A week or so ago, LawDog posted a video of a Texas-style  recipe for beef stew and using a pressure cooker. I figured I would share the family’s recipe which is something simple. And I took pictures!

You will need a pressure cooker. I do the traditional one and have no idea about the newfangled electricals, but I hope you know how to compensate.

First we begin with enough corn oil to cover the bottom about 1/4 of an inch.  The first set of ingredients (in this case) are 2 medium size onions and half a red bell pepper. Julianne, chop, etc at your liking.

While the oil heats over medium-high “flame,” season the beef cut in chunks of about 1.5 to 2 inches. I always use salt and granulated garlic, plus since the missus like black pepper, plenty is added and so is Head Country seasoning recommended by LawDog hisself. We have done grilled steaks and that thing rocks.

Once the oil is hot, add the onions and the peppers. Cook till they are past blanched but before they get golden brown.

The next step is to add the beef chunks carefully, preferably using tome tongs. Trust me, I speak from experience!

Turn the heat to almost all the way high (8.5-9) and stir every couple of minutes till you see the beef chunks “cooked” on the outside.  If you feel it is too hot, turn it down some. We don’t want a burned bottom of the pot.

Next, more ingredients! A cup of your favorite tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes or whatever tomato fancies your palate.  Also add a couple of bay leaves and the pièce de résistance is 8 ounces of non-red wine. That is some chardonnay I bought cheap in Walmart, nothing fancy. It just add that slight touch of acidity.  Do announce to your Baptists friends that the alcohol evaporates rather quick and you just end up with a bit of fermented grape juice sans the sin.

If you see to much uncovered beef, you may want to add about 4 ounces of water, no more. Trust me, you will not run out of “juice.” Next, let everything come to a boil and once it is nice and bubbly, lock the cover and wait till the bell starts rocking.

IMPORTANT: Once the bell starts its dancing, bring the heat to HALF and set a timer for 20 minutes.

Once time is up, use whatever is the recommended way to release the pressure. With Presto, you get to cool it with water and you don’t have to transform your kitchen into a Turkish Batch opening the valve.  Once the pressure is gone and before opening the cooker, shake it a couple or four times of times to remove pockets of steam caught in the stew. Please do this to avoid a geyser and burns.

One of the things you will see when you open the pressure cooker is that suddenly there is a lot of liquid. Not so, simply the beef shrunk some 20% depending on how lean it was. Pork shrinkage could reach 1/3 of size easy. What I do is to strain the stew and just serve with some of the liquid. You can save the excess to use in other dishes as it freezes damned nice.

And this is the final product.

If you stab it with a fork, it should almost come apart. It will be flavorful, juicy and specially, done rather fast. If you think it still needs sometime, just slow-cook it for another 10 minute at low heat without closing the cooker.

It goes with anything that absorbs the “jugos” (juice): Mashed potatoes, rice and even bread are excellent choices. Hell, get some French bread and make yourself a sandwich! Sloppy Pepe!

And that is it!

PS1: Yes, the same recipe applies to pork chunks. This is a great way to use the meat from the shoulder. Season the pork as you like it. Personally we do the McCormick Grill Mates Brown Sugar Bourbon Seasoning. IMHO is better for pork than Head Country.

PS2: Yes, if you are heathen enough, you can add flour to the juice and make gravy. Why would you need that is beyond my understanding, but this is America and you can ruin your meal any way you want :D.