Simple stew recipe.

[Home Guard]

Hello,

Does anyone have any experience in cooking a simple beef and vegetable stew in a billy can over the fire?

I'm new to bushcraft, and even more of a green horn when it comes to cooking.

Thankyou.

 

[Barn Owl]

Diced steak, couple of pork links sliced, whatever veg you like.
stew for at least two hours,add bisto granules,not the onion one.

Bread for dipping into it.

 

[spiritwalker]

could take the lazy option nip to aldi and get a can of stewing steak in gravy a tin of new potatoes and a tin of mixed veg boil them all together and roberts you mothers brother.

Failing that get some cheap cuts of beef (shin beef is good or a pack of stewing steak) dice it up coat it in plain flour and fry off (browning) with a diced onion. once brown add veg of your liking potatoes carrots peas swedes parsnip leeks whatever you like add some stock and or a bottle of red wine and simmer down for a good while. A faggot of herbs can be added too for extra flavour as can an oxo

 

[dwardo]

Million ways to do this

Dice an onion and sweat it off in the bottom of the pan for a bit, bit of oil helps.
Add what ever meat you have diced beef etc and brown the meat I like to add choritzio here., sizz it up for a min
Add some water and stock half fill the pot, and some ale, wine.
Then add the tougher veg such as chopped sweed and parsip, cook for a while.
About 30 from ready (test the meat and tougher veg, aka poke with knife) add the spuds baby spuds are easy and dont need peeling.
Then get stuck in with some nice bread.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Diced shin or chuck, fry to seal in a few drops of oil... Boil gently in tescos finest beef stock for an hour, add chopped potatoes,
carrots and swede (or sweet potato) and a sprig of rosemary and cook gently for 45 mins until veg tender. Grind some black pepper and serve.

Simples.

Enjoy!

 

[santaman2000]

TBH the recipes are the easy bit (and hopefully you'll get loads of them here) The hard part is mastering the art of cooking without burning (or maybe it's blind luck?) especially in a billy can over a fire. That just comes with loads of practice and the sacrifice of more than one cow.

 

[dwardo]

TBH the recipes are the easy bit (and hopefully you'll get loads of them here) The hard part is mastering the art of cooking without burning (or maybe it's blind luck?) especially in a billy can over a fire. That just comes with loads of practice and the sacrifice of more than one cow.

Home Gard, Keep testing the fire temperature with your hand if your unsure, may sound a bit daft but a nice simmer for me is about 3/4 seconds before you cant stand your hand in the heat. Also drag your spoon across the bottom of the pan and if it feels like there is friction then you may be burnng your food. Slow is better, go whittle something for a bit

 

[santaman2000]

Home Gard, Keep testing the fire temperature with your hand if your unsure, may sound a bit daft but a nice simmer for me is about 3/4 seconds before you cant stand your hand in the heat. Also drag your spoon across the bottom of the pan and if it feels like there is friction then you may be burnng your food. Slow is better, go whittle something for a bit

Sound advice. The only thing about the skill (or luck) that I was bemoaning though was that each pot will be slightly different from another; and billy cans are usually thin and flimsy (not especially consistant in their heat transfer) Consistant use of the SAME pot every time and experience with the fire will teach you the charecteristics of the pot you're using.

 

[roger-uk]

Sound advice. The only thing about the skill (or luck) that I was bemoaning though was that each pot will be slightly different from another; and billy cans are usually thin and flimsy (not especially consistant in their heat transfer) Consistant use of the SAME pot every time and experience with the fire will teach you the charecteristics of the pot you're using.

All good advice but don't forget the herb and cheese dumplings

 

[santaman2000]

All good advice but don't forget the herb and cheese dumplings

Your timing is excellent. It's supper time here and I'm NOT fasting for labs as I was last night.

 

[Imagedude]

Here's the basic recipe for Scouse, you can substitute lamb for beef or combine them. Serve with pickled cabbage or pickled beetroot. Traditionally it is simmered until the spuds completely dissolve and you can stand a spoon up in the pot. Some heathens and pulses and herbs!

1/2 lb lamb cut very small
4 large king edward potatoes, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
1 small turnip, diced
salt and pepper
1/3 pint lamb stock

 

[dwardo]

Here's the basic recipe for Scouse, you can substitute lamb for beef or combine them. Serve with pickled cabbage or pickled beetroot. Traditionally it is simmered until the spuds completely dissolve and you can stand a spoon up in the pot. Some heathens and pulses and herbs!

1/2 lb lamb cut very small
4 large king edward potatoes, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
1 small turnip, diced
salt and pepper
1/3 pint lamb stock

Gotta add some beef in there too for a posh scouce
Poor mans scouce didnt have any meat in at all lol.

 

[JohnC]

When I got a new can/cookpot, if we could not get it out on a fire, I'd cook in the kitchen on the regular stove, so id get used to the heat transfer and the "stickiness" of the base with foods

 

[Everything Mac]

The best stew is one where you dont measure anything, just chop it up and throw it in!

Any veg is fine,

Fry an onion, then brown the meat.

Top up with beer/ wine/ cider
add some Worcester sauce, Tabasco if you like it, salt and pepper and herbs.

Boil.

Enjoy.

 

[Andy BB]

instead of using chuck or shin beef, try oxtail. In my humble opinion, the finest stewing meat available, and the marrow etc gives a wonderful flavour. And of course, don't forget the dumplings..............

Hmmm - remind self to get some for North Wood weekend!

 

[rik_uk3]

Oxtail is stunning, make the finest stock you can imagine

Cheaper cuts like Shin are full of flavour, I would suggest simmering the meat for an hour before adding the vegetables or they can so easily turn to mush.

Nothing to stop you using diced pork and this cooks 'tender' quicker than beef.

Nothing to stop you using minced beef, this cooks as quick as the vegetables so is a 'fast' stew.

Practise at home a couple of times using the pot(s) you will take on your trip.

Chicken thighs are full of flavour and again cook quickly, allow two thighs per person minimum.

 

[mountainm]

Not very bushy - but I use a pressure cooker at home to speed things up (a lot). Good for practicing slow cooking. My best yet was ham hocks (so cheap).

As for stews I prefer to cook in tinned tomatoes and red wine with stock - rather than water. You can then go either Italian with basil and marjoram - or east European with paprika. Although I think my favourite is sage and thyme.

 

[treadlightly]

This is such good timing as I'm planning a lamb stew tonight (at home) using an old cast iron stew pot found at an antiques fair last weekend which is set to be my new outdoors cook pot.

 

[Home Guard]

Thanks for the replies guys. I managed a simple beef stew tonight for me and the Mr's with turnip, parsnip, onion, carrot, leek and spud. Wasn't too bad, I think I stirred it too much and too often, as the spuds turned into a paste and really thickend it all.

I also used a bit of red wine to thin it out and add flavour, thanks for that tip, it sweetened out the light burn of the turnip and leek nicely.

 

[santaman2000]

Thanks for the replies guys. I managed a simple beef stew tonight for me and the Mr's with turnip, parsnip, onion, carrot, leek and spud. Wasn't too bad, I think I stirred it too much and too often, as the spuds turned into a paste and really thickend it all...

Sounds like a good result to me. After all, the only real difference between a soup and a stew is the thickness. Soups have broth whereas stews have gravy.