This particular stew I call "Costco Stew" because I bought the meat and veggies at Costco, meaning that when it was done, I had a HUUUGE pot of stew. Fed me, my wife, left some in the fridge, froze about a gallon, and took care packages of stew over to three different neighbors. You may want to cut my amounts by half unless you have a big enough stockpot in which to cook it.
This is a tasty stew with just enough spiciness that it doesn't overwhelm you, but it leaves your mouth warm after you swallow. It could almost be thought of as a chili. It's great with a good chunk of bread on a cold snowy day and helps you feel warm and full.
GREG'S "COSTCO" STEW
The Body
6.5 lbs boneless chuck roast, cubed and trimmed of the largest chunks of fat
6 large yellow onions, peeled, halved, and sliced
6 sweet red bell peppers, sliced
3 pounds fingerling potatoes sliced in 1/2-3/4 inch lengths (large bite-size)
4 large carrots, peeled, and cut into large bite-size chunks
The Spices
4 cilantro cubes (got these in the Hispanic foods aisle at Wal-Mart)
3 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground chile california
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
The Broth
3 cups beef stock
1.5 cups water
1/2 bottle beer
Fats
2 tbs peanut oil
3 rounded tbs bacon grease
I used the cilantro cubes because I thought I had ground coriander and then found out I didn't at the last minute. If you can't get the cubes or want to avoid the MSG in them, use 2 tablespoons of ground coriander and 1/2 teaspoon of salt instead. If you don't have or don't want to use bacon grease, use olive oil, but bump the smoked paprika up to a full two tablespoons to make up for the smoky flavor you lose when eliminating the bacon grease.
Put the bacon grease in your large stockpot, begin melting it over medium heat. Add the onions and peppers and a dash of salt to start cooking them down. There will be too much vegetable matter to really sautee it all in the bacon grease, but it doesn't hurt to try. Best bet is to cover your pot, and every 3-4 minutes, go in with some tongs and try to rearrange the veggies.
Meanwhile get your peanut oil heating in a sautee pan over high heat. After about 10 minutes with the vegetables, dump in the beef stock, water, all the spices, and give everything a big stir.
In the sautee pan, start browning your chuck cubes. Put them in the pan, move them to separate them, and then let them be for a minute or two while the heat and fat do the magic of browning them. This is going to ad a lot of great beefy flavor. Once they're browned on two sides, transfer the cubes to the stock pot with a pair of tongs. Do this in batches and you won't need to add more fat. The meat will render some fat and juices to cook the next batch in.
When all the meat has been cooked, pour that half bottle of beer in the satuee pan and let it boil as you use a spatula scrape up some of those flavors the meat left on the bottom of the pan. Pour the resulting goodness into your stock pot.
Your onions and peppers are going to cook down, and despite all that vegetable matter and all that meat, when the veggies cook down, you're going to find you have enough liquid in the stock pot to cover your meat. Cover the pot, reduce to a low simmer, and let that puppy go for about 3.5 to 4 hours, stirring maybe once every hour or so.
Once it's gone that long, you put in the carrots and potatoes. Dump them in, being careful not to splash any of that brothy goodness out of the pot. Bring the heat up a couple of notches until the broth is bubbling again, and then reduce to a low simmer again, letting it go for about 45 minutes.
Take it off the heat and let it rest another 30-45 minutes, letting the potatoes soak up those stewy flavors and come to a finish without getting overly soft and mushy.
Serve in a bowl with a spoon and a some bread to sop up the broth. This is very good reheated the next day as well.
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