bit of fish sauce (you shouldn't be able to taste it, just for umami) and at vinegar.  

 

Thank you. I think I added too much vinegar, and it had such a bad taste, like liquid vomit. In fact that is the perfect way of describing its taste. 

[thelerner]

59 minutes ago, Phoenix3 said:

 

Thank you. I think I added too much vinegar, and it had such a bad taste, like liquid vomit. In fact that is the perfect way of describing its taste. 

I had a recipe for 'infinite chicken bone broth', ie filling a slow cooker with chicken bones, letting it sit and for the next week or two putting in water as you take out broth.  It didn't work.  Maybe a fire hazard too. 

[Anselm]

On 11/24/2017 at 4:39 AM, Phoenix3 said:

So, in my stew I shall add

 

1. hot water (of course)
2. bones (for the marrow, which will strengthen my Jing energy). From which animal do you think is best?
3. meat (again, from which animal do you think is best?)
4. Vegetable oil

Hi!
3.

I heard that in winter time the best meat is lamb.
The beef is good, at the the offseason .
The rest of the time pork and chicken - both are good.

[Kar3n]

Wine, add wine.

[thelerner]

2 hours ago, Kar3n said:

Wine, add wine.

definitely,

put some in the pot too.

[redcairo]

You've already got most the responses I would share -- bone broth/stock primarily. Meat... and beans are great if your diet allows 'em.

 

Some offbeat things I have added to stews & similar foods that have improved them:

 

- chopped spinach. It's usually not even taste-able. It just adds a sort of 'broad thickening of flavor'.

- charnushka seed (black caraway). A LITTLE goes a long way. It just adds a 'depth, a warm dark undertone.'

- szechuan peppercorns (which are neither peppers nor peppercorns) for anything spicy, adds a tingle to them.

charnushka and szechuan are the dark smoky and zinger exciting passion of spices lol

- truly, a good sea salt and some black peppercorns or cracked peppercorns really do make the base

 

- there are very few stews I've made and experimented where a LITTLE bit of cocoa, or tomato powder, or chili powder, did not actually improve it without adding any 'recognizable' taste, no matter what it was (the same goes for mushroom powder and so on) -- but add a sort of 'complexity' to it. In fact the curries I've made with the most ingredients ("let's just dump nearly everything on the spice rack in!") slow cooked have had the most amazing effect on my body-reaction to the 'complexity' of them. As if somehow, the variety and the array of 'combinations' those molecules created, fed something in my body it doesn't normally get.

 

- I bought this big container of mixed dehydrated organic veggies. I know, no enzymes, but they'd be killed by cooking anyway. I toss half a cup into a lot of stuff and since they rehydrate in the liquid, they take on the flavor of what I'm cooking instead of much of their own (so they go with anything), and they (like the spinach) add a little bit of fine-bulk, which since I can't have much besides meat and minimal stuff (as I'm keto) is helpful.

 

I use an instant pot. It's super easy to braise/brown a roast, sautee some onion/garlic, dump everything else in and pressure cook it until the meat is falling apart, then depending on what it is, sometimes I'll slow cook it a few hours after -- like if I'm making something with curry or alfredo because I don't do the pressure cook on the coconut milk or the alfredo, nor on things like chili peppers since they can overcook. And when it's over there's nothing but one pot to wash and it's not huge or heavy and cleans easily.

 

It took me a long time to start using the thing for some reason but once I did, it is my favorite thing in my kitchen -- followed by my Ninja food processor/blender.

Edited July 4, 2019 by redcairo

[thelerner]

If you have bigger pieces of meat, taking them out and putting under a broiler for a 2 or 3 minutes caramelizes and adds nice flavor.  Likewise stirring ghee or olive oil vigorously into the sauce adds adds wonderful creaminess to it.