For Christmas, I got a new knife for the kitchen. It’s a style I’d never used before. The Chinese Cleaver. The one on Amazon isn’t exactly like mine, but it’s very close.
Holy cow, it’s replaced every knife in my kitchen. Well, except for the bread knife I use to cut baguettes. Hasn’t replaced that. But it’s replaced all of the other ones.
It showed up in my pictures where I was making my Thai-Style Coconut Chicken Soup and I used it again yesterday when I was making an *AMAZING* beef stew. Wait. Let’s get that recipe out of the way. It’s from this book, again.
This time we made the “Traditional Beef Stew”.
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pound beef or pork stew meat, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 1/2 cups cubed potatoes
1 cup frozen cut green beans
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1 cup sliced carrot
1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
2 teaspoons instant beef bouillon granules
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram or basil, crushed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 bay leaf
2 1/2 cups vegetable juice or hot-style vegetable juice
-
Place flour in a plastic bag. Add meat cubes and shake until meat is coated with flour. In a Dutch oven, brown half of the meat in 1 tablespoon of hot oil, turning to brown evenly. Brown remaining meat in remaining oil. Drain off fat.
-
In a 3 1/2 to 4-quart slow cooker, layer potatoes, green beans, corn, carrot, and onion. Add meat. Add bouillon granules, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, marjoram, pepper, and bay leaf. Pour vegetable juice over all.
-
Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10 to 12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender. Discard bay leaf. Ladle into bowls.
First off, that’s not how I did it. Maribou asked me “Don’t use onions or pepper” so, of course, we excluded the onions and pepper. “Oh, and get the low-sodium V8.” So, for the vegetable juice, I got the low-sodium V8. And instead of frozen green beans, frozen kernel corn, and frozen carrot, I just bought a couple of bags of frozen veggies. Oh, and instead of the beef bouillon granules, we used the Beef Better Than Bouillion.
I fried up the beef in my giant Circulon instead of using a Dutch oven. Seriously, who has the time?
I also did “and” instead of “or” for the marjoram/basil question.
But, other than that, I followed the recipe pretty much.
When it came to cubing the potatoes, I used the Chinese Chopping knife and, holy cow, cutting them was not only easy but I didn’t worry about cutting myself (compared to using a dividing knife and always having to think about it before applying pressure).
And as for the stew itself? This is the first time I’ve ever used V8 instead of water or broth and HOLY COW LEMME TELL YA THIS STEW WAS AMAZING. I couldn’t believe it.
It felt like I had unlocked a cheat code.
Next time you make stew in your crock pot, consider using (low-sodium) V8 instead of water/broth. Just try it once. Seriously, it’s amazing.
Anyway, when doing the initial prep for the stew, I used the chopping knife to quickly cut the potatoes in half and they cubed like butter. A couple of weeks ago when I made my Coconut Chicken Soup, I used the chopper on the chicken and it was amazing, then, after a wash and a new cutting board, I used it on the bell peppers and cilantro the next day and, holy cow, it cuts veggies perfectly and is now the knife that does the best rolling chop out of anything in my kitchen.
If you don’t have one of these knives yet, check it out. You might find yourself saying “I don’t use my other knives anymore.”
Well, except for the breadknife for when you cut baguettes. You’ll still use that.
This weekend will be the first gaming weekend where everybody shows up since… jeez. Thanksgiving? So it’ll be good to go back and sit down and pick up a Dwarven Cleric and ask “how in the heck do you use one of these, again?” and otherwise delighting in getting back on the horse.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured image is my new knife that does a great job of cubing potatoes, chopping chicken thighs, cutting bell peppers, and doing a rolling chop on cilantro.)
thanks for the recipe….and damn it now I need to buy that book and a knife. (okay I’m never disappointed to get another knife)Report
I am kinda shocked at how good the book is. I trimmed off the top of the picture but you’d see about two dozen post-it notes sticking out of the top.
And you’ll have to hold the knife kinda differently than you’re used to… it’s more of a pinch. My friend sent me this video and told me “hold it like this!”
Report
Good gods in Asgard above how many people is she cooking for?Report
well I bought the book and a knife. 😁Report
I would love to hear your favorite two or three recipes once you’ve had the book for a few months. Don’t worry if you think it won’t be in context of the weekend post. Just plop down a comment with your two or three faves. Heck, just page numbers would be fine.Report
the knife is the new house favorite. it is awesome! the book just came today I’m excited to try a whole bunch of those recipes. I’ll get back to you on what we tryReport
Delightful! I can’t wait to hear what you come up with!Report
Interesting. My theory is that the V8 is a substitute for the sofrito or mirepoix which is hard to add-in to crock-pot cooking. Besides the obvious tomatoes (not part of mirepoix) it’s concentrated Carrots and Celery (and other things). Plus it adds a fair bit of acid in addition to the Worcestershire Sauce. Could see how it would really boost that kind of stew. Good find.
Since you’re de rigueur on herb blending… one of my go-to’s are Pot Herbs in soups and sauces that I want to have a French flair. https://www.thespicehouse.com/products/homestyle-herbs-soup-blend
+1 on the bouillon… love the bases to augment stocks.Report
Yeah, I kind of like the V-8 idea (if you’re going to be doing a tomato-inclusive stock). I would surely miss the onions, though, but like Jaybird I’d compromise within a relationship.Report
I think there are some onions floating around there in the recipe… just not sauteed or browned.Report
Becoming allergic to onions (and that allergy increasing slowly over time) is one of the more rotten tricks my body pulled on me way back in my early 30s. I *love* them. SO MUCH. In my 20s French onion soup was my favorite dish. But alas the increasing symptoms mean they are a very sometimes / minimal amounts food in our house. My early-on desperate efforts to will my body out of that particular allergy through pushing through it somehow, uh… well that’s not how allergies work. Doh. Not worth getting it worse to the point of needing to carry an epipen.
I sometimes, even this far away from being able to eat them regularly, have dreams that are mostly about how good onions taste in all their various preparations.Report
Now black pepper I’ve been allergic to since babyhood, to the point where if there’s too much I can’t breathe or swallow, and I don’t understand what ANY of you see in it, it’s awful, ick ick ick ick, childhood aversion sure is a powerful force. I’m very good at avoiding it and at mitigating symptoms quick when I don’t avoid it.
Onions though.
*wistful sigh*Report
I kinda like doing the old-school “fresh” stuff for my sauces but, for soups, I’m 100% down with just doing the (dried) trinity: basil, oregano, rosemary.
Sage is, like, “out there” most times.
I stepped out of my lane entirely for this particular pot.Report
Agreed on the fresh herbs… but for these winter months and to finish sauces I like to have some quality mixes on hand. The Fines herbs from Spice House are really good too.Report
Besides those three, everything cooked in my house has fennel seed. It gives an extra aroma.
And, of course, Chinese Five Spices. It adds a dash of sweetness and another totally different aroma.
So what do you call a five people trinity? A pentity sounds really silly.Report
“Quincunx”, I believe.Report