Tender and with a creamy and flavorful sauce, the white beef stew is one of my favorite recipes for cooking stew. Although the stew in sauce, perhaps accompanied by polenta or mashed potatoes, is delicious, if you are a fan of meat and stews 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 sautéed vegetables: onion, celery, and carrot. The secret to obtaining an ultra-tender beef stew lies in the cooking: it must be slow and prolonged (at least an hour and a half, better two), over 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 1.5/2 cm (0.6/0.8 inches) per side. This way, the stew will be so tender that it falls apart with a fork, just like in the genovese recipe. If you have a slow cooker, you can use it for this preparation; you will find all the instructions at the end of the article. Alternatively, if you prefer to use a pressure cooker, follow the instructions reported here. Perfect for Sunday lunch during these cold winter days, the white beef stew recipe is perfect to enhance even lesser cuts of meat that are full of flavor.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very Cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, 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 White Beef Stew
- 2.2 lbs beef
- 1 carrot
- 1 stalk celery
- 1/2 onion
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2/3 cup beef broth (about; or vegetable broth)
- 2.5 tbsps all-purpose flour (if you're celiac you can use fine rice flour or cornstarch)
- 3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- 10 g 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 28 cm diameter non-stick with lid
How to Prepare a Tender and Creamy Beef Stew without Tomato
To prepare the white beef stew, start by cutting the meat (or having your butcher cut it) into not too large cubes (1), about 1.5/2 cm (0.6/0.8 inches) per side. Place them in a large bowl and season them with a good pinch of salt and a little black pepper (2). Mix with your hands to distribute the seasoning evenly. Then add the flour (3).
Still using your hands, mix everything to quickly flour all the pieces of meat (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 it, you can chop it together with the other vegetables. Take a thick-bottomed nonstick pan, add the oil and 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 that the meat cubes color on all sides. Then raise the heat to the maximum and deglaze with the white wine (9).
Immediately stir with a wooden spoon to deglaze the cooking base, and let the alcoholic part of the wine evaporate for about a minute over high heat, until you no longer smell the strong odor of alcohol. At this point, add about 100 ml (0.4 cups) of beef 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 the previously added broth runs dry. It is very important to keep the heat low during cooking because the stew must barely simmer; consider that in this way and keeping the pan always covered, I needed to add very little more broth, no more than 50 ml (0.2 cups).
After the cooking time (12) test the meat: it should be very tender and shred with a fork. Then remove the lid, discard the garlic clove, and let the cooking base thicken for a few minutes (13).
Serve the white beef stew as a main dish, accompanied by some polenta, or as a hearty second course, for which the ideal side dish is, in my opinion, 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 leave a small air vent: for this reason, glass lids are ideal because they have a hole that allows steam to escape. If you don’t have it, you can simply place a wooden spoon between the pot and lid.
If you have a crock-pot or another slow cooker pot, proceed as per the recipe until step 9. After evaporating the wine, transfer everything to the slow cooker and add only 50 ml (0.2 cups) of broth. Stir and cook for 10 hours on low mode, or for 4 hours on high.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
What cut of meat to use for beef stew?
For this recipe, I used beef shoulder, a rather economical cut because it is usually a bit tough, but in reality, it is very flavorful and ideal for stews, casseroles, and long-cooking recipes. Alternatively, you can also use the so-called “priest’s hat” (which is a very similar cut) or even the rump.
