Beef stew you if you want to drink soup, then use cold water, cold water in the pot, beef surface protein will be easy to loose, beef is easy to be stewed, nutrients are easy to flow into the soup.
If you want to eat meat, then use hot water, because people pursue the taste of beef and pork taste is completely different, pork prefers to eat tender, beef prefers to eat a little chewy, with hot water to stew beef, beef in contact with hot water, beef surface proteins will be quickly coagulated, which can prevent the loss of protein in the beef, but also can lock the flavor and nutrients of the beef! This will stop the loss of protein in the beef and also lock in the flavor and nutrients, and the stewed beef will be easier to chew.