Beef Stew Doesn’t Need to Take Eight Hours
You don’t need eight hours and a long list of ingredients to make the best beef stew.
I didn’t eat a lot of stews growing up, but I’ve been trying to use my pressure cooker more. Someone at the office suggested I try this Beef Stew with Paprika and Caraway. It comes together relatively quickly in the pressure cooker, but there are options to slow cook it— as well as a version developed for a dutch oven if you don’t have a pressure cooker or slow cooker.
This one is worth dusting off your Instant Pot. In just 30 minutes, the chuck roast becomes impossibly tender. Pressure cooking is mostly hands off, which is ideal for busy weeknights or hosting— and it frees you up to clean your kitchen as you go!
I’ve always imagined stew to be an amalgamation of a ton of different vegetables with huge hunks of meat that need trimming. But this stew is incredibly simple and highlights just a few essential elements. The beef is easily prepared with no bones to fuss with, just some fat to trim off— and I’m no expert butcher.
A few spices go a long way
The majority of the flavor in this stew comes from a hefty amount of just two spices — caraway seeds and two kinds of paprika. I was hesitant about the caraway seeds at first, as they aren’t something I typically cook with. (Though I love the rye bread that comes with an occasional reuben sandwich from the local deli.)
Caraway seeds have a strong scent that is reminiscent of anise, but their flavor is a bit more mild— it’s earthy, a little citrusy and slightly savory. This recipe calls for crushed spices, which gave me an excuse to use my mortar and pestle. It’s important that the seeds are lightly crushed and not entirely pulverized so they retain some shape in the stew. Crushing the seeds releases their oils. They become more aromatic and flavorful without turning to dust. The little bit of texture they provide works really well in here as they soften up in the cooking liquid.
This recipe calls for a lot of paprika — 7 tablespoons combined. It may seem like a lot, but paprika is a very mild spice with a ton of depth. It isn’t spicy, it’s just a concentrated, almost fruity pepper flavor. Hungarian sweet paprika adds a sweeter and richer note here, while the hot paprika adds a little heat and depth that the sweet paprika lacks. The two have totally different flavor profiles and both are necessary to balance the finished dish. If you can’t find Hungarian paprika, any variety will do, but true Hungarian paprika is recommended for the deepest flavor.
This recipes calls for blooming the spices with butter and sautéed onion. It’s a technique we use in a lot of Milk Street recipes, and one that has helped me become a better cook. Most spices need to be cooked in fat or toasted to bring out their full flavor. The spices begin to meld with the butter which helps carry their flavors better throughout your finished dish, just take care not to let them burn. This stew calls for tomato paste rather than canned or fresh tomatoes. Tomato paste adds depth and rich tomato flavor without adding liquid. It’s great for giving savory body to sauces and soups.
The secret’s in the sauce
The key to a great stew, after nailing the flavor, is nailing the texture. This stew delivers on that. Not being very experienced in stew-making, I expected the base to be a bit watery. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The liquid is thickened with a butter-based roux, giving the finished dish a smooth and velvety consistency. The chuck roast just falls apart on your fork. Something so simple in its construction melds together into something quite decadent. Stew is meant to be a humble meal, and while the elements are fairly humble, the final product is anything but.
This stew can be served with a variety of accompaniments. I made some simple mashed potatoes to accompany mine, but egg noodles or Spätzle would be ideal (both are traditional Austrian components). I loved a scoop of sour cream with this, and some freshly chopped dill for garnish. The sour cream offers a mellow contrast to the savory flavors of the stew and provides a cool element. The dill is essential. You need something fresh and green on top to bring some brightness in.
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Willow Montana
Willow Montana is the Production Manager of Digital Media at Milk Street. Willow spends their days coordinating and planning video shoots, managing schedules and overseeing the execution of digital projects. They studied Baking and Pastry Arts at Johnson and Wales University and worked in restaurants while putting themself through six more years of college. They hold a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in English Literature and a Master’s of Fine Arts in Publishing and Writing. Willow is a firm believer in living a slow, quiet life and making things by hand. When they aren’t following the developers around with a camera at the Milk Street office, they may be found at home shaping loaves of sourdough, caring for dozens of houseplants and, occasionally, out in the wild at a punk rock show.
