Browning Beef without Burning!

surfjunky

Hi there, long time reader of this forum, first time poster.
I'm a reasonably capable cook but I always have problems with this one. I have a beef and guinness stew recipe that calls for floured beef to be browned and removed then fry veg, add guinness add back in beef. I make it all in a cast iron casserole dish on the hob and tranfer to oven but the floured beef always seems to stick to the bottom of the dish creating a semi-burned film. I've tried browning them without any oil and then with some sunflower oil but each time I get gunk at bottom. Any way of avoiding this? (does the beef need to be floured?)

CJhaughey

The flour is a thickening agent, You can brown the beef without flouring and just cook the stew as normal.
If you want a thicker texture you could add a couple of floury potato's and let them break up and dissolve during the stewing process.

Magic Monkey

Don't flour the beef.

Put your casserole over high heat until hot, then add some oil. Pat your beef dry with kitchen paper, then season; flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper are best. Add just enough beef to cover the surface of the casserole, no more. Sear the beef chunks until brown, turning to sear all the sides of the cubes; this will only take a few minutes. Remove that batch with a slotted spoon from the casserole, and repeat with the remaining beef.

Once all your beef is browned, and there's some oil left in the pot (if not, add a touch more), cook your veg. Once the veg is cooked, de-glaze the casserole with a little Guinness, scraping the bottom to remove the "fond", and add the remaining Guinness and all the beef. Proceed as directed.

If you want to thicken the stew, add a slurry of cornflour to the stew, or with small diced floury potatoes, which will break down and thicken it (edit: as above.)

corblimey

Magic.Monkey wrote: »

If you want to thicken the stew, add a slurry of cornflour to the stew, or with small diced floury potatoes, which will break down and thicken it (edit: as above.)

My measuring jug doesn't have a 'slurry' level?

the beer revolu

Cornflour will give a very different consistency to flour (more like a Chinese take away that a homemade stew).
I'd suggest not flouring the meat (as above) and adding a good tablespoon of flour to the pot and stirring in before adding the liquid. Do this over a low heat. I find the meat browns better that way rather than just browning the flour.

Also when making a stew, rather than doing all this browning and removing stuff from the casserole and adding it back in, I brown everything in a frying pan (in batches) and put into the casserole as it is browned. I then deglaze the frying pan with what ever liquid I'm using.
I find it easier, quicker and more effective.

surfjunky

Many thanks for all the responses. I like the non-flouring options and I'll be sure to de-glaze next time as well. Dish turned out well last night but I've been careful not to disturb the semi-burned gloop at bottom of casserole, heres hoping I haven't done permenant damage to my pots.

Magic Monkey

A "slurry" of cornflour is just a little water and cornflour mixed together.

the beer revolu, frying the ingredients off separately is a much better idea. I would even add that this could be done just for the beef whilst cooking the veg in the casserole, further saving time.

the beer revolu

Magic.Monkey wrote: »

frying the ingredients off separately is a much better idea. I would even add that this could be done just for the beef whilst cooking the veg in the casserole, further saving time.

that is what I actually do too.
All going on at once!!:D

kylith

I brown my floured beef cubes in a non-stick pan before adding them to the casserole dish. The 'burned' bits at the bottom of the pan are what'll flavour your casserole, so I just deglaze with a bit of stout, give it a scrape with the wooden spoon and pour it in with the meat and veggies.