Every now and then, it can be a little hard to figure out what to cook for you and your family. You might be overwhelmed with different preferences and you might have so many different ingredients that you’re not sure what to do with them. But for us, one of the most hearty go-to dishes that never fails to impress and satiate is stew.
Stew may seem basic and boring, but it’s one of those dishes that we believe is seriously underrepresented. So to help convince you, we’ve put together a few reasons why everyone should be cooking stew more often.
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There are so many unique stew recipes to consider trying
From Guinness stew that uses a real can of stout to the Japanese family favorite nikujaga, there are so many unique stew recipes out there and we should really stop clumping them all together into the same name. Stew is such a general term for this dish and it really doesn’t do each individual recipe justice. Stew can be a lot more than just vegetables and meats in a stock. The flavors you can extract from those ingredients can completely blow you away if you prepare them correctly, so why not try a staple stew from a different part of the world?
You can make a stew with very few ingredients
Stews are one of the most affordable dishes that you can make at home. Most of them involve a few pieces of meat and some vegetables together with a stock. In fact, you can cut down on some of the cost by using frozen vegetables or even turning leftover ingredients into a flavor-packed stew. In addition, you can make huge batches of stew if you have enough room in your kitchen and then freeze it all to make convenient little meals. This means you can buy huge amounts of meat and vegetables for a bulk price, saving you a considerable amount of money. Of course, you can always make your stew more complex by adding lots of different spices, seasonings, and herbs. But for most people, stew can be made with only a handful of ingredients and it’ll still taste delicious no matter what you serve it with.
Stew is great when serving a large group
If you’ve ever had to serve guests then you’ll know that cooking for a large group can be extremely time-consuming and difficult. But that’s why we love to cook stew as a way of serving lots of guests and reducing the complexity of cooking for so many people. Stew can be as simple as throwing a bunch of ingredients into a pot and letting it simmer for over an hour or two. It allows you to focus on cooking other things and there isn’t much preparation involved. However, you could also aim to impress your guests by putting a bit more time into your stew. This could involve sweating your vegetables first or even searing your meats before placing them into your stew pot.
