Hearty Beef Stew with Cranberries

Recipe:

Ingredient Notes:

• Meat. You can use any cut of beef that is suitable for stewing, such as shoulder, brisket, shank, or short ribs. Alternatively, you can cook this stew with pork. Neck and shoulder are good choices. Keep in mind that pork will need to stew for less time to become tender.
• Cranberries. Both fresh and frozen berries are suitable for this dish. If you prefer, you can replace the cranberries with lingonberries.
• Bacon. Its main function is to give the dish a slightly smoked flavor.
• Wine. I use a dry red wine, such as merlot or cabernet sauvignon. It softens the meat, so do not remove it.
• Honey. Linden or wildflower honey is best because its flavor is quite expressive, but not as dominant as buckwheat or chestnut honey.
• Tomato paste. It gives the dish a depth of flavor. Alternatively, you can add about 250 grams of canned tomatoes and simmer them well.
• Stock. In this case, it can be replaced with water because the liquid becomes very flavorful during the long stewing process.
• Paprika. You can use the usual sweet ground paprika here, but if you want additional flavor, you can use smoked paprika.
• Thyme. Both dried and fresh thyme are suitable. A couple of sprigs of fresh thyme will suffice. After stewing, remove them from the sauce.

Let’s start cooking!

Cut meat into small pieces, pat dry with paper towels, set aside.

Finely chop the bacon and onion.

Heat 1 tsp of vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium heat, place bacon and cook until golden but not crispy, about 2-3 minutes.

Transfer the bacon to a plate.

Add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil to the pan, increase the heat slightly and brown the meat on all sides in several batches, about 5-6 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate.

Place onion in a pan and sauté, stirring, until golden, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the bacon and tomato paste.

Stir and cook for about 1 minute. Add the meat, paprika and flour to the saucepan, stir and cook for 2 minutes.

Pour in the wine and stock, add the honey, bay leaf and thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Bring to a simmer, cover with a lid, reduce the heat and stew for about an hour and a half. Add cranberries.

Stir, cover again and cook for about another hour or until the meat is tender. Remove the bay leaf from the finished stew. Serve with potatoes or rice.

Enjoy!

This Hearty Beef Stew with Cranberries recipe was checked, prepared and approved by Chef Tatyana Nazaruk - author of FlavorIt.com.
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