This is a great question Erina. For the answer I will point you to the lesson on "Stewing | Combination Cooking" as we go into quite a bit of detail about this (Topic 3)...both in voice over and visually. Hope this helps. Cheers!

Thank you! Also, if I want to leave out the wine and beer, should I just add more beef stock to make up for the difference?

Any liquid can be used as per Topic 6 in the Combination Cooking Fundamentals lesson. It's up to you and the flavors you are looking to achieve. Cheers!

Let me start by saying that I don't know that I've ever made a stew. If I did, it was so many years ago I can't recall. What I can tell you is that I've never made a stew like the one I just had for dinner. It is sooooo gooooood! I didn't have some of the ingredients (beer, beef stock) and it STILL turned out great. I also messed up on the directions but didn't realize until I was halfway through. Luckily this stew is very forgiving. Leaving it refrigerate for a day also added a wonderful flavor profile that was much better today than yesterday. I can only imagine what it would be like if I had all of the ingredients and actually followed the directions. Maybe next time. I will definitely be making this again.

I tried this recipe but I guess there wasn't enough time for the meat to absorb the taste of the stew, the taste of wine in the meat was still pretty strong after 2 hours in the oven. In lieu of the oven, how does using a pressure cooker differ from slow cooking?

Pressure cookers work just fine, at a fraction of the time. May I suggest adding the wine before the stock and cooking it out a bit first to evaporate its alcohol and strong wine flavor. Also, rest the stew for at least 20 minutes before serving to mellow the flavor. Cheers!

Thanks! I'll definitely try this recipe again, maybe will use the adobo marinade and see what happens :)

Before making another stew, I encourage you to watch the lesson on "Stewing" as this will guide you through the whole process and show you where and when one can change up the flavors. In fact, for the best understanding of stewing and moist-heat cooking in general, I would also encourage you to watch the lesson called "Combination Cooking Fundamentals" as well. Cheers!

I just went back into the stewing video and I think I know now where I went wrong, I didn't season the meat as liberally with salt and pepper as was needed :)

In Puerto Rico we make something very similar called "Carne Guisada" (they make it in Texas, and in South America as well there are different variations, but it is pretty much the same). We use the same cut of meat, however we don't' make a slurry at the end to thicken it we use a sofrito (which is basically peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, ajice dulces (sweet perennial peppers) , culantro (not to be confused with cilantro) which is pulsed in a food processor (basically a pulsed mirepoix), tomato sauce, and sometimes the break down of the potatoes will thicken it as well. However I made this version and it came out spectacular, I made a lot and my wife and I ate for three days with some jasmine rice.

So glad you liked the stew Jose. I have to say that your version also sounds very delicious. You don't happen to have a family recipe you might like to share do you? :-) Cheers!

Hey Dawn,

I sure do:

beef stew meat (season with salt and pepper and dredged in flour (optional), vegetable oil, 1/2 cup homemade sofrito, some chopped stuffed olives, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1 can Spanish-Style Tomato Sauce
4 C Beef Stock, bouquet garni(with cloves), 3-4 potatoes, peeled and cubed

Sofrito recipe:
2 medium Spanish onions,
3 cubanelle peppers
head of garlic
a bunch of cilantro
a few ajices dulces
3 ripe plum tomatoes
1 large red bell pepper, seeds removed

add oil and sear dredge meat, remove add sofritio, then add olives & cumin, place meat back in and tomato sauce, add stock ad bouquet boil then simmer cook for about 1 hour add potatoes about half way through. At this point you can add a slurry if you wish or add some brunoise of potatoes after adding the stock to thicken it if it needs to be thickened. serve with white rice and tostones (plantains)

This is the way my grandmother use to make it and my mother makes it.

Buen provecho!!!

Thanks so much Jose, I will give it a try and let you know how it goes. Cheers!

No problem. Sure let me know how it turns out. I have a question will there be any lessons on how to handle and cook offal meats in the future?

Ciao!!!

This may be something that is covered down the road but it is more important to focus on the main cooking methods for any type of meat or ingredient. Cheers!