Most recipes ask that you brown the meat before adding the liquid. The main purpose of this is to caramelise the meat so that it adds flavour and colour to the pottage, stew or soup. Use a fat or oil with a high smoking point – lard, beef dripping, groundnut oil or sunflower oil are ideal. Heat the fat or oil in a large skillet or frying pan until it’s sizzling. You can test this by dropping a small piece of bread in it – if it immediately sizzles, it’s ready. If you are searing a whole piece of meat then use tongs to roll it round so it gets browned on all sides. If you’re browning cubes of meat, then make sure you don’t overcrowd the frying pan otherwise the meat will steam rather than brown. Allow a good space between each piece of meat. This will usually mean you need to brown the meat in batches. Transfer each batch to a shallow dish while you brown the rest of the meat. If you’re browning minced meat then use a wooden spatula to keep pressing it down and splitting it up to separate the strands. Minced meat often releases quite a lot of moisture when you first start to fry it. Keep frying and moving the meat around until all the moisture has evaporated and the meat is browned throughout.
When you’re cooking vegetables, particularly onions, before you add the meat it is important that you don’t ‘fry’ them or they will start to scorch and result in a bitter taste. To sauté, use oil, butter or a mixture of both and cook on a gentle heat until the onions are transparent. To sweat, use oil and cook on a gentle heat with the pan lid on. Cook for at least 15 minutes until the vegetables are very tender.
Some recipes, particularly those involving minced meat, need a mirepoix as their base. This requires that a mixture of onions, celery and carrots should be peeled and cut into tiny cubes (about 3mm) and then sautéd over a moderate heat until the onion is transparent and the celery and carrots are tender.
If the meat in your stew or pottage is tender but there’s still too much liquid in the pot, you will need to reduce it to both thicken it and intensify the flavour. You will need to rapidly boil it so that the excess liquid evaporates. However, it is vital that you remove the meat and vegetables before you do this as ‘a stew boiled is a stew spoiled’. Just transfer the meat and vegetables to a bowl while you reduce the liquid to the required consistency. Once it has been reached, turn down the temperature and return the meat and vegetables to the pot and simmer for about 10 minutes to warm the meat and vegetables through.
Most recipes require a stock. It’s best to use your own stocks which you can keep in the freezer. If you don’t have a home-made stock to hand and haven’t got time to make one, then it’s fine to buy them but try to find ready-made stocks rather than using cubes.
