UrbnSpice Tips and Techniques Series
I sooooo enjoy a Classic Beef Stew, and my absolute favourite recipe is adapted from the first Canadian Living Cookbook (circa 1977). It is called Old Fashioned Beef Stew with Vegetables. I like to use root vegetables, which are a perfect accompaniment, and a number of herbs. In this post, I will discuss the braising method of cooking a more inexpensive tougher cut of meat and share a recipe for Classic Braised Beef Stew.
Ask any chef what their favourite cooking method is and a large majority, myself included, will say braising because it produces a rich and flavourful product that is hard to beat. It is a cooking method that I use often in the Urb’n’Spice kitchen. Braising is commonly utilized in preparing meat, but there are numerous other food items that can be braised as well. You can learn all about braising in this post.
“Braising is one of the most amazingly delicious and yet simple methods of cooking
an otherwise tough cut of meat.”
The UrbnSpice Chef
What is braising? It uses a combination of cooking techniques; for example, cubes of beef are first seared to brown and then slowly cooked in a liquid at a low temperature. Beef stew, Osso Buco, pot roasts, chicken thighs, pork belly, beef ribs, lamb shanks and pulled pork are a few examples of braised meats, whereas Vichy Carrots and Honey Glazed Rutabaga are some examples of braised vegetable dishes.
Try cooking a tough piece of meat (such as cubed stewing beef) using the braising method and I can guarantee that you will become a fan as well. I will guide you through a step-by-step process on how to braise cubes of beef, how to deglaze a pan properly and then create and reduce a braising liquid to perfection.

The prepared vegetables are arranged on top of the Beef Stew for presentation
…