Old-Time Beef Stew (Paula Deen)

SweetsLady's Note:

One of our favorite stews! Great on chilly nights! My notes are in parentheses. This makes a thick stew.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 lbs stewing beef
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 garlic clove , minced
• 1 -2 bay leaf (I use 2)
• 1 medium onion , sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 1 dash ground allspice or 1 dash clove
• 3 large carrots , sliced (I use baby carrots)
• 4 red potatoes , quartered
• 3 celery ribs , chopped (I omit this)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:

1. Brown meat in hot oil. Add water, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaves, onion, salt, sugar, pepper, paprika, and allspice. Cover and simmer 1-1/2 hours.
2. Remove bay leaves. Add carrots, potatoes, and celery. Cover and cook 20-30 minutes longer or until vegetables are cooked.
3. To thicken gravy, remove 2 cups hot liquid. Using seperate bowl, combine 1/4 cup water and cornstarch until smooth. Mix with hot liquid and return mixture to pot. Stir and cook until bubbly and thickened. Enjoy!

Reviews

[WiGal]

Very good stew! The allspice and paprika is wonderful in this! I did add my vegetables after 1 hour of meat simmering and then simmered for an additional 45 minutes. There was only about 1 1/4 cups of hot liquid so use only half of the cornstarch/water mixture. Thank you Sweets Lady for sharing. Made for PRMR.

[Atomic Girl Cooks!]

I liked the flavour of this dish, but there was far too little liquid - is there an error in this recipe?

[nikidust]

I ADORE this recipe! It does end up with too little liquid at the end, so either enjoy it thick or add more water. I make this without the celery because my husband doesn't like celery, and I use 2 bay leaves, and 1 dash (make sure you don't use any more than one shake of the shaker) of allspice (haven't tried it with cloves). I ALSO make this with russet potatoes because I don't like red potatoes in a stew, they make everything taste sour. LOVE it.