...and I was ever so grateful. I'm fine with messes like this. A lot of peeling going on here of potatoes, onions and
carrots. Of course that is followed with a lot of chopping and luckily for me
the mild, sweet onion didn't bring me to my knees in tears.
I bought so much stew meat that I actually had to brown it in 4 separate batches. You don't want to crowd your meat or it will not brown well. If you get a really good browning the broth/sauce will be brown and rich. I also coat my meat in flour and seasoning salt well before browning in canola oil and that adds to the thickness. I also leave the potatoes in large chunks so they can cook down adding to the thickness of the sauce/gravy.
Now you see why I had to make all that mess. It was my new cast iron, 6 quart dutch ovens maiden voyage.
I have been a huge fan of dutch ovens my whole life. They make everything better. Long, slow cooking turn a "roast anything" into fork tender wonderfulness.
Braising or stewing is supreme in a dutch oven.
I will admit that I would have liked one that was more "fashionable", maybe with a classy brand name and cute color but my practical side said this was an excellent quality, right size, didn't want one any smaller, price was right at $49.00 and the return policy at Cost*co can't be beat if I wasn't in love with it. It was also very, very important to me that I can cook with it on the stove top or in the oven. This lid handle/knob is oven proof to 500*. That'll do (pig).
This stew slow cooked 3+ hours on Saturday evening then after cooling an hour off heat I refrigerated it overnight then reheated slowly until bubbly just before
Sunday dinner.
I love Sunday dinner and family.
That's a hard combo to beat!
Photo below is just when it's starting it initial cooking.
And when a 12 year old grand isn't too cool to make biscuits from scratch with his Grammy, and a younger sister/grand tries her hand too (picture prior to baking) ...well that's a memory maker.
Sorry there are not "after" photos. Once it all hit the table it was devoured...with lots of butter and freeze strawberry jam for the biscuits. Happy day, msk
