Beef stew with carrots and mushrooms
An easy slow cooker beef stew that’s ready when you are. Throw beef stew with carrots and mushrooms cupboard ingredients into the slow cooker with some inexpensive braising steak and serve with mash.
Look for beef that’s firm to the touch. Avoid wet, slimy meat and meat with a greenish-grey tinge and an ‘off’ smell. Always check the ‘use by’ dates on pre-packed meat. Colour is often cited as a means of determining the quality of beef, but it can’t be used as the main indicator of quality. Meat that has been vacuum-packed shortly after slaughter will retain a bright-red appearance with white fat. Marbled meat is considered to be more flavoursome and tender because the fat lubricates the meat during cooking and adds another layer of flavour.
However leaner meat needn’t be lacking in flavour if cooked properly. Butchers are likely to stock a greater variety of cuts than most supermarkets and should be able to give advice on preparing and cooking, as well as telling you where, and from which breeds, their meat came from and for how long it has been aged. This level of detail should also be available from producers at farmers’ markets and mail-order companies specialising in meat. For organically-raised beef – or beef from breeds noted for their succulent meat, such as Aberdeen Angus – you should be prepared to pay more. Regardless, buying the best quality beef you can afford is always worthwhile. Beef will keep for up to five days in the fridge, depending on how fresh it is when you buy it.
Mince and offal are best eaten within two days. Vacuum-packed meat will normally last even longer, but check the use-by date to be sure. Quickly freezing beef reduces the chance of damage to the texture of the meat. Use frozen beef within six months. Never let the meat or its juices come into contact with other foods in the fridge, particularly ready-to-eat foods. Do not place hot into the fridge, which would risk raising the temperature of other foods that need to be kept cold. The larger the joint, the better it is for a traditional British roast.
Choose a joint from the back, ribs, fillet or sirloin. Leaving in the bone adds flavour, and bone is a good conductor of heat so the meat will cook more evenly with the bone in. However, a boned and rolled cut is easier to carve. To be sure your meat is cooked you can use a meat thermometer. There are two varieties available – one you insert in the thickest part of the raw joint and cook until the desired internal temperature is reached.
