The slow cooker chef: Warming winter stew with skirt of beef and baby carrots recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Beef and Steak and Veal | 12 comments
Photo: Skirt of beef stew
Last year my friend Jo mentioned skirt of beef. I’d never even heard of the cut before let alone spotted it in the butchers.
“If you slice it very fine, it’s wonderful in a stir fry. And even better it’s so cheap.”
I’ve since discovered that it’s the traditional meat used in Cornish Pasties. Although my Cornish pal Tessa uses chuck steak.
Last week I went to the market to buy some vegetables – they are always knocked down in price at the end of the day. I bought two large bunches of baby carrots for a pound – these would be perfect in a stew. I lingered by the butcher’s window hoping for inspiration and spied a tray of skirt of beef.
I bought a large slab and rushed home in a fever of excitement having finally found this special cut. I was surprised how tender the meat was when I sliced it but the butcher had suggested slow cooking to bring out the flavours.
Rolled in seasoned flour and popped into the slow cooker
Like all slow cooked food this is best left to chill overnight and eaten the next day.
Warming winter stew with skirt of beef and baby carrots recipe (for 4 hungry heroes)
Ingredients:
440g of skirt of beef
4 tbsp of plain flour
125g of sliced Spanish onion
440g of baby carrots – scrubbed well and the chunkier ones chopped
250g of celery – destring if necessary and slice
1 chubby clove of garlic peeled and chopped fine
10g of dried mushrooms (soaked for 5 minutes in boiling water)
1 tsp of balsamic vinegar
1.5 tsp of vegetable stock powder
Half a tsp of anchovy sauce
2 tbsp of mushroom ketchup
900ml of good beef stock
Salt and ground black pepper for seasoning
Method:
Chop the skirt of beef into 2.5cm x 2.5cm pieces and roll them in seasoned flour.
Prepare the vegetables and garlic and layer them with the meat in the slow cooker, sprinkling any leftover flour on each layer.
Add the mushrooms and their water.
Add the Balsamic vinegar, vegetable stock powder, anchovy sauce, mushroom ketchup, a good twist of ground black pepper.
Pour over the hot stock. Pop on the lid and set the knob to auto (or high until the stew starts bubbling and then switch to low). Leave for 3 hours or until the meat and vegetables are tender.
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Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Stew
The barley in this recipe is a good source of fibre and thickens the stew without the need for flour. I find this stew to be great as a warming comfort food.
I serve it over mashed potatoes for preference but it goes well with thick slabs of a crusty whole-grain bread or use a good chewy white bread such as Focaccia to soak up the juices..
Preparation Time: About 15 Minutes
Cooking Time: 10 Minutes (See note below).
Slow Cooker Time: 8 to 10 hours
Serves: Upto 4 people depending on how hungry they are …
Ingredients:
* 1 lb (454 g) Any Stewing Beef cut into bite sized pieces
* 2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil
* 2 Onions, chopped roughly
* 2 Carrots, chopped
* 2 cups (500 mL) beef OR vegetable stock
* 1/2 cup (125 mL) pot or pearl barley, rinsed
* 1 tbsp (15 mL) each dark brown sugar, tomato paste and red wine vinegar
* 1/2 tsp (2 mL) each salt and dried thyme leaves
* 1/4 tsp (1 mL) pepper
* 1 cup (250 mL) peas (yes frozen peas are fine), thawed
Method:
Heat 1 tbsp of (15 mL) oil in a large frying over medium-high heat
Cook beef until browned, (you might have to do this in 2 batches)
Transfer cooked beef to slow cooker.
Add remaining oil to pan;
Cook onions and carrots a few minutes until lightly softened.
Stir in stock, barley, brown sugar, tomato paste, vinegar, salt, thyme and pepper; bring to simmer.
Pour the simmering vegetable and barley mix into slow cooker;
Cover and cook until beef and barley are tender (this will take 8 to 10 hours on LOW or 4 to 5 hours on HIGH).
Turn off slow cooker. Stir in peas and let stand for 10 minutes to heat peas.
Notes:
This is the original recipe and is from back in the days when everybody said everything had to be browned. I’ve come to the conclusion that the main purpose of browning everything is to bring the slow cooker’s contents up to temperature rather than for reasons of flavour. There is, as far as I can tell no difference in taste between browning or not. So I save both on effort and fuel and don’t bother. I DO turn the slowcooker on to high the moment I’m ready to start
Hi Lindsay
The organic butcher in a village 15 miles away always has the cheaper cuts of meat as he buys a whole steer and wants to sell all the meat. He tells me that no one knows how to cook these days so his organic cheap cuts are cheaper than the non organic cuts from the best butcher in town. We’re very lucky.
I had a sniff around on Google and found this pdf of meat producers in your area – some of them might do online shopping. If you have a freezer and can buy in bulk this could be your answer.
Hi! Been following your blog for a few months now and loving it! Having moved here a decade ago from Canada, I was beginning to despair that people didn’t seem to do this type of thing in the UK!
So far I have made your Bread & Butter pickles (taste like my mum’s – made great Xmas prezzies!), Apple Chilli Jelly (I agree with you and next time I will put in the Bird’s Eye at the end), and Flowering Quince Jelly (so easy!).
Anyway, with money being tight I’ve been digging out my mum’s old recipes that I grew up on but I can’t seem to find any offcuts in the grocery stores. I’ve been to the best butcher everyone recommended in town but even he said it was ‘a sign of the times’ and no one wants them anymore. So far I have wanted a ham hock (pea&ham soup), neck of lamb (scotch broth) and beef skirt (your stew!).
The farmers’ markets are laughable around here (full of tat), I’ve looked for online butchers/farms and without a car I’m feeling kind of stuck. Any suggestions? I’m in West Sussex, so I guess I’m in the minority looking for cheap meat!
Hi Sophie
The beef was melt in the mouth.
I’m going to try cooking skirt like a staek next. I’m thrilled to have found such a tasty cut of beef.
Hello Rosemary
Norfolk Beef and Onion pudding sounds mouthwatering. I must try and find a recipe. Thanks.
I have always used skirt of beef for the traditional Norfolk Beef and Onion pudding,it is very tender and much better than any other stewing cut.
I’ve had a skirt steak before, but this is the first time I’ve seen a slow cooker recipe with it. Looks comforting and delicious, I bet the slow cooking made the beef extra tender and tasty.
Hi Veronica
I love the sound of your recipe!
Yes I try and get down to the market once a week ATM. It’s so much more fun than the supermarket and lots cheaper. Gradually getting better.
Hi Paula
I’ve heard that skirt of beef is much more expensive in America. Here it’s around £3 for a pound.
What sort of marinade do you use?
I bought some more today to experiment with it. Love the idea of cooking it over an open flame.
Hi Steve h
Great idea. I like Boddingtons too.
Try substituting half your 900ml beef stock for a can of bitter! (i prefer Boddintons!)
Hi Fiona- here in the States we call it a skirt steak, also sometimes known as a flank steak, and most people here use them for fajitas or sometimes tacos, and for stir fry. My favorite is definitely for use in Mexican food- they take marinading really well. Seared quickly over an open flame and then cut thinly across the grain, they are insanely good rolled up in a homemade flour tortilla.
Sounds delicious, rather like the French classic boeuf aux carottes (which I make in the pressure cooker, just 45 mins for meltingly tender meat).
Glad you are feeling well enough to go to the market!