Allamerican Beef Stew Recipe the Food Lab

Serious Eats' J. Kenji Lopez-Alt Swears by Gelatin and Umami Bombs for All-American Beef Stew Recipe So We Put It to the Test

In Cook the Book, we test whether iconic recipes, old and new, work well today and with ingredients available locally.

Every era has its own set of heroes in cooking. One of the heroes of this generation? J. Kenji Lopez-Alt—kitchen extraordinaire who's been writing his column The Food Lab for food website Serious Eats since 2009. Combining his inquisitive, analytical approach to cooking with a casual writing style and a nerdy sense of humor, Kenji is among the rare breed who manages to be informative but compelling, accessible even to those with little to no scientific background.

Aside from bringing us new ways to cook things, such as bringing out the sous-vide machine for shrimp and pork tenderloin, Kenji also explores classic dishes and how to make them better. Deconstructing myths by rigorously testing different methods, the column provides science-backed solutions and innovations for better results. His buttermilk pancakes recipe uses whipped egg whites and sour cream for the lightest, fluffiest flapjacks. And for chicken parmigiana that's more moist and crisp than other versions, he takes a cue from Southern-style fried chicken by marinating the meat in buttermilk (and uses buttermilk to moisten the breading itself, too).

Today we take on Kenji's take on an American-style beef stew. "But what exactly is it?" he asks at the beginning of the article. Beef stew appears in almost every part of the world. The French have their boeuf bourguignon and Argentinians have carbonada criolla; here in the Philippines we have kare-kare and kaldereta. The American version doesn't go by any one particular name—Kenji himself admits it doesn't have "the same history or rules" as its international counterparts. But try googling "beef stew" and a slew of recipes from US-relevant websites pop up, typically consisting of beef chunks, onions, potatoes, and carrots in a beef broth-tomato paste-Worcestershire sauce liquid.

Kenji employs a few tricks that are simple in practice but often overlooked. He cautions against the generic "beef cubes" sold at the supermarket in favor of boneless chuck roll—more on that later. He also sears the meat in steak form and then cubes it rather than cubing beforehand, as is typical in traditional recipes, for the best balance of browned edges (which equates to flavor) and succulent meat. Vegetables, which tend to get soggy when cooked for too long, are added in two batches—one to contribute flavor for the first hour of cooking, another that is pre-sautéd separately and only added back to the stew for the for the second half of cooking. There is one vegetable called for that we were unable to locate here—pearl onions—so in its place we usedsibuyas tagalog, a.k.a. shallots, doing our best to keep them whole. He also specifies less-starchy Yukon gold potatoes which unfortunately aren't available here, so we went with the generic potato available at supermarkets (the variety of which is not labelled, but it is the Granola variety that's supposedly predominant in these parts). Peas are stirred in only at the end, to help maintain their vibrant pop of green.

Notably, Kenji ingeniously adds gelatin—yes, the powdered stuff that comes in a box more commonly associated with dessert—to give the stew body without muddying up the sauce the way the more traditional addition of flour or beurre manié would. Moreover, he calls for chicken stock over beef stock and spikes it with so-called "umami bombs" in the form of soy sauce, fish sauce/anchovies, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Though he uses canned broth, we went the homemade route—its depth of flavor is incomparable. While it takes a bit of time to make, homemade broth is mostly a hands-free affair that can be prepared ahead and stored in the freezer.

Beef cuts can be tricky to navigate, the same beef cut can go by different names, or the same beef cut name can refer to different parts depending on where you are in the world. While you can find guides on what these cuts translate to or refer to, it seems that not all parts sold in the US have direct counterparts under the Philippine beef cut system. Under our system, chuck comes in the form ofpaypay (which translates to 'chuck tender') and kadera (which translates to 'chuck rib'). The former is located outside the roll; the latter (which supposedly should the same as so-called "chuck eye") is part of, but not exactly equivalent to, chuck roll. We had aimed to follow the recipe as closely as it was written in the name of the formalities of this test, and sought after a beef cut completely equivalent to the chuck roll or roast—even better if it were actually named that way verbatim. After much searching, we were finally able to get some (with local beef!) care of Meat Depot. But for practicality's sake, home cooks need not worry about following this perfectly. Essentially, both paypay and kadera are good for braising, and can easily be used in this stew. Serious Eats also outlines a number of other cuts you can use in its place; I imagine brisket or oxtail to be equally (if not even more) scrumptious, though you may have to adjust the cooking time.

Right out of the oven, we thought the stew had way too much liquid compared to the photo on the website, but this was easy to fix with a quick reduction over the stove. Our attempt at the stew admittedly didn't turn out quite as "clean and glistening" as Kenji aims at, however. We had probably stirred the mixture too eagerly while reheating, accidentally shredding the meat and "smashing" the vegetables into the liquid in the process; the use of the relatively starchy potatoes widely available here, which naturally tends to muddy up the sauce, may also be the culprit.It was disheartening initially, but one spoonful was enough to convince us otherwise. The beef comes out absolutely tender, naturally rich and fatty enough to be flavorful—and it yields to a bite with little effort. The sauce, likely due to the gelatin takes on a slightly slippery, voluptuous quality not unlike what you'd find in a hearty, collagen-rich stew. And the flavors? Deep and savory, more than just salty, with rich umami goodness that reverberate on the tongue. The slight similarity to Filipino kaldereta makes it all the more nostalgic, but this American-style beef stew clearly holds its own.