I made the "All American Beef Stew" recipe last night and, because of my amazing time management skills, by the time it was done it needed to go straight into a Cambro.
I should scrape away that solidified fat cap and discard [*] it right? Kind of the same way you would for English beef short ribs?
[*] (technically I'm going to heat it up long enough to nom everything that's not orange tallow)
by MikeOKurias
17 Comments
I would trash at least most of it.
eta: most of the fat, to be clear
Generally, yeah, you wanna remove most of it. You don’t need to be too precious about it, but you don’t want an oil slick on top of the stew when you reheat it.
You can freeze it and use it to cook stuff later instead of tossing it. It’ll probably have some water in it so be mindful of some spitting.
What’s all American? elements of south America and north america? It’s just a stew ..
Be good on toast. My grandfather used to have dripping on bread as a snack. Good old depression food.
Fuck no
Thats flavor
I leave it while storing because it helps create an airtight seal and keeps it fresher longer. But yeah once you’re ready to serve it’s gotta go.
yeah… get rid of as much of it as you can with a reasonable effort. no need to get every speck, but that fat will mute the flavor of stew otherwise.
I know it feels crazy to throw away all the calories and good fat – people eat foof for the nutrients! and fat is full of em, but yeah i would just take 80% of it off – leaving behind the stuff that didnt want to come out is good enough. I personally wouldnt mind that much fat in my stew so it’s not a crime to leave it behind. but for most people’s preference, try to get most of it out
If I were reheating that, I’d leave everything as is, stir it well, and make sure there is enough salt to get the shimmer. I don’t know if there is a technical term for it but its what I call the tiny fat droplets breaking apart into tasty glitter that shimmers on the surface. If there isn’t enough salt it ends up with an unpleasant oily surface. If there is enough salt, the fat breaks up and gives the stew a richer taste.
Fat is what carries the flavor. You want the fat to be emulsified or spread out as much as possible. You can do this with salt, alcohol, or stabilizers.
I’d say to leave 20-50% of it in, depending on how much you like your arteries. But all of it? Nah. The flavor of beef, and any animal, is in the fat, not the protein. If you remove all the fat, you might as well make it with chicken thighs and save some money.
Yes lol
up to you, really. if you do skim it, keep it, it freezes well and has a lot of potential uses. think of it as a compound fat, it’s picked up the flavors of the stew and will carry a subtle depth of that flavor profile into whatever you use the fat for. the flavor won’t translate one to one, but the infused fat will be much more complex and that will carry over
i keep the fat cap from my bolognese and confit garlic in it. i freeze the fat cap from my post-thanksgiving turkey stock and save it for gravy the next year. i’ve used beef stew fat cap as the fat in biscuits before, that kicked ass
Yes. Please
Seriously? 🙄🙃
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I can’t help you with in answer but have a question — once frozen, how do you get that out for reheating?
I would def remove some of it (50%) but not all of it.