The Art of Beef Stew: A Step-by-Step Guide

When it comes to comfort food, beef stew is one of the most popular and delicious options out there. It's a dish that's easy to make, yet requires some finesse to get just right. In this article, we'll take you through the process of making an amazing beef stew from scratch.

First things first, let's talk about the B flake. "Yes sir, want to mix that in," says our chef, and he starts adding a pinch of salt to the pot. But what is a B flake? Simply put, it's a type of salt that's designed to bring out the flavors in your dish. It's usually made from kosher salt or sea salt, but you can use any type of salt you like.

Next up, our chef adds a tablespoon of garlic paste to the pot. "You know what I'm gonna say," he says with a grin, "you can't never have too much garlic on them." And we couldn't agree more. Garlic is one of those magical ingredients that can elevate even the simplest dish into something truly special.

Now it's time to add some flour to thicken things up a bit. Our chef adds about two tablespoons and stirs it in with a flourish. "We're gonna work this over low heat," he says, "and then we're going to add in three cups of beef broth." The resulting sauce is rich and velvety, with just the right amount of thickness.

As our stew simmers away on the stovetop, the aroma of beef and vegetables fills the air. Our chef adds some smoked paprika to give it a smoky flavor, and then he's off to add in the browned short ribs. "We're gonna let that simmer away for about two hours," he says, "until it gets nice and tender."

But just as we think our stew is complete, our chef pulls out all the stops. He adds some celery and carrots to give it a pop of color, and then he's off to stir in some frozen peas. "We'll add those in about 30 minutes," he says, "and voila! Our stew is ready."

As we take our first spoonfuls of this incredible beef stew, we're struck by its depth of flavor. The meat is tender, the vegetables are perfectly cooked, and the sauce is rich and velvety. It's a true masterpiece of comfort food.

Our chef has one final trick up his sleeve: a slurry made from cornstarch and cold water. He adds it to the stew and stirs it in with a flourish. "This will thicken things up just a little bit," he says, "and give us that perfect consistency."

And indeed it does. The stew is now perfectly thickened, with just the right amount of sauce to coat our forks. We take another spoonful, savoring the flavors and textures of this incredible dish.

As we finish off our bowls of beef stew, we can't help but feel grateful for this recipe. It's a true winner, with all the makings of a classic comfort food dish. And with its easy-to-follow instructions and delicious results, it's perfect for cooks of all levels.

So if you're looking to make a truly special meal, look no further than our beef stew recipe. With its rich flavors and tender meat, it's sure to become a family favorite. And don't forget to grab yourself a copy of the cookbook while you're at it – with free shipping on orders over $50, it's an offer you can't pass up.

