Beef Stew, Keeping Us Alive For Hundreds of Years

First day

When it is cold out our bodies naturally crave certain things. This is not up for debate. Actually it is up for debate, but because I'm right, it is a waste of time to engage in the process. When it is cold out our bodies naturally thirst for filling food. You know why? To keep ourselves alive. For 99% of human history, staying alive was numero uno on the agenda of things to do. In fact, there really wasn't many other things to worry about. In fact, a good portion of the world lives like this today. So the next time your top priority of the day is to find that flashy new case for your iPhone, try to remember for a second that billions (yes billions) of people are concerned with only one thing, eating enough food and drinking enough water to stay alive another day. If that thought doesn't bring you right out of your self-centered universe, I'm afraid you may have a cold heart. I digress. So people have always eaten filling food in the winter. It helped them stay alive. The other key component of all this is that you have to remember what is growing in the winter. Nothing! Actually that isn't true, but for the most part, the pickings are slim. Root vegetables, meat, dried grains, and pickled and preserved products. Not exactly the bounty that we have in other seasons (or the seasonless cornucopia of modern day supermarkets). If you live in a cold weather climate, these are the type of things that will make your body sing with delight. I'm not a crazy locavore who thinks you should only eat things that come from no further than fifty miles away. This is stupid, and I will delve deeper into the subject at another time. I eat local products whenever I can, and they are wonderful, but I am willing to balance local products with things that are produced in other areas. For instance I love coffee, tea, spices, olive oil, and bananas, and have no inclination to give these things up because some twenty-old from Brooklyn has decided that I should. After all, people have been eating and drinking products from other parts of the world for centuries.

Second day

 Forget all that, let's just make it super simple. What is better on a frigid rainy night, a nice garden salad with raspberry vinaigrette or beef stew? If you answered a nice garden salad, you should stop reading this immediately, because clearly there is nothing romantic left in your soul, and your world view is probably lodged in some alternate universe that I can't relate to. I love a good salad, but when compared with the delight that comes from beef stew on a winter evening, I believe there is no comparison. Imagine writing a story about an idyllic scene in winter, a family surrounding a table, a fire blazing in the other room, the family dog cocking his head to the sky hoping for a scrap from the table. What is on the table? If you said a salad, you are a jerk, or you have yet to come to grips with the fact that life is short, and needs to be enjoyed every chance we get. Are you a vegetarian? Then imagine a vegetarian stew with hearty beans, maybe a crusty loaf of bread on the side for dipping. Most meals I eat are vegetarian, so don't think this is just a meat thing (although just about any vegetarian dish becomes ten times better with a bit of bacon or chorizo). You want to know the best part about making a stew? It's cheap. Dirt cheap. Right now I have a huge pot of stew simmering away to tender perfection. You know how much everything in that pot cost? Thirteen dollars. And that is relatively high end products, purchased in New York City. It will produce enough stew to eat for several days. Let me repeat that...... thirteen dollars (the same price as a pack of cigarettes here in NYC, for which I no longer partake), for several days of really delicious food. Here is the inherent beauty of stews and braises....inexpensive products become sublime because of the cooking method. It is brilliant. And here is the biggest kicker of all, stew tastes better a day or two after it is made. It is true. Brilliant! Make it in a crock pot if you want (my Mom did, and her stew was pretty damn good), it bothers me not at all. If you make stew for other people you will feel human connection on a deep level that has spanned the ages. And most importantly, you will enjoy yourself.

Beef Stew (this is not a recipe, but an idea)

1 1/2 lb. Beef Stew Meat (Chuck, Shoulder, something cheap and tough)
1 large onion chopped roughly
1 shallot minced
3 large carrots chopped roughly (one carrot at beginning, two for later)
4 cups of beef/chicken/ or vegetable stock
1 cup sherry/red wine
6 medium yukon gold potatoes (or double for the small variety) chopped roughly
flour for dusting
2 Tbs. Oil
1 tsp. dried thyme (or a few sprigs of fresh)
1 bay leaf
handful of chopped parsley and other herbs on hand
salt
pepper

1. Make sure that the beef is close to room temperature. Heat a dutch oven, or other large pot over medium heat. Liberally salt and pepper the beef. Now lightly coat the meat with flour, banging off any excess. Add the oil to the pan and slowly add half the beef, making sure not to crowd the pan. You are looking for a nice loud sizzle. Cook until well browned on all sides. Remove from the pan and reserve, adding the rest of the beef and repeating the process.
2. Add shallot, onion, and one chopped carrot. Cook until the onion is slightly browning, adjusting heat to insure nothing burns, about five minutes. Add the sherry or wine and deglaze the pan making sure to scrape the pan to get all the fond up from the bottom (the good stuff). Cook until the sherry or wine is cooked off by half.
3. Add the meat back to the pan. Add the potatoes, thyme, bay leaf, and a bit of salt and pepper. Now add the stock until the ingredients are barely covered. Allow everything to come up to temperature. What you want is barely a burble, like the pot is whispering, not yelling. The goal is never to allow the liquid to boil which will toughen the meat. Cover and allow to slowly cook for 1 1/2 hours. Check once or twice to be sure the liquid doesn't boil.
4. Uncover, and add the rest of the carrots (ensuring that all the carrots won't be mush). Continue to cook at a burble for another 1 to 2 hours. It could even take longer. What you are looking for is the meat to be tender, so you have to check and taste at half hour intervals. The sauce will cook down and reduce, so occasionally stir to keep everything moist.
5. When the meat is done, taste the broth. Does it taste good? Salt and pepper to taste. Add the chopped parsley. Serve. It will be better the next day.