Despite the weather warming up, beef stew is a fantastic recipe to cook when you don’t want too much fuss, but craving something delicious. To make the best beef stew, you need to carefully brown the meat, add great proportions of veggies, including mushrooms and leeks, and stir in a surprise ingredient. According to Cara Eispenpress at Food 52, the “secret ingredient” for “delicious and far better results” has to be anchovies.
She said: "Anchovies, the ‘secret ingredient,’ are briny and buttery, giving the sauce a smooth, complex finish." The cook claimed that this ingredient “really brings the flavour of this stew over the top”. She added, “You may not use anchovies regularly, but this stew will convince you otherwise.
I also recommend using beef with generous marbling for the best results. “It’s one of those one-pot wonders that takes a few hours to cook, but the result is well worth it.” Five pounds of beef stewing meat cut into two to three-inch pieces Salt and freshly ground pepper One-third cup of mixed olive oil and canola oil One large onion, finely chopped Four celery sticks, finely chopped Two carrots, finely chopped Two leeks, washed well and thinly sliced Eight garlic cloves, finely chopped 113g of mushrooms, roughly chopped One-quarter cup of tomato paste Two anchovies One cup of red wine One tin of whole tomatoes Half a cup of red wine vinegar Three cups (or more) of homemade or store-bought beef broth Three bay leaves Three-quarter te.