And so, as we sit here in our cozy kitchen, enjoying our bowls of delicious beef stew, we can't help but feel grateful for this magical dish. It's a true delight, and one that we'll be making again and again for years to come.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enas you can see we have a very special guest in the house today I got a B over here from the west coast to enjoy some of this cold and rainy Virginia weather speaking of cold and rainy weather today we're going to make some delicious beef stew for you guys to warm us up so today we're going to be cooking out of the cookbook right hey you know what listen I'm not going to over talk you bro you know what I mean we didn't made this you know recipe a few times hey let's get it right let's do it let's do it all right guys meet me in the kitchen let's make it happen first things first let's take a look at these ingredients so look we're gonna go ahead and just start right here look this is short ribs right you can use short ribs inside of the recipe you know we use chuck roast any of your stew Meats those work but today's choice this is this is it right here look we got potatoes we got peas I'll go ahead and let you take it over from there yeah we got the vegetables we got carrots we got onions we got celery we got time for the fresh herbs we've got some beef broth some garlic paste tomato paste some flour to thicken up our stew a little salt of course we got to have that AP seasoning episode is sponsored by manscape who is the best in men's below the waist grooming their products are Precision engineered tools for your family jewels manscapes performance packages the ultimate men's hygiene bundle join over 6 million men worldwide who trust manscape with the exclusive offer for use 20 off and free worldwide shipping with the code make it happen at manscape.com if my math is correct that's about 12 million balls I've been using manscape for years now and I'll never go back to anything else their performance package 4.0 just arrived and man it's a game changer it's got the lawnmower 4.0 trimmer weed whacker ear and nose hair trimmer which is super important crop preserver bald or deodorant crop reviver toner performance boxer briefs and a travel bag to hold all your goodies it doesn't get much better than that and I want you guys to give it a try so get 20 off and free shipping with the code make it happen at manscape.com that's 20 off with free shipping at manscape.com use the code make it happen unlock your confidence and always use the right tools for the job with manscape okay so look I want you guys to take a look at this I'm gonna go ahead and pull this out right now look and I'm gonna give a pro tip you guys want to take your meat it'll be cool if you put it in the refrigerator I mean in the freezer right you want it to become a little bit more on a rigid side you know I mean because when it's hot room temperature and stuff like that it just becomes a chore to go ahead and cut it now you want to cut your stew meat you want to cut it into bite-sized pieces right it's really how big of a piece did you want to you know like put in your mouth right I'm gonna cut this one down this way hey youngster nephew I'm liking the knife right nice sharp knife yes sir that makes the job a lot easier yes so here look we just want to cube it up and I want to say this if you take a look at this look at the marbling inside of this short rib give you this look more of that means more flavor right so we'll just take it this right here I probably will trim off just a little bit of this you know what I mean just to get rid of this all right so look we'll just cut this down about right here because we're gonna get a little bit of the shrinkage also you know uh this is gonna be that one a little small but this is nice for me it's going to get a little bit smaller that's another piece that's good you know so I'm not gonna bore you guys I'm gonna go ahead and just cut this down just like you see we did a beautiful job of cutting these up into bite-sized pieces that's important for beef stew you want something that can fit on a spoon that way it's nice and bite-sized we're gonna go ahead and season these with some kosher salt and get ready to sear them all right so I'm just gonna hit this with a little kosher salt we'll get our cast iron skillet fired up actually it's a dutch oven it's all good I just want to know this though next time I come out here man can you have some gloves to fit my hands my bad yeah no problem hey you know what I'll travel with them don't trip I'm not home you didn't roll I did break out the short rib though that you did all right so as you can see we have our Dutch oven set over medium high heat we're gonna go ahead and uh sear off this uh short rib wanna get a nice crust and color on there it's going to provide some texture to your stew as well man that short rib looks good it does bro nice and marbled those white lines of fat that you see in the short rib that's going to be your fat content that's going to add lots of flavor to your stew as you can see ab's laying them in there trying to give them a little Elbow Room that way they get some nice color and if you got to do it in bashes that's cool too if you want you can get in there with your fingers and press down that way you make sure they're making maximum surface area contact with that skillet that way you develop a nice Deep Dark Crust on there about two or three minutes per side so after a couple minutes we develop a nice beautiful color like this you want to flip it over and sear the other side as well and then we'll add our second batch hey so look one of the things we want to explain to everybody and let them know it is we're not trying to like