John's Slow-Stew

From John Warming

INGREDIENTS

3 pounds (meticulously trimmed) beef chuck shoulder or roast.
4-6 russet potatoes, peeled and chunked
One-pound green top carrots, not peeled and crinkle cut into large chunks.
Small rutabaga, peeled and chunked.
3 fresh, un-waxed parsnips, not peeled but crinkle cut into large chunks.
3 ribs celery, crinkle chunked.
One huge yellow onion, chopped into large segments.
One red and one green pepper cut into chunks (reserved).
4 bay leafs.
A large Ziploc bag with about heavy half-cups worth of Bisquick, ground pepper to taste and a bit of
Lawry's seasoning salt in it. Shake bag to combine all, set aside.
1 T Worcestershire sauce.
1 pound can of diced tomatoes, drained, juice reserved.
Half to one cup red wine.
2 cups beef stock, plus more on reserve
Butter.
2 - 3 heaping spoonful's of cornstarch.

STEPS

1) Butter inside of crock thoroughly.

2) Combine wine, stock, Worcestershire and juice from tomatoes in a medium bowl. Set aside.

3) Place all vegetables (reserving a potato or twos worth) in Red Wing bowl (or equivalent six quart mixing

wl) and toss, with hands, until evenly mixed.

4) Place beef in Ziploc and shake or turn to completely and thoroughly coat.

5) Add meat to vegetable mix and toss gently and minimally to evenly combine.

6) Check the fullness of the bowl. It should be at its brim. If not, add additional potatoes, to compensate.

7) Transfer to to crock in batches, stopping to pop the bay leafs in along the way.

8) Slowly pour the stock mixture over the stew, cover and place on low. Total cook time is 8 hours.

9) At about 3-4 hours in, turn on Hi, uncover and give it a good but gentle tossing

with a large silicon spatula.

10) Cover and turn it back to Lo once you see it begin to bubble again.

11) An hour before the end of cooking turn crock to Hi. Add the peppers with a gentle toss to incorporate.

12) Add just enough beef stock to the cornstarch to make a thick roux and stir that in.

13) Check to see if gravy needs adjusting, using stock as necessary. Cover, turn back to Lo after stew resumes bubbling.

14) At end time, give it a final mix with the large spatula and serve from crock.


NOTES

This is scaled to fit a six-quart West Bend crock pot.