Very tender and with a creamy and flavorful sauce, beef stew in white wine is one of my favorite recipes for cooking stew. Although stew with sauce, perhaps accompanied by polenta or mashed potatoes, is delicious, if you are a meat and stew enthusiast like me, you will surely appreciate this version where the flavor of the beef is enhanced by the long cooking with white wine and broth, along with the classic sauté vegetables: onion, celery, and carrot. The secret to obtaining a very soft beef stew lies entirely in the cooking: it must be slow and prolonged (at least an hour and a half, preferably two), at low heat, so that the stew barely simmers. The cooking time also depends on the size of the meat cubes: I chose beef pieces cut into cubes of about 0.6/0.8 inches. This way, the stew will be so tender that it falls apart with a fork, just like in the recipe for genovese. If you have a slow cooker, you can use it for this recipe; you will find all the instructions at the end of the article. Alternatively, if you prefer to use the pressure cooker, follow the instructions provided here. Perfect for Sunday lunch during these cold winter days, the beef stew in white wine recipe is ideal for highlighting even lesser cuts of meat but with great flavor.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Stove, Slow Cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter and Spring
- Energy 395.85 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 15.03 (g) of which sugars 0.85 (g)
- Proteins 48.14 (g)
- Fat 16.29 (g) of which saturated 4.74 (g)of which unsaturated 0.78 (g)
- Fibers 0.65 (g)
- Sodium 3,222.54 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 225 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for the Beef Stew in White Wine
- 2.2 lbs beef
- 1 carrot
- 1 stalk celery
- 1/2 onion
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2/3 cup meat broth (approx; or vegetable broth)
- 2 tbsps all-purpose flour (if you are celiac, you can use superfine rice flour or corn starch)
- 3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp butter
- 3 pinches salt
- to taste pepper
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 2 leaves sage
- 1 leaf bay leaf
- 1 clove garlic
Tools
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Chopper small
- 1 Pan non-stick 11-inch diameter with lid
How to Prepare a Very Tender and Creamy Beef Stew Without Tomato
To prepare the beef stew in white wine, start by cutting the meat (or have your butcher do it) into not too large cubes (1), about 0.6/0.8 inches on each side. Put them in a large bowl and season with a good pinch of salt and a little black pepper (2). Toss with your hands to distribute the seasoning evenly. Then add the flour (3).
Continue to mix with your hands, to quickly coat all the pieces of meat with flour (4). Finely chop the carrot, onion, and celery, after cleaning them (5). I used a mini electric chopper to do it faster, but you can achieve a similar result using a knife.
If you chop these vegetables very finely, during cooking they will melt and blend into the cooking base, making it creamy and flavorful. I prefer to leave the garlic whole and then remove it, but if you like, you can chop it along with the other vegetables. Take a thick-bottomed non-stick pan, pour in the oil, and add the butter (6).
Heat them well, then add the chopped vegetables and the peeled garlic clove and sauté over low heat for about a minute (7). At this point, add the beef stew (8) and let it brown over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often to ensure the meat cubes are colored on all sides. Then increase the heat to high and deglaze with the white wine (9).
Immediately stir with a wooden spoon to deglaze the cooking base, and let the alcohol evaporate for about a minute at high heat, until you no longer smell the strong alcohol odor. At this point, add about 3.4 fl oz ofmeat broth or vegetable broth (10). Also, add a sprig of rosemary, a couple of sage leaves, and a bay leaf.
Stir, cover with a lid, and let the beef stew cook for about 2 hours (11), stirring occasionally and adding more hot broth a little at a time if it runs out. It’s very important to keep the heat low during cooking, as the stew should barely simmer; in this way, and keeping the pan always covered, I needed to add only a little more broth, no more than 1.7 fl oz.
After the cooking time (12), test the meat: it should be very tender and fall apart with a fork. Then remove the lid, discard the garlic clove, and let the cooking base thicken for a few minutes (13).
Serve the beef stew in white as a one-dish meal, accompanied by some polenta, or as a hearty main course, with my ideal side dish being a simple mashed potato.
Storage
You can store the beef stew in the refrigerator for about 3 days.
Tips and Variations
During cooking, the pan should be covered but with a small air vent: for this reason, glass lids are ideal, as they have a small hole that allows steam to escape. If you don’t have one, you can simply place a wooden spoon between the pot and the lid.
If you have a crock-pot or another slow cooker, proceed according to the recipe up to step 9. After the wine has evaporated, transfer everything to the slow cooker and add only 1.7 fl oz of broth. Stir and cook for 10 hours on low mode, or for 4 hours on high.
FAQ
What cut of meat is used for beef stew?
For this recipe, I used beef shoulder, a fairly economical cut because it is usually a bit tough, but actually very flavorful and ideal for stews, braises, and long cooking recipes. Alternatively, you can also use the so-called ‘priest’s hat’ (which is a very similar cut) or even ’round’.
