This is our favorite beef stew recipe. It's made with basic ingredients but what makes it THE BEST is the extra steps done to layer-the-flavor!  These extra steps do take a little more time and planning then just tossing everything in a crock pot and calling it good. But if you want to level up your cooking and take a boring beef stew to TOP NOTCH....you've got to layer-the-flavor!   

Here is how we do it:

1. "Dry Brine" the beef. Salt the beef 1-48 hours before cooking it. This helps season and tenderize the beef before cooking.
2. Quickly brown the beef on all sides to add flavor to the meat while locking in all the juices. 
3. Brown the veggies in butter and the caramelized beef goodness, also adding the carrots right away helps sweeten and thicken the sauce as they cook down.  If you like your carrots more firm, add them with the potatoes the last 30 minutes. 
4. Red wine and tomato paste are both acidic, helping to tenderize the beef while adding rich, concentrated flavor. 
5. The Broth: using this Beef Bone Broth  will give you the best, richest flavor. I have also used homemade chicken broth, which works well too. You may have to adjust the salt depending on the broth you use. 
6. Worcestershire sauce adds more of that umami or savory flavor. 
7. Last way to layer-the-flavor: adding herbs and other seasonings will make it your own and elevate your stew.
   
   

I like to make this beef stew in a cast iron Dutch oven on the stove top. It's a one pot meal that will fill your house with an amazing aroma as it simmers. However, this is not a 30 minute meal....it does take 3 hours from start to finish, so here is another option if you are not going to be home 3 hours before dinner time. The day before prep the beef by cutting into cubes and salting. Also, cut up all the veggies and store in the fridge until morning.  In the morning, brown the beef and veggies, then deglaze the pan with the wine scraping up all the caramelized bits. Put all the ingredients into a slow cooker and cook on low 8-12 hours. 

Serve this Beef Stew with sourdough bread and some of that red wine for a hearty, warming meal.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds Grassfed Goodness Stew meat, cut into 1/2"-1" cubes, 1"-2" if cooking longer
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 T.  tallow or olive oil
• 2 T. butter
• 1 cup onion, diced 
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• 2 cups carrots, sliced
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 3 cups beef, chicken or bone broth
• 2 T. Worcestershire sauce 
• 1/4 cup tomato paste or 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 3 cups potatoes, cubed
•  

Instructions:

1. First, salt the stew meat cubes with about 1 tsp. of salt per pound of meat and leave at room temperature for about one hour. Or, even better, you can salt the beef the day before and store it in the fridge open to the air. Take the beef out of the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to browning the beef. 
2. Heat the tallow or olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. To make sure you "brown" the beef and not "steam" it-dry the beef with paper towels and add the beef in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. Sauté the beef cubes just a minute or so, until all sides are nice and brown, remove to a bowl and set aside. Add more tallow/oil if necessary and finish browning all the meat. 
3. Add the butter to the Dutch oven, then add the onions, celery, carrots, pepper and  1 tsp. salt. Stir, scraping up any bits of goodness from browning the beef and sauté for about 4 minutes. 
4. Add the minced garlic and sauté for one more minute.
5. Slowly pour in the red wine, stir and simmer a few minutes until the red wine is reduced. 
6. Then, add in the remaining ingredients except the potatoes. The beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, bay leaves, oregano and finally the beef and all its juices to the Dutch oven. Stir, cover and simmer 1 1/2-2 hours until meat is tender. 
7. Add the potatoes. Stir and cover, cooking about 30 more minutes until the potatoes are fork tender, stirring occasionally. (Cook without a cover if you would like to thicken up the stew)
8. Lastly, remove the bay leaves and eat.  

Enjoy!