cook those throughout right right so listen we're gonna need some time once we put everything and let it you know start to Shimmer but if you guys take a look in the inside right there you can see they've already been flipped look at that right there that's nothing but flavor and it's key that we have that fine on the bottom I'll show you why in just one second okay so look earlier we talked about having the fine down on the bottom that's what we want to have look the onions and the acid from the onions is going to help get that up so right now we'll add our veggies there we go let them start to soften up a little bit that will add some flour to thicken everything up all right so as you can see we have some celery and onions in the pot right now we're going to wait on adding the carrots and the potatoes because we don't want them to get too soft so about 30 minutes before the stew is done that's when we add the potatoes make sure they're nice and tender we don't want it to turn into mush so let's get the party started with a little onion and celery saute them down a bit are they looking good already smelling good too yeah sure lots of flavor at the bottom of that Skillet you know what I'm gonna go ahead let's do it like this you know how we talk about using the right tool for the job right hey John let's just go ahead and get that in there two tablespoons of tomato paste that's gonna add a nice concentrated tomato flavor right you know what the color I'm gonna go ahead and add some of this beef base yes sir beef up the B flake yes sir want to mix that in allow it to kind of coat the vegetables and then last but not least I'm gonna come with this uh check it out there's garlic paste I like to add that in last you know what I mean we're gonna put in about a tablespoon just a little bit more yeah you know what I'm gonna say this you can't never have too much garlic on them not at my house right so now we're going down with a few tablespoons of all-purpose flour that's gonna thicken things up a bit that only takes about 60 seconds or so so just give it a good mix you want to work this over low heat and then we're going to add in three cups of beef broth bring that to a boil you'll notice that it starts to thicken up and you want to constantly be scraping the bottom of that Skillet that way you get up all that fond and flavor from the beef from the vegetables there we go hey look just that fun right there that's why when you go to the restaurants and sometimes you say this don't take like tastes like it do at the house right that's because listen we didn't put all of the stocks and added all of the tricks into that absolutely all right so now we're going to season this up going down with some AP season if you don't have this guys use whatever your favorite all-purpose seasoning is or just a little salt pepper garlic and onion powder whatever you got laying around the house or that you liking your beef stew we're also going to go down with a little smoked paprika because why the hell not and then we're gonna add our beef to the party and just let that simmer away for about two hours until it gets nice and tender at which point we'll add our carrots and potatoes and the frozen peas hey look I was just waiting for you to pause or something you know hey check this out folks you know you got to add that W sauce yes sir that's gonna add a lot more flavor to the situation as well well that's what we're doing right we building that's uh all right so now we're going to add back in the short rib and any accumulated juices from the Bowl here we've already browned it up nicely now we're just going to go low and slow until it gets nice and tender oh man this is gonna be good oh yeah and with that flour in there and that heat that's going to be a nice sticking in agent too the kind you cook with I got you the first time we had bay leaves I'll throw them in there I'm out of bay leaves so we'll make the most of it that's right let's put a lid on it put it to sleep all right guys so we're about 30 minutes away from Heaven the most delicious beef stew you've ever tasted at this point the meat is just about reaching the tenderness that we want it's time to go ahead and add in the potatoes stir those in 30 minutes is all they need to get nice and tender for us we're also going to add a little bit more veggies to the party some celery and some carrots that way they don't get too mushy if you add them too soon right right my grandma always told me that carrots are good for your eyes so don't forget those I'm still wearing glasses though so I'm not sure how accurate that was we can fish out the time sprigs here not gonna need those anymore we already borrowed the flavor from that about 30 more minutes we'll be ready to Plate this up so at this point guys the meat is super tender it's about time to add the peas to the party maybe I'll let you do the honors thank you there we go if you don't like peas you should grow up just kidding guys I like peas when I was a kid I don't mind them in a stew like this as a nice pop of color Yes it does last but not least my friends to thicken this up depending on how you like your stew whatever consistency you like this is more like a soup like consistency to thicken it up more like a stew I have what's called a slurry which is a combination of cornstarch and cold water equal parts yes sir add that in there give it a stir bring that up to a simmer and it'll thicken up just a little bit all right there's not much else I'd rather want on this cold rainy day than a nice bowl of beef stew here goes nothing cheers try to burn my tongue I guess you're just right bro the texture on it yes there you have it folks beef stew fresh out the cookbook make sure you grab yourself a copy