STEWBLOGGING: So yesterday I made lamb stew. (For those who followed the Great Cookware Discussion last year, I used this cheap-but-good Cuisinart pot.)
I wound up serving my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and niece, all of whom decided to have dinner with us when they heard the menu, and who were very excited to have stew — moreso than lots of fancier stuff that I cook. Now, the lamb stew is pretty good, but it’s still stew. But it got me thinking about relative scarcity.
A hundred years ago, nobody got excited about stew. Ingredients were expensive, but time was cheap, so cooking something that had to bubble on the stove all day was no big deal. Stew was a staple.
But now ingredients are cheap, while time is expensive. Stew isn’t really a lot of work, but you have to be home all day. So now homemade stew is a delicacy, while, say, grilled salmon and other stuff that’s expensive in terms of ingredients but can be cooked quickly is common. Go figure.
UPDATE: I woke up this morning to a torrent of stew-related email, surprisingly enough. (How much? I got more on stew than I got on my big torture post from the other day. Go figure.) Most of it, like this one from reader Richard Zeien, boiled down to “Get a CrockPot already!” (He sent the link to this one, so I guess he likes it, but I’ve never used one. Seems like cheating). But maybe I should lighten up. Another reader who asks to be anonymous (hiding from the stew police?) sends this:
If you want to eat great stew on a regular basis, the secret is Crock Pots.
Sainted Wife and I make stew about every 10 days. We both work and have a kid in day care. You throw the fixin’s in the Crock Pot at night, set it on the “hi switch to lo” setting, and let it go. You get home the next night at six, and it’s ready to go. It’s easy and the stew always turns out great.
Here is our patented recipe for Booze Fighter Stew – prep time is 10 minutes, plus a day or so to allow it to cook:
1 bottle Guinness, or a couple cups leftover red wine. (a 12 oz bottle of barley wine works really well too) 2 lbs beef, lamb or pork – preferably a cut with good marbling, but without huge veins of fat. (hint: you need to leave a bit of fat in for flavor). Cube the meat, brown it really quickly in a dab of olive or vegetable oil (just sear the outside) and then throw it in the pot. carrots celery, 1 lb mushrooms (critical ingredient like the booze or meat) 3 – 4 appropriately flavored stock cubes spices – salt and fresh ground pepper – but also toss in a healthy whack of rosemary, cilantro, mint (with lamb), bay leaves, celery salt, and tarragon – all are excellent parsnips (optional) 2-3 medium onions, quartered couple cloves garlic 3-4 medium quartered potatoes (optional for low carb types – you can substitute a chopped up swede/turnip) plus a pinch of anything else your heart desires. Add enough water to just about cover the ingredients.
Turn the pot on “hi switch to lo” and let it cook for a day.
If the stew is a little thin when you get home the next day, throw in a cup or two of sour cream 20 minutes before you eat it to thicken it up and give it some tang. A dash of hot sauce when you serve it is also nice, and it goes great with a fresh stick of French bread or some dark rye. Best enjoyed with friends over a hearty red “peasant” style wine (Languedoc, Portuguese or Chilean), or a strong ale.
Sounds yummy. A lot of people wanted my recipe, but there isn’t really one to give. I just throw things in the pot and taste ’em until it’s good.
Reader Robert Kern, meanwhile, sends this economic analysis:
It’s the Law of Competitive/Absolute Advantage at work.
As an example : Today my sewer is blocked. I can pay a plumber $100 to take care of the problem in 1 hour, or I can do it myself in 3 hours (including renting the equipment and travel time). So, if I make more than $33/hour, it makes sense for me to perform my regular activities and employ the plumber. It’s a net gain for me, and it keep another person working.
That’s why a good-old crock pot is and economic bonanza — cheap ingredients and it cooks while you are making a living. And the consumption of cheap ingredients (flank, shoulder, chuck) makes the more desirable cuts more affordable, as it balances the supply & demand.
Gosh, it’s practically my humanitarian duty to buy a CrockPot now!
ANOTHER UPDATE: There is controversy even in stew-land, as reader Jody Landis emails that I should stick to my guns on CrockPot avoidance: “I have a crockpot, and I’m disappointed every time I use it. Food doesn’t taste at all the same as when it’s cooked by conventional means.” Sigh. No easy answers here, either, I guess . . . .