stew

ntlbell

what's the best type of meat/cut to use for a good stew?

I have some international vistors who are demanding a nice irish stew.

Dizzyblonde

I use beef rather than lamb for my stew and find rib steak ideal because of the marbling of fat through it. Round steak is no good because it's way too lean.

Magic Monkey

Aside from the meat, you can use half waxy and half floury potatoes in the pot - the waxys will hold their shape, and the flouries will break down and thicken the stew a little.

the beer revolu

For beef, I like to use shin - takes longer to cook but fantastic flavour and texture.
For a lamb stew, I use shoulder. Quite a bit of fat to trim off but again, great flavour and texture, or lamb shanks.
For pork I'd use shoulder, hock or belly.

+1 on the not using round steak - unless you like your stewed meat to have no taste and the texture of cardboard!

The Hill Billy

the beer revolu wrote: »

For beef, I like to use shin - takes longer to cook but fantastic flavour and texture.
For a lamb stew, I use shoulder. Quite a bit of fat to trim off but again, great flavour and texture or lamb shanks.
For pork I'd use shoulder, hock or belly.

+1 on the round steak - unless you like your stewed meat to have no taste and the texture of cardboard!

For beef stew, like TBR said, you really cannot beat shin of beef. Needs long, slow cooking though.

bakerscooks

Hill Billy wrote: »

For beef stew, like TBR said, you really cannot beat shin of beef. Needs long, slow cooking though.

Yep, I agrre with using shin beef. delicious!

The Sweeper

If your guests want traditional "Irish Stew", that recipe is generally accepted as being cooked with mutton or lamb these days. Google recipes from people like Delia Smith and Darina Allen for some tasty recipes that come together well. (Lamb is not something that needs long, slow cooking so a recipe is sometimes better if cooking traditional Irish Stew, to ensure you don't end up making the meat grey and tasteless).

If they just want a good stew that happens to be cooked by an irishman, shin of beef is excellent.

There was a HUGE thread before on this forum about the makings of a traditional irish stew. If you decide to just go with stew, also try this forum for beef and guinness stew recipes - that's another cracker.

the beer revolu

Oh, I just saw the 'Irish Stew' bit.

Lamb or mutton shoulder.
Go to a butcher, ask for a shoulder of lamb (they probably won't have mutton) and then ask them to cut it into 2" cubed pieces for you (bone and all).
Trim the pieces of as much fat as you reasonably can and use them for the stew.
Bone, meat, connective tissue, fat = flavour:P