Page 126 - YC Cooking School

Mastering Meat 2

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A guide to successful stewing

Pocket-friendly cuts work best
Stewing is ideal if you’re on a budget, as cheaper cuts of meat are perfectly suited to slow
cooking. These include most of the animal’s hard working parts: the neck, shins and other
bits and pieces high in connective tissue and collagen. When these cuts are allowed to
simmer away slowly for a couple of hours, the connective tissue and collagen turn to
gelatine, which gives these dishes their signature stickiness.

Keep your skin and bones intact
Wherever possible, keep the skin and bones attached to your meat. Besides stopping the
meat from shrinking, fat and gelatine from the skin and bones are vital contributors to the
overall body and flavour of your dish. If this idea makes you a bit squeamish, at least add

the skin and bones to the pot initially and then remove them just before serving.

Portion your meat before cooking it
It’s much easier to divide your meat into evenly sized portions at the uncooked stage than
when it becomes juicy and sticky later on.

Sweeten your stew with natural sugars
Adding vegetables to the slow cooking process gives another dimension in the form of
sugar. Even if these vegetables are strained out and don’t make it to the lunch or dinner
table, they still add valuable flavour.

Use a slow simmer for top results
Even though most recipes will tell you to bring the pot of stew to a boil, it’s really important
to turn it back down to a slow simmer as soon as it starts boiling. While bringing your stew

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