free shipping right now the link is in the description box below make sure you grab one for the holiday season I'm going in for one more biteas you can see we have a very special guest in the house today I got a B over here from the west coast to enjoy some of this cold and rainy Virginia weather speaking of cold and rainy weather today we're going to make some delicious beef stew for you guys to warm us up so today we're going to be cooking out of the cookbook right hey you know what listen I'm not going to over talk you bro you know what I mean we didn't made this you know recipe a few times hey let's get it right let's do it let's do it all right guys meet me in the kitchen let's make it happen first things first let's take a look at these ingredients so look we're gonna go ahead and just start right here look this is short ribs right you can use short ribs inside of the recipe you know we use chuck roast any of your stew Meats those work but today's choice this is this is it right here look we got potatoes we got peas I'll go ahead and let you take it over from there yeah we got the vegetables we got carrots we got onions we got celery we got time for the fresh herbs we've got some beef broth some garlic paste tomato paste some flour to thicken up our stew a little salt of course we got to have that AP seasoning episode is sponsored by manscape who is the best in men's below the waist grooming their products are Precision engineered tools for your family jewels manscapes performance packages the ultimate men's hygiene bundle join over 6 million men worldwide who trust manscape with the exclusive offer for use 20 off and free worldwide shipping with the code make it happen at manscape.com if my math is correct that's about 12 million balls I've been using manscape for years now and I'll never go back to anything else their performance package 4.0 just arrived and man it's a game changer it's got the lawnmower 4.0 trimmer weed whacker ear and nose hair trimmer which is super important crop preserver bald or deodorant crop reviver toner performance boxer briefs and a travel bag to hold all your goodies it doesn't get much better than that and I want you guys to give it a try so get 20 off and free shipping with the code make it happen at manscape.com that's 20 off with free shipping at manscape.com use the code make it happen unlock your confidence and always use the right tools for the job with manscape okay so look I want you guys to take a look at this I'm gonna go ahead and pull this out right now look and I'm gonna give a pro tip you guys want to take your meat it'll be cool if you put it in the refrigerator I mean in the freezer right you want it to become a little bit more on a rigid side you know I mean because when it's hot room temperature and stuff like that it just becomes a chore to go ahead and cut it now you want to cut your stew meat you want to cut it into bite-sized pieces right it's really how big of a piece did you want to you know like put in your mouth right I'm gonna cut this one down this way hey youngster nephew I'm liking the knife right nice sharp knife yes sir that makes the job a lot easier yes so here look we just want to cube it up and I want to say this if you take a look at this look at the marbling inside of this short rib give you this look more of that means more flavor right so we'll just take it this right here I probably will trim off just a little bit of this you know what I mean just to get rid of this all right so look we'll just cut this down about right here because we're gonna get a little bit of the shrinkage also you know uh this is gonna be that one a little small but this is nice for me it's going to get a little bit smaller that's another piece that's good you know so I'm not gonna bore you guys I'm gonna go ahead and just cut this down just like you see we did a beautiful job of cutting these up into bite-sized pieces that's important for beef stew you want something that can fit on a spoon that way it's nice and bite-sized we're gonna go ahead and season these with some kosher salt and get ready to sear them all right so I'm just gonna hit this with a little kosher salt we'll get our cast iron skillet fired up actually it's a dutch oven it's all good I just want to know this though next time I come out here man can you have some gloves to fit my hands my bad yeah no problem hey you know what I'll travel with them don't trip I'm not home you didn't roll I did break out the short rib though that you did all right so as you can see we have our Dutch oven set over medium high heat we're gonna go ahead and uh sear off this uh short rib wanna get a nice crust and color on there it's going to provide some texture to your stew as well man that short rib looks good it does bro nice and marbled those white lines of fat that you see in the short rib that's going to be your fat content that's going to add lots of flavor to your stew as you can see ab's laying them in there trying to give them a little Elbow Room that way they get some nice color and if you got to do it in bashes that's cool too if you want you can get in there with your fingers and press down that way you make sure they're making maximum surface area contact with that skillet that way you develop a nice Deep Dark Crust on there about two or three minutes per side so after a couple minutes we develop a nice beautiful color like this you want to flip it over and sear the other side as well and then we'll add our second batch hey so look one of the things we want to explain to everybody and let them know it is we're not trying to like cook those throughout right right so listen we're gonna need some time once we put everything and let it you know start to Shimmer but if you