Soups & Stews

Pantry Beef Stew

By Sandy · From the Granny Plants Kitchen · Made with Granny’s Canned Beef

Stew on the table in about 40 minutes, because the beef already did its slow part in October.

Serves: 4 to 6 Time: 40 min Starts with: 1 jar canned beef

Ingredients

1 quart jar Granny's canned beef (about 2 lb beef plus its broth)
2 Tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
3 celery ribs, sliced
4 medium potatoes, cubed
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3 cups beef broth
1 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
3 Tbsp flour whisked into ½ cup cold water
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup frozen peas (optional)

Steps

Open and heat the beef. Check the seal first. Pour the beef and all its broth into a pot, bring it to a boil, and heat it all the way through before using it in the rest of the recipe.
Soften the vegetables. Melt butter in a large pot. Cook onion, carrots, and celery 5 minutes. Add garlic and tomato paste and stir 1 minute.
Simmer. Add potatoes, broth, thyme, and bay leaf. Simmer about 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
Add the beef. Stir in the heated beef and its broth.
Thicken. Stir in the flour slurry and simmer 5 minutes until it thickens. Add peas, season, and remove the bay leaf.

Notes

Granny’s tip: Taste before salting. The jar was canned with salt, so the broth may already be plenty seasoned.

Store-bought works too: no home-canned beef? Use about 2 lb of cooked chuck roast plus 2 cups beef broth.

Using home-canned beef safely: check every jar before opening. If the lid is bulging or unsealed, the jar leaks, liquid spurts when opened, or anything smells off, throw it out without tasting. Heat the beef all the way through before eating. For extra safety, NCHFP recommends boiling home-canned meat for 10 minutes (add 1 minute per 1,000 ft of elevation). Get the canning process in The Smell That Woke the Dogs.

Twelve meals, one jar of beef

This is one of the twelve dinners competing for my five jars. See them all.