Stewing it up

Boiling meat and veggies — or any other combo — in water brings out an amalgamation of finger-licking flavours. Hearty and delicious, stews are perfect for this time of the year

By Kari Heron

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Published: Fri 17 Feb 2012, 6:30 PM

Last updated: Tue 7 Apr 2015, 2:56 PM

Since the wea-ther got significantly cooler in late December, I have been craving hot, hearty dishes to warm me up. While I can get by on salads everyday in the hotter months, when it gets this cold, I want soups, stews, braises, and root veggies all the time. Soups, stews and braises all have one thing in common — they are cooked with moist heat, or in simpler terms, liquid.

People have been cooking from time immemorial. Boiling foods has been part of every civilisation and has been refined over time to more modern fare. From the basic meat and seafood boils in huge cauldrons feeding many, we have evolved to more delicate and flavourful soups, stews and braises, earning their place in gourmet presentations in fine restaurants all over the world.

Soups are cooked in the greatest volume of water in proportion to solids, while stews are cooked with solids just covered in water, and braises are cooked with water halfway or less of the solids. By solids I refer to meat, poultry, seafood or vegetables.

Stews generally have solids cut into small pieces while braises are usually larger pieces. People all over the world cook foods by stewing and braising every day, sometimes even without knowing it. Some of the most famous dishes cooked by these methods are French Beef Burgionon and Ratotouille, Indian curries and Jalfrezi, Arabic Okra Stew, Pinoy Adobo Chicken and Mexican Chili.

All of these dishes resonate with much flavour, capturing the palates and hearts of people all over the world because of how they are cooked. Stews and braises involve a method of slowly cooking foods which produces juicy dishes with delicious sauces in the same pot. Instead of having to cook a dish and then make a sauce, the sauce and the meat/vegetables are cooked together.

Bones, fat and connective tissue add lots of flavour and juiciness to meat stews. Tough cuts shine with this cooking treatment.

When stewing chicken, it is best to use all the parts except the breast, which can be reserved for other dishes that do not require long cooking or for stock. The breast cooks quickly and toughens up when overcooked. The best fish to stew are those thick fleshy ones and larger prawns, crab and squid. Cooking time for seafood stews would be much shorter than those for chicken.

How to Stew

· Cut meat and vegetables into pieces of roughly the same size.

· Season meat with salt and pepper or any other marinade.

· Sear meat to brown.

· Remove meat and add aromatic vegetables, potatoes and spices.

· Add meat back to pot.

· Add potatoes, if 
being used.

· Add water at room temperature or slightly warm (not cold and not hot).

· Bring the pot to the first hint of boiling, then reduce to a low flame and cover and allow to simmer until cooked tender. This could be up to 2-3 hours for particularly tough cuts and much less for chicken and vegetables.

· Re-season dish with herbs, salt and pepper and fresh pieces of veggies and cook until those are soft.

· To maximise flavour, cook stews and braises a day before and refrigerate and skim off the fat when cold. They taste much better once they have had a chance to sit for several hours and the flavours meld together.

wknd@khaleejtimes.com

Best meat cuts to stew/ braise:

· Shank

· Shoulder

· Leg

· Neck

· Tail

· Feet

· Brisket

· Kari is a Dubai-based journalist and photographer of the food blog chefandsteward.com. Follow her on Facebook at facebook.com/ChefandSteward and contact her at:

· kari@chefandsteward.com

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