"beef stew" news and stories

It's too bad Frank DeCaro isn't on The Daily Show anymore. I miss his movie reviews and other commentaries.

But he has a web site, and it's not just another star site with the latest news about what he's up to, he actually has a really extensive list of recipes from celebrities! It's really well done, because you can search by the week, by the name, even by the type of meal it is.

You can make Paul Lynde's Diet Waffles, Andy Warhol's Ghoulish Ghoulash Stuffed Cabbage, and even Burt Reynold's Beef Stew. Or maybe you'd like Tony Randall's Crunchy Turkey Wraps or Vanna White's Layered Pea Salad or Moby's Pan Bagna. Whatever food you're in the mood for and/or celebrity you're interested in, there's something here for everyone. I'm going to try Richard Deacon's Bitter and Booze, which sounds like the ultimate booze dessert to drown your sorrows. Deacon wrote a microwave oven cookbook in the early 70s which I'll have to track down.

My mom never made beef stew or any of the classic "American" dishes when we were little. We mostly ate Korean food, and it was a very special occasion when we ate "American" foods like spaghetti or steak. However, things like stew never made it to our table unless it came from a can. Dinty Moore was a special "American" night, and still, we ate it over rice, and with kimchee. Well, now I'm determined to cook and eat all of those things that I never ate as a child, including beef stew (don't worry, I will never ever attempt to make spam from scratch).

The beauty of beef stew is that it's beef stew one day, and then can be "remixed" a few times through the week. For a busy lifestyle, this is incredible. You can still have the satisfaction of cooking from scratch all day on Sunday, and do a re-heat with a tweak to eat during the week. (Yep, that was totally meant to rhyme.) The stew I made is a classic recipe - nothing fancier than beef, carrots and potatoes stewed in broth, and yet, it beats Dinty Moore into the ground. Certainly nothing beats the food we ate as kids, even from a can, but at some point, we have to give up Campbell's, too, right?

Look out in the next few days for a few "remixes" of beef stew. Of course, if you have suggestions for this enormous pot of stew I have, please, suggest away.

We're prepping our ingredients for Gardiane La Camargue, French beef stew in the style of the cowboys Francais in the Camargue, south of Arles. The dish is from Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking.

Whoops! A few hours have passed since we cut the meat into 3- or 4-ounce pieces. Sorry about that, the baby that was getting into the cat food last time, I realized he'd better have some human food. Oh well, such is life. Now it's time to prep the carrots, onions and garlic. The instructions just say "garlic cloves," not "minced" or "peeled" or "unpeeled."

Hmmm. I decided to just peel them and crush just a bit in the process (I smack them with the wide edge of my knife to loosen the skins). My cloves look a little small... so I use eight or nine. I love garlic. I decide to toss it all in. A little extra garlic never hurt anyone. Right?

Today we'll be prepping our ingredients for Gardiane La Camargue, French beef stew in the style of the cowboys Francais in the Camargue, south of Arles. The dish is from Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking. It's one day before serving and time to combine:

• 4-5 pounds stewing beef, cut into cubes weighing about four ounces each
• five cloves garlic
• 2-3 medium yellow onions, cut into rounds
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch lengths
• 1 bottle red wine such as Côtes-du-Rhône

The first thing I'm going to do is figure out what a four-ounce cube of beef should look like. I didn't ask my butcher to cut them, as recommended in Wells' recipe. Hmm...

We all miss Sara Moulton's Cooking Live like crazy. But instead of continuing to whine and complain about it, we're taking measures. Until we launch the Slashfood Network, we're just gonna bring the live cooking to you via blog.

Each Friday evening one of your lovely hosts or hostesses will be making a new or favorite dish with you. This week, I'll be hosting gardiane La Camargue, La Camargue's Beef Stew with Black Olives, from Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking. As Patricia says, the gardiane is from France's "cowboy country" and is a stew of beef, black olives and red wine.

This recipe requires some advance prep so we'll be starting the dish on Thursday evening. In the meantime, you'll need to head to the grocery store for the following ingredients:

• 4-5 pounds stewing beef (like round and chuck)
• garlic
• 2-3 medium yellow onions
• 4 carrots
• 1 bottle red wine such as Côtes-du-Rhône
• 4 ounces oil-cured black olives

You should have olive oil, thyme and bay leaves in your pantry, but if you don't, add those to your list. You'll need a large, non-reactive bowl (like glass or stoneware) and a large, non-reactive casserole or pot that can go on the stovetop and in the oven (cast iron would work great). OK, see you tomorrow evening! larger scan after the jump