It is March in spring, the most comfortable season of the year. It is neither cold nor hot, birds are singing and flowers are fragrant everywhere, and the weather is full of vitality. Therefore, during this season, our diet and daily life are also more casual. Taking food as an example, our choices are much richer than those in the scorching summer and cold winter, and we don’t need to deliberately adapt to the sudden cold and heat of the climate. Whether it's stewed, stir-fried, cold, steamed, fried or boiled, everything can be eaten during this season.

So today, let’s talk about the recipes and techniques of the delicacy “Beef Stew”. With the improvement of people's living standards, the main meat ingredient is not just "pork". For example, beef and mutton have become people's main sources of meat after pork. However, compared to mutton, beef has a lighter fishy smell and hotness, so the seasons suitable for eating beef are wider, and it can be said that it can be eaten all year round.

Beef not only tastes delicious, but is also rich in nutritional value. At the same time, it can be eaten in a variety of ways, including stewed beef, stir-fried beef, braised beef, and soy sauce beef. Next, I will focus on how to make the delicacy "beef stew" delicious?

Beef stew seems very simple. Some people think that just stew the beef with seasonings, but the results are often unsatisfactory. For example, the stewed beef either has a strong fishy smell, or the texture is too woody to chew, or it has no flavor at all. In short, the beef is not delicious.

Then why is the beef stewed by chefs or people with good cooking skills in restaurants so delicious? Not only is it soft and delicious, but it also has a rich flavor that is neither fishy nor woody. It is just right. The main reason is that they have mastered the key skills of beef stew, so the effect of the "beef stew" is very different.

Let’s take a look at what skills you should pay attention to when making “beef stew”? In fact, it's very simple. Just remember to "put three times and don't put three times", and the beef will naturally become soft and fragrant, neither woody nor fishy.

When many of us cook meat, we are often accustomed to processing the meat a few minutes before cooking, that is, blanch it immediately after washing it. In fact, this is wrong, because blanching for only one or two minutes cannot remove the blood from the beef well.

The correct approach is to clean the fresh beef you bought and soak it in cold water for at least two hours, so that most of the blood inside can be soaked out. At the same time, pay attention to the need to change the water frequently in the middle, so as to achieve the best effect.

Why do this? Because the blood and water in any animal meat ingredient is one of the main sources of its fishy smell. Blanching alone cannot completely remove the blood inside. So if you ignore this step, the stewed beef will have a strong fishy smell, and the soup will also have a bad color and taste.

Beef is a high-fiber meat ingredient, and the fiber inside is relatively thick. Therefore, when cooking beef, it is easy to stew for a long time, and if you are not careful, it will become too woody and hard to chew. Even if you can chew it, the cooking time will be greatly extended.

So what is a good way to solve this problem? When stewing, add auxiliary ingredients such as hawthorn slices. Because hawthorn slices contain a variety of organic acids, they can soften the crude fiber in beef, greatly shortening the cooking time, making the beef softer and more flavorful.

Adding hawthorn slices at the same time has another benefit, that is, the unique sweet and sour taste of hawthorn slices can be very helpful in removing the fishy smell of beef.

Many people don’t know that beer is a good cooking ingredient. It can be said that not only beef, but also general meat ingredients, if the cooking method of "stew" is used, beer is a rare auxiliary material. Because beer is made from malt, it has a certain alcohol content and unique aroma.

Therefore, if you add an appropriate amount of beer when stewing meat ingredients, it will not only remove a certain fishy smell, but also add a unique aroma to the dishes.

Therefore, beef is one of the meat ingredients. Of course, when stewing beef, don’t forget to add an appropriate amount of beer to stew it together!

After the fresh beef has been soaked in cold water and blanched before cooking, it is officially put into the pot for stewing. However, many people just put the beef directly into cold water and then stew it over high heat. This method is not advisable.

The correct approach should be to blanch the beef and then wash it with warm water of 30 to 40 degrees to wash away the foam on the surface of the beef. Then add boiling water to the pot, or boil the water in the pot first, and then add the beef to stew. In this way, the stewed beef will taste very soft and tender, not burnt or stiff.

It is precisely because beef and mutton have a greater fishy smell, especially mutton, which has a stronger fishy smell. Therefore, especially for some old people who grew up eating only pork, chicken and other meats, as soon as they hear about eating mutton or beef, the first thing that comes to their mind is how to use various seasonings to suppress the fishy smell of beef and mutton. Therefore, some strong-flavored aniseed ingredients such as star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, and cinnamon will be the first choice.

As everyone knows, when stewing beef and mutton, it is taboo to add these ingredients. Because aniseed ingredients such as Sichuan peppercorns and star anise can actually not remove the fishy smell of beef, but will cause strange smells and cover up its original taste. At the same time, they will also affect the color of the dishes and the color of the soup, making them look unsightly and unappetizing.

Today’s young people are better off, especially when older people cook any dish. When the ingredients are put into the pot, the salt is basically thrown into the pot with them. Why do this? That's because they believe that the salt must be added to the pot early so that the ingredients will be fully flavored. If the salt is added late, the salt will not be fully flavored.

In fact, this habit is not good, because adding salt too early will greatly affect the taste and quality of the dishes. Take beef stew as an example. The best time to add salt is when the beef is already cooked, about 10 minutes before taking it out of the pot. At this time, add salt and simmer it with the beef for about ten minutes. Not only can the salt fully penetrate into the beef, but it will also taste more delicious and fragrant.

Thank you all for your patience in reading! Today I will share with you the methods and techniques of stewing beef. Remember "three times and three times". The beef will be soft and fragrant without any fishy smell. Have you learned it? If you have better methods and tips for stewing beef, please share them with everyone in the comment area! Follow me if you like me, see you in the next issue for more exciting food content!