guys take a look in the inside right there you can see they've already been flipped look at that right there that's nothing but flavor and it's key that we have that fine on the bottom I'll show you why in just one second okay so look earlier we talked about having the fine down on the bottom that's what we want to have look the onions and the acid from the onions is going to help get that up so right now we'll add our veggies there we go let them start to soften up a little bit that will add some flour to thicken everything up all right so as you can see we have some celery and onions in the pot right now we're going to wait on adding the carrots and the potatoes because we don't want them to get too soft so about 30 minutes before the stew is done that's when we add the potatoes make sure they're nice and tender we don't want it to turn into mush so let's get the party started with a little onion and celery saute them down a bit are they looking good already smelling good too yeah sure lots of flavor at the bottom of that Skillet you know what I'm gonna go ahead let's do it like this you know how we talk about using the right tool for the job right hey John let's just go ahead and get that in there two tablespoons of tomato paste that's gonna add a nice concentrated tomato flavor right you know what the color I'm gonna go ahead and add some of this beef base yes sir beef up the B flake yes sir want to mix that in allow it to kind of coat the vegetables and then last but not least I'm gonna come with this uh check it out there's garlic paste I like to add that in last you know what I mean we're gonna put in about a tablespoon just a little bit more yeah you know what I'm gonna say this you can't never have too much garlic on them not at my house right so now we're going down with a few tablespoons of all-purpose flour that's gonna thicken things up a bit that only takes about 60 seconds or so so just give it a good mix you want to work this over low heat and then we're going to add in three cups of beef broth bring that to a boil you'll notice that it starts to thicken up and you want to constantly be scraping the bottom of that Skillet that way you get up all that fond and flavor from the beef from the vegetables there we go hey look just that fun right there that's why when you go to the restaurants and sometimes you say this don't take like tastes like it do at the house right that's because listen we didn't put all of the stocks and added all of the tricks into that absolutely all right so now we're going to season this up going down with some AP season if you don't have this guys use whatever your favorite all-purpose seasoning is or just a little salt pepper garlic and onion powder whatever you got laying around the house or that you liking your beef stew we're also going to go down with a little smoked paprika because why the hell not and then we're gonna add our beef to the party and just let that simmer away for about two hours until it gets nice and tender at which point we'll add our carrots and potatoes and the frozen peas hey look I was just waiting for you to pause or something you know hey check this out folks you know you got to add that W sauce yes sir that's gonna add a lot more flavor to the situation as well well that's what we're doing right we building that's uh all right so now we're going to add back in the short rib and any accumulated juices from the Bowl here we've already browned it up nicely now we're just going to go low and slow until it gets nice and tender oh man this is gonna be good oh yeah and with that flour in there and that heat that's going to be a nice sticking in agent too the kind you cook with I got you the first time we had bay leaves I'll throw them in there I'm out of bay leaves so we'll make the most of it that's right let's put a lid on it put it to sleep all right guys so we're about 30 minutes away from Heaven the most delicious beef stew you've ever tasted at this point the meat is just about reaching the tenderness that we want it's time to go ahead and add in the potatoes stir those in 30 minutes is all they need to get nice and tender for us we're also going to add a little bit more veggies to the party some celery and some carrots that way they don't get too mushy if you add them too soon right right my grandma always told me that carrots are good for your eyes so don't forget those I'm still wearing glasses though so I'm not sure how accurate that was we can fish out the time sprigs here not gonna need those anymore we already borrowed the flavor from that about 30 more minutes we'll be ready to Plate this up so at this point guys the meat is super tender it's about time to add the peas to the party maybe I'll let you do the honors thank you there we go if you don't like peas you should grow up just kidding guys I like peas when I was a kid I don't mind them in a stew like this as a nice pop of color Yes it does last but not least my friends to thicken this up depending on how you like your stew whatever consistency you like this is more like a soup like consistency to thicken it up more like a stew I have what's called a slurry which is a combination of cornstarch and cold water equal parts yes sir add that in there give it a stir bring that up to a simmer and it'll thicken up just a little bit all right there's not much else I'd rather want on this cold rainy day than a nice bowl of beef stew here goes nothing cheers try to burn my tongue I guess you're just right bro the texture on it yes there you have it folks beef stew fresh out the cookbook make sure you grab yourself a copy free shipping right now the link is in the description box below make sure you grab one for the holiday season I'm going in for one more bite\n"