Season the Meat—or the Stew? | Cook's Illustrated (2024)

FAQs

What actually happens to meats and such when we stew them? ›

Stewing lends itself to secondary, tougher cuts of meat such as chuck steak, brisket, shin, lamb shoulder or neck, that become extremely tender when cooked slowly and the connective tissue breaks down. For maximum flavour when stewing, cut the meat into no smaller than 2-3 cm dice, as it will shrink when cooked.

Vegetables: small chopped carrots, celery, and onion or shallot practically melt into the sauce. Mushrooms: button mushrooms are a nod to the quartered mushrooms many classic beef stew recipes call for, but are thinly sliced instead of being left in bigger pieces. Garlic: minced garlic brings lots of cozy flavor.

Whereas seasoning before or during cooking is often about effectively integrating salt and other seasonings into a dish, seasoning foods after cooking can be an instant, easy way to add complexity and layers of texture to any finished dish, along with contrasting pops of flavor.

Meat. Salting some meats (especially beef and pork) a few hours before cooking allows the salt to draw out some of the internal moisture, which is then reabsorbed into the meat WITH the salt, thus seasoning from the inside out. That's also basically the same science behind brining. In fact, it's called "dry brining."

Once the food gets overcooked, it often becomes tough and dry. If you've gone too far, there are some things that you can do to keep things from being too tough and too dry. Keep things warm. Once the food cools off, your tough and dry meat will become even tougher and dryer.

Chuck meat is your best bet for beef stew, but it's also a pretty tough cut so it needs time to break down and become tender. Rush the cooking process and the beef will be tough and chewy. Follow this tip: For really tender meat, cook the stew low and slow, for approximately two hours.

It prevents. the steak from sticking to the grill, acts as an. adhesive for the seasoning and helps keep all the. juices inside!

What is the proper way to season meat? Evenly sprinkle salt on both sides of the meat, allowing the meat to rest at room temperature for 30-45 minutes before cooking. Then, just before cooking, add other seasonings to each side, like black pepper and minced onion.

Tips for a Perfect Beef Stew

We salt our stew meat 24 hours before cooking time, thanks to the advice of Samin Nosrat in Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. This gives the meat time to absorb the salt, lending deeper flavor to the stew.

Beef tastes great when seasoned with oregano, rosemary, sage, garlic or a combination of these seasonings. Poultry gets an added burst of flavor with spices like paprika, lemongrass and saffron. Fish can be made more flavorful with dry mustard powder, thyme and turmeric.

Why does water come out of meat? ›

This is because the proteins found in animal musculature are much larger than the water molecules they contain, up to ten times larger. This causes the connections between those molecules to leave gaps large enough for the water to pass through.

Raw meat, poultry and fish should be stored in the following top-to-bottom order in the refrigerator: whole fish, whole cuts of beef and pork, ground meats and fish, and whole and ground poultry. Wrap food properly before storing it. Leaving food uncovered can lead to cross- contamination.

Stews are made from tough cuts of meat that contain a lot of collagen, a connective tissue. When the internal temperature of the meat reaches 185 degrees F, the collagen begins to break down and the heat transforms it into gelatin. Gelatin is rich, unctuous and mouth filling.

Stewing not only tenderizes tough pieces of meat but also allows the flavors of the ingredients to blend.

The essential ingredients for stew -- meat, vegetables and broth -- are healthy stuff. The problem is that traditional recipes call for massive portions of fatty meats paired with super-salty canned broths. Don't be turned off by recipes that use wine; a large portion of the alcohol and calories cook away.

Shrinking—Cuts of meat shrink in size as they approach doneness. Browning—The meat changes color from pink to gray/brown. Seared meat develops a deeply-colored crust. Moisture Loss—Liquid is expelled as the meat becomes more firm.