Do You Need to Brown Meat for Soup or Stew?

Question

Is it important to brown beef, pork or chicken for soup or stew?  Does the meat need to be dredged?

Lynn Clark · Accepted Answer

Hi Jane - Definitely not! At Milk Street we never brown the meat for soups and stews. One of my top 10 favorite Milk Street Recipes is our No Sear Lamb or Beef Chickpea Stew. We found that as we traveled around the world most cooks didn't bother with the added cumbersome step of browning meat before making a stew and instead use abundant herbs and bold spices to add flavor to a stew. For some Milk Street stew recipes, such as our Tuscan Beef and Black Pepper Stew, we brown the meat by removing the cover halfway through cooking time and letting the oven do the browning work for us. Some suggestions for adding bold flavor without browning - tossing or rubbing the meat with a flavorful spice rub, slicing off the top and adding a whole head of garlic to the pot, using fresh ginger or chili peppers, and finishing with a generous handful of herbs. I hope this helps streamline your stew making! Best, Lynn C.

Do You Need to Brown Meat for Soup or Stew?

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