Beef Stew Question

[milford]

I've found some Beef Stew recipes using "White" potatoes, and some recipes using "Sweet" potatoes. Cooking times for each recipe vary all over the place. Some Sweet potato recipes take 6 - 10 hrs. on LOW. Some White potato recipes also range from 6 - 10 hrs.

So I combined both potatoes and checked the stew at 7 hrs. The White potatoes were perfect and the Sweet potatoes were mushy. Granted my Crockpot runs fast, but shouldn't the potatoes have cooked at the same time?
Next time, should I add White potatoes first, and then Sweet potatoes 2- 3 hrs. later?

Oh, as to the previous post on thickeners, I found Quinoa works great. It sucks up the liquid and forms a really thick gravy.

 

[buckytom]

Yes. I make a few soups/stews where potatoes are cooked down with the initial ingredients so they become part of the stew, then add more potatoes later so that they are still recognizable as potatoes in the final product.

 

[Rocklobster]

not all potatoes are created equally..type, age. all have an effect on how they are going to cook up..Like BT said, they will eventually break down to nothing. I don't think they are good for slow cooking as they break down too quickly and even if you do have some left, they are so mushy, you can't even eat them with a fork or taste them

 

[caseydog]

I don't do much with sweet potatoes, although for my health, I should do more. I do know that I never put potatoes into a long cooking stew or soup at the start. I put them in towards the end of the cook, for just the amount of time I think they need to cook. Otherwise, they get "waterlogged" and have no bite to them.

CD

 

[milford]

Great! Thanks for the info. I'll have to start timing when to put in the Sweet Potatoes.

 

[Uncle Bob]

I use both Irish and sweet potatoes....sometimes a turnip root or two...added at the very end, just long enough to cook. Thickening come in the form of a roux.

Potato soup is another animal.

Fun!

 

[CharlieD]

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't sweet potato is not potato at all? It is a different species, despite what it's called.

 

[buckytom]

I use both Irish and sweet potatoes....sometimes a turnip root or two...added at the very end, just long enough to cook. Thickening come in the form of a roux.

Potato soup is another animal.

Fun!

What's an Irish potato?

 

[Rocklobster]

What's an Irish potato?

 

[buckytom]

Lol.
The moustache is all wrong, but the pink ears and attitude are spot on.

Seriously, though, I've never heard the term Irish potato.

Like snakes, there is no indigenous tuber. Just wondering about the etymology/regional dialogue of the term.

 

[Cheryl J]

I love homemade stew, and I love sweet potatoes/yams. Sweet potatoes have a strong flavor, so I wouldn't include them in a beef stew - but that is JMO.

Like others have said, I add white potatoes (russets, red skinned, or Yukon...whatever I've got), towards the end of cooking time so they don't get all mushy.

 

[caseydog]

Lol.
The moustache is all wrong, but the pink ears and attitude are spot on.

Seriously, though, I've never heard the term Irish potato.

Like snakes, there is no indigenous tuber. Just wondering about the etymology/regional dialogue of the term.

You don't live in the South, where my name is eye-taal-yan. My ex-FIL used to use the eye-taal-yan pronunciation around me all the time. My wife would apologize, but it didn't bother me.

In the deep South, and Irish potato is a white potato. I don't hear that one very often, but I have heard it.

CD

 

[caseydog]

I love homemade stew, and I love sweet potatoes/yams. Sweet potatoes have a strong flavor, so I wouldn't include them in a beef stew - but that is JMO.

Like others have said, I add white potatoes (russets, red skinned, or Yukon...whatever I've got), towards the end of cooking time so they don't get all mushy.

Yeah, I can't imagine sweet potatoes in a stew.

As far as white potatoes, the waxier potatoes hold up better in longer cooks. I don't use russets in a stew, even if I'm using a recipe that calls for it.

CD

 

[jd_1138]

I just cut up russet or other white potato types like yukon gold into smallish chunks, and they get fully softened up and ready to eat after 8 to 10 hours in the crockpot and not mushy. I'm not a fan of sweet taters.

I put a stew together just today matter of fact before I left for work. I cut the stew meat up into small cubes then put them in a bowl of flour with salt/pepper. Then I seared them in a pan with some oil, then I deglazed the pan with a little water to get the tasty bits off.

I added carrots, taters, onion, corn, peas, green beans, tomato juice/sauce, packet of stew seasoning.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

What's an Irish potato?

You don't live in the South...In the deep South, an Irish potato is a white potato...

The "Irish" refers to white potatoes, which were infected with blight and affected the Irish during a famine time.

They are called Irish potatoes for the simple reason that they were the main type grown in Ireland in the early 1800s, and are forever associated with The Great Irish Famine, one of the worst agricultural, social, and cultural disasters of the time.

 

[buckytom]

Interesting stuff.

Although the famine had a lot more to do with monoculture (thereby the apparent colloquialism, I suppose), and politics.

Plus, the blight didn't affect the entire country, as it's thought. But that's another story.

 

[Aunt Bea]

When I make stew I leave the potatoes out and serve the stew over mashed potatoes.

I use this old oven beef stew recipe adapted from a recipe on the back of a Campbell's soup can.

1 can of condensed cream of tomato soup
1 pound cubes of stew beef
2 or 3 onions cut into quarters or eighths
3 or 4 carrots cut into chunks
salt and pepper to taste
1or 2 bay leaves
1/4 t celery seeds
a good shot of Worcestershire sauce

Put everything into a covered casserole and place in a 350 degree oven for an hour to an hour and a half. You can add cut up potatoes to this but, I prefer to have mashed potatoes as a side dish. With this you do not need to brown the beef or dilute the soup. I usually buy a small round steak or chuck steak and cut it up myself instead of using stew beef. It is also a good way to use venison.

 

[Andy M.]

When I make stew I leave the potatoes out and serve the stew over mashed potatoes...

I do the same thing with stew and pot roasts.

 

[Just Cooking]

Made a Power Cooker stew last night...

Browned the meat, set aside, sweated onion and garlic, put the meat back in, added liquids and pressure cooked 20 minutes.. Added potatoes, more onion, carrots and celery and pressure cooked an additional 15 minutes.. Thicken the gravy and served..

Less than an hour including prep and was as good a stew I'd ever made.. Veggies were perfect..

I'm becoming a big fan of instant pot pressure cooking...

Ross