Old-Fashioned Beef Stew Recipe (2024)

I like to use the paper bag method for dusting meat.
Put flour and seasonings and meat, chicken, etc in paper bag, fold closed and shake. One less utensil to clean and even coating.

Tablespoon of herbs de Provence and 2 Tablespoons tomato paste will give it some flavor.

After browning the beef sauté the onions. Then add about 1 to 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and continue to cook until the color starts to go from bright red to rust. Then deglaze with the wine and vinegar. Add one tall spike of fresh rosemary (leaves removed and chopped) and three to four sprigs of thyme. Follow the recipe and finish with two cups of peas two to three minutes before serving.

Okay People, this is "Old Fashioned Beef Stew" and it's exactly how my Mom made it and How I've made it for 45 years. Flouring your meat before browning actually adds flavor to the stew. There are tons of beef stew recipe out there, but this is authentic "Old Fashioned"!

If you're complaining about blandness, red wine, a bit of Worcestershire or even some harissa can help liven it up. Also, homemade peasant bread or even some store bought parker house rolls are a wonderful accompaniment. This is exactly my mother's go-to recipe for beef stew. She's gone now, but I would give anything to eat this with her one more time.

This was delicious. I cubed a chuck roast which was cheap and flavorful (removing all excess fat). I added some worchestershire sauce and ketchup at the end to add umami (flavor). After cooking I separated the solids and boiled the liquid a bit to reduce and concentrate, then whisked in a slurry of flour and water to thicken before recombining with meat and veggies. This stew is a one pot meal. It doesn't require rice or noodles because of the large amount of potatoes.

I think many of the negative comments were from people who have no idea what an old time stew tasted like. They probably have McDonald's taste buds and there is no changing that. This was a wonderful stew. With that said I also added to it. My choice was worcester sauce from my Brittish background. Adapting a recipe to fit your own taste is a normal procedure. Perhaps if some of these who commented threw in a Quarte pounder they would have felt differently.

Two great Irish cooks rated this the best beef stew they ever tasted. It's a keeper in our home.

Excellent. Added thyme. Sauteed the chopped onions. Used olive oil. Substituted gold potatoes for the bakers. Added about 1/2 t. Worcestershire sauce and some ketchup...good additions. Should include a beef bone in the cooking.

Julia Childs recommends just browning the meat in oil without flour. Then make the stew as shown here. She thickens the gravy at the end by adding miller's butter (half butter and half flour) rolled into little balls, one at a time, until it's as thick as you like. I agree with her.

Sautéed onion and a shallot, added to deglazed pot with browned meat and a few sprigs of thyme. Added 2 T tomato paste, more pepper, shot of Worcestershire sauce and peas at the last...as my mother always did. Excellent stew. I will make it again.

For this stew (and all others I've made), I like to use beef shank - lots more marbling than chuck, and just melts in one's mouth after an hour or so of slow simmering. I also throw the bones in (along with marrow) to add flavor. If you're making a big pot, shank is about half the price of chuck!

This was delicious, though I made a few alterations. Like others, I added more herbs (thyme, rosemary, herbs de Provence, Basil, ground all spice). I chopped up the onion & along with a few table spoons of oil and tomato paste,I microwaved it with the herbs in a bowl for about 1 minute on high (a trick I learned from Cooks Illustrated slow cooker recipe book) & then I added this mixture to the pot at the start of step 2 above. Cooked the meat much longer, a/b 5 hrs before adding veggies.

save money and use beef chuck instead of ribeyes/filets. get an intact chuck roast from the butcher, not pre-cubed "beef for stew". Cut the meat up yourself into small cubes. Ribeyes are for grilling, or broiling, not stew. The collagen breaks down nicely and the chuck meat transforms wonderfully. Of course, if you're wealthy, do as you wish.

Loved this. Doubled the wine & reduced the beef broth. Sprinkled in Herbes de Provence as per another review's suggestion. I'm normally a high-intensity spice seeker but found this dish flavorful and tender in its classic-ness.

I browned the onions with tomato paste and added a generous sprig of rosemary and some thyme per another commenter's suggestion. I also added several cups of quartered mushrooms, a yellow pepper, some fennel rounds, a parsnip I had, and 7 oz of cipolline onions when I added the carrots. Very happy making.

absolutely delicious - added a couple dashes of worsheshire at the end of browning the beef and added (chai pani) garlic seasoning, pollo bouillon, and pinch of salt towards the end about 15min after adding potatoes. I also did end up letting it simmer for an additional 30min towards the end to get the softness i wanted in the potatoes/carrots

Added 4-5 cloves of minced garlic, fresh minced rosemary and thyme. Cooked these with the onions before deglazing the pan. Great flavor and delicious.

Love the suggestion to use whole chuck and cut yourself. Makes sense. I have for years used this recipe but in the flour I add cinnamon, nutmeg, pinch cloves or allspice (to taste), additionally use V-8 or tomato juice with beef stock. Rich gravy with lovely spicy aroma- flavorsome. Ramps up flavor and gets rave reviews. I just serve with Grands or peasant bread.

I made this last night and followed the recipe exactly, which I rarely do. Absolutely comforting and delicious.

Delicious!! Wish I had found this recipe 30 years ago. I followed the recipe as given -yes, adding the onion towards the end. Counterintuitive to what I have always done. The onion flavor and texture was lovely. I used a Cotes Du Rhone and will use again. Easy, and So good!

I LOVE this recipe AS IS! Personally I don't think there is any need to doctor this. Made it for friends, it was a hit. Now a standard in our house.

Added parsnips and turnip

Delicious

Doubled the recipe this time. 3.5 hours too long to cook the meat (standard beef stew meat). I’d say 2.5 would be better. Also lots of thyme plus Worcestershire sauce not sure what else. Disappointed that the meat was so dry.

Almost 50 years ago, my mother-in-law shared her recipe for Gaston stew. Actually she didn’t give me the recipe, But I just watched her make it, and then replicated it. I mistook the peppercorns for Juniper berries. The juniper berries were genius. They added this lovely, aromatic piny taste that just elevated the stew, which was also seasoned with rosemary thyme the usual suspects.Anyway, I still make it this way with Juniper berries. Sometimes the best dishes come from mistakes.

Meat definitely needed an extra 20. Potatoes were soft/mushy after 40 minutes. Heat could have been higher during initial cook

Really enjoyed riffing on this very simple and lovely recipe. Added a bit of celery, garlic, tomato paste, some thyme & rosemary, Worcestershire, and a parmesan rind I had hanging out in the fridge. Also added in some finely chopped dried king boletes we harvested last fall (kiddo does not like mushroom texture, but this stew begged for them). The mushroom bits added a beautiful earthy note and essentially disintegrated into the soup, due to the fine chopping. Even better the next day!

I’m in the middle of making this and realized the recipe never says when to add the salt - if ever.

I made this and the broth was very thin. The meat and veggies were very good. Followed the directions exactly. What was wrong? Help