The Old Iron Kettle

Remember that one about the pot calling the kettle black?

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Well, this is one old kettle who's proud of her color.

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Vonda at littleeggfarm asked me for my beef stew recipe. That put me into a stew. Recipe? What recipe? I don't know if I have ever followed a recipe for things I cook in this kettle.

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And that's the secret of the stews and pot roasts and short ribs and whatever has been brought forth from this pot - the pot itself.

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This old cast iron pot belonged to Tom's grandmother, which means it could easily be 100 years old. It is well seasoned. And there's nothing like an old, well seasoned, blackened cast iron pot for slow cooking beef.

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As to the stew, I start by thoroughly browning the lean, well trimmed stew meat with a bit of vegetable oil. After it is well browned and all water is evaporated, I add chopped onion and celery and brown a bit more. Then I start dumping.

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This time I added some plum tomatoes I had in the freezer. Did you know you can just rinse off whole fresh tomatoes, put them in a zip lock bag, and stick them in the freezer. When you want to use them in soups or stews or sauces, just remove what you need, run them under hot water to slip the skins off, and cut them in chunks. Into the pot they go.

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Then I added water to cover, salt, pepper, chopped basil I also had in the freezer and some dried marjoram. Put the lid on and it all goes into a 325-350 oven, where you forget about it for two hours. Then in the third hour add the vegetables. Cut up carrots and potatoes take about 45 minutes in a 350 oven. I add parsnips and turnips and maybe cabbage for the last 30 minutes.

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Sometimes instead of tomatoes, I add red wine and mushrooms after browning. This changes the flavor somewhat, for what I call beef burgundy stew.

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I'm sure most of you don't have Grandma's old black kettle. so use a heavy dutch oven, but be sure to brown the meat well before stewing. That's the other secret.