Food

did a beef stew yesterday

shin beef
onions
garlic
carrots
celery
mustard seeds
spoonful mustard
bay
thyme
guiness
beef stock

it lacks a depth of flavour is there anything acidic sour or somthing that can cut through the sweetness of the guiness and add a bit of flavour

had thoughts of lea and perrins / basalmic vinegar

anyone else suggest something to add a different depth of flavour

loads of red wine / port / bisto.

what exactly does celery bring to any party? see it used a lot in french cooking, it tastes like soap.

I prefer celeriac, as I think it has a better taste, but celery is a key ingredient in a lot of dish bases (where you take your pick from onions, garlic, carrots, celery/celeriac, leeks, etc.). If it tastes like soap, you're doing something wrong. :)

big dash of soy sauce would probably work. Red wine > Guinness in a beef stew tho.

stringy soap, at that.

actually the soy works really well, tried lee and perrins in a tiny tester bowl not quite as yummy
#umagi

How did you cook it? Easy to make something taste meh if your method isn't spot on...

I'd season the meat with salt, no pepper, and fry it very hard in a high temp oil in small batches to caramelise the meat... Then bring the heat down and sautee the onions gently to lift the clumpy bits off the bottom of the pan, I turn it right down and chuck a lid on then add the rest of the veg once the onions have soaked up the tasty meat gunk... Let it all soften a bit then add your mustard seeds, bay and thyme before chucking the meat back in with the Guinness, bring back to a simmer for a few minutes then add the stock, some salt and pepper and leave for three hours on a very low heat with the lid on... Remove the lid for the last half hour or so to thicken things up a bit...

PS Red wine will be better than Guinness IMHO...

pretty much exactly how i made it ^^
put the bay thyme and mustard seeds a bit earlier though, in with the onion when softening and cooked for 3-4 hours yesterday and another hour this morning

red wine next time

Just over season, loads more salt and pepper and it'll be terrific... Most people are frightened to season, hit it 'til it tastes right... :)

and smash some mushrooms in.

i fuckin love mushrooms. they're ace.

I find celery (or celeriac) adds a subtle, savoury basenote, difficult to substitute - which I guess may be undetectable to plebian tongues.

Mushroom ketchup is another good one to add some umami flavours.

umami - yes to the suggested soy, mushrooms, bisto, wine - all good shouts. Anchovy?
Teaspoon of vinegar could go a long way.

I would caramelise the mirepoix first very well, and do the meat separately very very well.
Gets rid of the celery soap. I also use celery salt sometimes instead for the flavour.
Celeriac is the work of the devil unless covered in mayonnaise.

I find I throw away very little if anything at all. I've become very good at making decent meals with a few ingredients (iron chef!). I think it's from learning about what (flavours) goes with what and having a good store of cans and dry ingredients to fall back on - lentils, grains, pasta, rice. This may help http://www.flavourthesaurus.com/ also I've cooked most of my adult life with Stephanie Alexander and the Silver Spoon - good reference books.

I'm a big fan of Lock & Lock plastic tubs which go into dishwasher well (the sistema ones don't) and the heavy duty snap-lock soup bags

I wish! I'm 35.

:)

I would caramelise the mirepoix first very well, and do the meat separately very very well.

I cook the crap out of it before any moisture gets reintroduced... I think that's the secret, cooking it all down carefully but very hard... Same goes for when I make soups... Cook that excess water out then add stock/wine/what have you...

goes for when I make soups... Cook that excess water out then add stock/wine/what have you...

yeah totally. The flavours intensify so much more from it.

interesting

Going to be around the London Fields area on Saturday, any recommendations for grub?

I rate buen ayre.. but it aint very veggie friendly if thats a req

Not a requirement

got a pescetarian/vegetarian round for dinner in a couple of weeks, (doesn't do shellfish) wondering if anyone has any go to recipes/thoughts for what I could offer. It's on a monday night and I'd like to do as much prep/pre cooking on the sunday so all I'd need to do is come home, heat some stuff up, maybe cook the main and be ready to sit down to eat.

I'm thinking something like a soup, maybe a fish broth, or a chilli mushroom to start, though I'd like to do whitebait just unsure about frying them the night of, and then a main of some sort of fillet (probably sea bass) with some spiced puy lentils, and greens.

and probably a baked cheesecake to end..

thoughts?

There is no excuse for fish soup/broth/bisque/other euphemism.

Shame they don't do shellfish. Does that extend to cephalopods? Some stunning stuffed squid/cuttlefish etc recipes floating around.

I'd say depends on levels of what you can be bothered to do.

For a fishy starter then smoked fish is generally well received by my pesky pesci buddies. I've done this (without the bacon garnish) which was surprisingly easy and very impressive: http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/smoked-fish-platter-recipe
It's a fair bit of effort but not complicated and can be prepped the day before.

Are they fussy about things being fully cooked? If you can get good quality tuna it's always so A. delicious, B impressive on the plate when seared properly. Also no worries about doing something stupid like overcooking the main:

http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/tuna-escabeche-aubergine-puree
http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/seared-yellowfin-tuna-recipe

Cheesecake's not a bad shout for a desert.
Either something rich like that or maybe something tarter like a sorbet? Maybe some grilled fruit with honey and vanilla cream?

I'm hungry :( I want fish :(