“Week Before” Beef Stew

Mar 17

Description

This recipe is designed to be cooked the weekend before a camp trip. It packs and freezes well, the flavor profile builds over time and it is easy to heat up at camp for a hearty meal.

Serves: 4 adults

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 3 hours

Campsite re-heat time: 30 minutes

Timing

Friday: Food shop
Sunday: Make stew/freeze
Friday: Camp day 1 - put frozen stew in cooler
Friday night: Camp night 1 - heat up stew in pot - eat

Ingredients

2 ½ lb boneless beef chuck roast - cut into 1 in pieces
Salt
Pepper
8 oz thick cut bacon - cut into 1 in pieces
Olive Oil
2 brown onions
2 carrots
8 cloves of garlic
1 bottle of red wine
2 cups beef stock (alternatively, if you don’t want to use wine then replace bottle of wine with 6 more cups of beef stock. So, 8 cups of stock total)
Small handful of thyme
1 cup cooked barley

Steps to cook at home

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Put 1 inch pieces of beef into large bowl and season liberally with salt and pepper. Let sit.
Chop brown onions, carrots and garlic. Put in a bowl and set aside.
Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a large heavy bottomed pot and heat on medium heat.
Once the pot is heated, brown meat in batches as needed. Make sure meat sits and browns undisturbed on at least two sides. Then spoon meat with a slotted spoon onto a plate. Repeat as needed.
When all of the meat is browned and placed on the plate, put chopped bacon into pan and cook until golden brown. Spoon bacon with a slotted spoon and place on same plate with meat.
Turn heat off. If there’s a lot of bacon grease, remove all but 1 tablespoon. Place discarded bacon grease into a heat proof bowl until it’s ready to be thrown in the garbage. Please don’t put it down your drain.
Put the pot back on the burner with the 1 tablespoon of bacon grease and turn the heat back on low. (If you’re not using bacon, you might need to add olive oil, alternatively.) Just make sure the pan isn’t screaming hot.
Put onions, carrots and garlic into the pot and season with salt and pepper. Deglaze the pan by scraping the bottom with a silicone or wooden spoon, the brown bits of the meats should be coming up now. Mix that into the vegetable mix. And then, raise the heat to medium and cook until vegetables are soft and translucent, about 15 - 20 minutes.
Add meat and bacon back to the pot. Give it a nice mix so everything is evenly distributed.
Add a bottle of wine, raise heat to high and reduce the liquid until the alcohol is cooked off. This usually takes me from 15 - 20 minutes. Alternatively, if you aren’t using wine, skip this step.
Add 2 cups of stock, mix and season with salt and pepper. (If you aren’t using the wine, then put the 8 cups of stock into the pot at this time and mix and season with salt and pepper.)
Add thyme or preferred herb.
Bring to a boil, cover pot, and then place into the oven for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, take the cover off and stir the stew. Leave in the oven for 30 minutes to an hour, depending. Keep an eye on it, you don’t want all of the liquid to evaporate, so if that starts to happen, take it out. Otherwise, leave for the full hour.
Take out of the oven, add the cooked barley, stir, and then let cool completely.
Put into a freezer proof container that will fit comfortably in a cooler. I recommend cambro, you can buy them at Smart and Final, Amazon, or any restaurant supply store.