Red wine beef stew with potato gratin | Bibbyskitchen recipes (2024)

FAQs

What does adding red wine to stew do? ›

The "secret" is the acid from the red wine. It helps to break down the collagen, naturally tenderizing the meat and releasing great flavor! The longer you can marinate the better but a minimum of 3 hours is essential.

Most people agree that cabernet sauvignon is the way to go if you need a red wine to pair with beef stew. With that dry taste thanks to all those tannins, which in turn bring out the flavor of the beef, it won't get overwhelmed if you've have a really hearty stew full of meat and veggies.

Ale makes for a heartier stew than does wine, one that's more suited to its original chilly terroir and one that's welcome here while we wait for spring to show up. At its most traditional, the carbonnade pairs beef with slow-cooked, caramelized onions.

The Best Substitute for Red Wine

Alcohol-free red wine. Beef broth. Chicken broth. Red wine vinegar (use ½ vinegar and ½ water for similar flavor results)

Adding wine to stews is not unknown. Here's the standard operating procedure used happily for many generations: fry red meat (beef or pork) until the surface is golden; add wine (red or white will do) to the ingredients, close the lid and cook on low heat for a few hours; wait, wait, wait (check your phones); finish!

I'd start by removing as much liquid as possible, by straining the stew. Then replacing it with stock or water, perhaps with some grape or apple juice mixed in, and probably a little tomato puree/paste.

Old unrefrigerated and used red wine is as fine for cooking as it is for drinking. As long as the wine has a stopper in it, no worries. Even without a stopper, as long as very little oxygen gets to it, it's fine.

For a flavorful beef stew it's important to start with good meat and a good broth or stock, since that's a huge base of your dish. Making sure you have quality beef chuck that's well-marbled will add a bunch of flavor that you won't be getting from red wine.

There is no real wrong answer for your beef stew potatoes — russets or red potatoes will work fine — but Yukon Gold potatoes have the best balance of texture and flavor to complement a meaty stew.

Oil - Use vegetable oil, olive oil, or canola oil to brown the beef and sauté onions. Vinegar & optional red wine - Use red wine vinegar and some red wine to give this stew a deep and rich sweet and savory flavor.

What makes beef stew more flavorful? ›

I almost always add some beef bouillon crystals to my stew, it helps oomph (yes, a technical term) the beefiness of the stock. Sometimes also use a few shots of worcestershire sauce or soy sauce - both will also add some oomph to the flavor.

Beef stew wine pairings

The dark fruit and rich tannin notes of full-bodied red wines stand up to the strong taste of the beef stew. Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon are terrific with beef's earthy taste. Punchy and peppery French Bordeaux and Syrah also balance nicely with strong flavours.

Tapioca. One of the joys of eating stew is its hearty sauce, which should have more body than regular soup broth. Add a little tapioca to absorb some of the liquid and you'll end up with a nice, thick broth. Use this tapioca trick in your own favorite stew recipe, or see it at work in our Classic Beef Stew.

How to Substitute Tomato Sauce or Puree for Tomato Paste. You don't have to dash out to the store if you're out of tomato paste; tomato sauce and tomato puree are both an excellent substitute. For every 1 tablespoon of tomato paste needed, use 3 tablespoons of tomato puree or sauce.

When it comes to stews where there is not as much liquid, you can use almost any potato, including russet potato (see stew recipe below), if you like. The waxy and fingerling potato will also do well in stews.

Plus, like high heat or salt, alcohol breaks down proteins in meat, a process known as “denaturing.” So the wine in your marinade helps tenderize the beef. It also helps add some extra flavor. That's because when you cook with wine—or any spirit—it doesn't all disappear.

The science: Alcohol does partially evaporate during cooking, but not as much as you might think. Depending on the cooking method and how much alcohol is used, anywhere from 4 to 85 percent of the alcohol may remain. After 15 minutes of cooking, about 40 percent of the alcohol remains.

Wine is basically an acid ingredient (which helps tenderize the outside of the meat) and it has a lot of flavor. The wine-based marinade helps keep meat, poultry, or seafood moist while it cooks, too.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), baked or simmered dishes that contain alcohol will retain 40% of the original amount after 15 minutes of cooking, 35% after 30 minutes and 25% after an hour. But there's no point at which all of the alcohol disappears.