Stewing

Stewing against braising

Stewing

Small pieces, fully submerged, a lot of liquid. The liquid is part of the dish and is eaten with it.

Braising

Larger pieces or a whole joint, liquid coming a third to two thirds up. The exposed surface browns and the liquid reduces to a sauce.

What each gives

A stew is uniform and saucy. A braise has a browned surface and a more concentrated sauce.

Which cuts

Both want hard-working, collagen-rich cuts. Shin, chuck, oxtail, shoulder, cheek, neck.

The mistake

Stewing a lean cut. Fillet or loin in a stew goes dry and grainy however long it cooks — there is no collagen to convert.

Why long and gentle

The cuts that suit stewing are full of collagen, and collagen converts to gelatine slowly, with moisture, at a temperature well below boiling. That gelatine is what gives a good stew its body and its lip-sticking quality.

Boiling actively works against this. A rolling boil agitates the meat, tightens the muscle fibres harder than a simmer does, and gives dry shredded meat in a thin liquid — the classic disappointing stew.

A bare simmer, with a bubble breaking the surface every second or two, is what you want. If the pan cannot hold that on the hob, put it in a low oven, where the heat comes from all sides and is far easier to control.

Building one

1. Cut the meat into large chunks — five centimetres or so. Small pieces dry out before the collagen has converted.
2. Dry it and brown it hard, in batches, in a heavy pan. This is not about sealing in juices, which it does not do; it is about the flavour the browning creates.
3. Set the meat aside and cook the aromatics in the same fat — onion, carrot, celery — until soft and colouring.
4. Add tomato purée or flour if the recipe uses them and cook it out for a minute.
5. Deglaze with wine, beer or stock, scraping every browned scrap off the base. That is where much of the flavour is.
6. Return the meat with enough liquid to cover, bring to a bare simmer, and put the lid on.
7. Cook low — on the hob at the lowest setting, or in a low oven — for two to four hours, until a fork twists in the meat with no resistance.
8. Rest it overnight if you can. Stews are better the next day and the fat lifts off in a sheet.

What goes wrong

• Boiled rather than simmered. Dry, stringy meat in thin liquid. The commonest fault by far.
• Too lean a cut. No collagen means no gelatine and no body.
• Not browned. A stew made from raw meat and vegetables tastes flat, however long it cooks.
• Too much liquid. The meat should be covered, not swimming. Excess liquid dilutes everything.
• Vegetables added too early. Root vegetables added at the start disintegrate. Add them for the last hour.
• Not long enough. Meat that is tough at two hours is usually undercooked rather than overcooked. Give it more time.
• Salted heavily at the start, then reduced. Season at the end.
• Safety: Cooking temperatures, times and storage windows for meat, poultry, fish and reheated food are food-safety matters rather than culinary ones. Follow current Food Standards Agency guidance rather than a recipe timing.

Common questions