beef stew!!! how do u season it?

I dredge the beef in seasoned flour (salt, pepper, Montreal steak seasoning) and brown it in a bit of oil. The flour thickens the liquid as the stew cooks. 

I brown about 2 lbs. meat and shallots (or garlic and onions) in butter and olive oil. Remove the meat, pour in some red wine to deglaze the pan, and whisk in a couple of tablespoons of flour to make a rue. Then put in your liquid (large bottle of V8 juice, 1c. beef broth or red wine, 1 c. water), add the meat back in with carrots and potatoes. I add quartered mushrooms and cut green beans once the potatoes and carrots cook a bit. For seasoning, I use an Herbs de Provence blend (from World Market), maybe 2 tsp. This is one of those things that I tend to just dump together. I think it's a blend of a Boeff Bourginione recipe and a stew recipe.

A can of v-8, some Accent seasoning and two tbsp of instant tapioca goes in with beef, carrots, celery, onion and potatoes. Slow cook on low 8 hours

I make all my soups and stew in the crockpot. It's basically the only thing I used my crockpot for, as my dh does not like the texture of meat cooked in a crockpot. I get stew meat from a butcher. it's Soo much better with meat from there. I take flour and put in a ziplock bag, season with salt, pepper, and shake the meat in there, to coat, then I brown it in a fry pan and add to the crockpot. I add about 4 cups, or 2 of the cartons of beef stock, cut up potatoes, carrots, celery, onions and mushrooms. salt and pepper and cook on low for 6 hrs. The last hr if I want to have a stew I make a slurry of either corn starch and broth, or flour and broth, and wisk it in. I usually do about 3-4 tbsps of the dry to the slurry, then let it cook down. taste as you go and season as you go.

I swear by the Williams Sonoma Beef Stew recipe. I'm a huge beef stew eater...we ate it all the time growing up, but I could never find a recipe that I really liked. It is one that the longer it sits and simmers, the better it gets. Perfect for a cold Sunday night.

Beef Stew

I make mine in a crock pot. I got this recipe from allrecipes-I sub soy sauce for the worcestershire sauce. The original probably had fresh onion but I usually use dried, or I use frozen. i can't cut onions. I tried all the tricks but it burns my eyes so badly and I have a headache the rest of the day.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

2 lbs beef stew meat
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbs minced dried onion
1-1/2 cups beef broth
3 potatoes, diced
4 carrots, sliced

Place meat in slow cooker. Pour flour and salt over meat and stir to coat meat mixture evenly. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

eta: now that I have my ninja slow cooker I brown the meat with the flour before adding the rest of the ingredients. 

Mine is similar to the WS recipe posted above. I always use red wine and mushrooms too

The broth on this stew is rich and so darned good. My family calls it Viking Stew because they imagine something hearty like this would be popular with the mighty men of the North. It's actually a Gaston Beef Stew from an old Joy of Cooking cookbook. I don't think it's in the newer ones, but I'm not positive about that. I've been making it for years and years. It's good the first day you make it, and even better the second day. Brown 2 lbs. cubed beef that has been dredged in seasoned flour. Remove to a plate when browned. Then you saute 1 large chopped onion in the remaining fat in the pan until tender, then add 2 chopped garlic cloves for the last minute. Deglaze pan with 1 cup red wine. Add 8 oz. can tomato sauce and 1 cup beef broth, 6 whole cloves (the spice, and this ingredient is very important), 1/4 c fresh parsley, and a bay leaf. Cover and simmer on low for 2 hours. Stir occasionally and add more broth if needed. You cook this until the meat is tender but not falling apart.

Cook 6 medium cubed potatoes, 6 peeled and sliced carrots, and 1 stalk chopped celery separately in salted water. Add to the stew, along with the mushrooms, and bacon for the last 15 minutes of cooking. Add to the stew in the last 15 minutes of cooking.

We do this and then use the package of McCormick stew seasoning.  VERY tasty.

All this talk about beef stew, but I have a ham bone I need to use! I think it'll be a pot of beans soup this week for us and save the stew next week. The WS recipe looks really good. But I'm kind of a purist when it comes to stew - beef, carrots, celery, onion and potatoes. Seasoned with salt and pepper.

I use my Granny's old cast iron Dutch oven. That thing must be at least 75 years old.

They are well worth the $$$