Are all stews tastier the day after or not all stews are like that?

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

 

[Marlingardener]

In my experience, stews are best eaten the day after they are made.
In Virginia, serving Brunswick Stew the day it is made is heresy, and according to the Irish, beef stew improves with sitting a day. Can Virginians and Irish be wrong?

 

[Andy M.]

In my experience, a properly cooked stew should be 'fully flavored' and leaving it in the fridge overnight shouldn't make a difference. If cooking the ingredients for a couple of hours doesn't extract all the flavors, why would sitting overnight in the fridge make a difference?

 

[dragnlaw]

I agree with Andy. I also think people who have it the same day then notice the difference the 2nd day, have eaten the stew when it was deemed all the ingredients were "cooked".
Meaning the meat was just now tender, the potatoes are cooked thru, the carrots a tender/firm bite, therefore considered 'ready'. But meat flavours have not had a chance to penetrate the potatoes, carrots nor have the vegie flavours time to penetrate the meat.
Make the stew early enough in the day to let all the flavours be merry and marry and then by supper time - now she be ready!
and yes, it will be just as good the next day.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I find it to be true with some things but for the most part, I agree with Andy.

Imagine how great this stew should taste after a few years in the can. ???

 

[dragnlaw]

I'll add a caveat. Should it be made late i the day- then overnight is the answer. Have something else for supper and tomorrow nights supper is even better because it is already made!
Do you think maybe that's why they think it better? Everything tastes better when someone else makes it... even if that someone was you the day before. LOL!

 

[GotGarlic]

The chemical reactions that create new flavors continue while the stew, lasagna, etc., are cooling and refrigerated, albeit at a slower rate than when the food is warm. So yes, the flavor does improve while it sits. I always make my lasagna sauce in advance for this reason.

 

[Roll_Bones]

For some reason we always say "It tastes better today". Meaning the next day.

 

[jennyema]

The chemical reactions that create new flavors continue while the stew, lasagna, etc., are cooling and refrigerated, albeit at a slower rate than when the food is warm. So yes, the flavor does improve while it sits. I always make my lasagna sauce in advance for this reason.

This.

it always tastes better the next day.

 

[medtran49]

I agree with the next day crowd. I recently made goulash using pork butt and deliberately made it the day before for 2 reasons. One to let the flavors continue to meld. Second to let the grease float to the top so it could solidify and be picked off easily instead of having to stand there and spoon and spoon and spoon it off. I do the same thing with bolognase. Quite a few recipes in 1 of my Madhur Jaffrey Indian cookbooks recommend making the dish the day before, even 2 or 3 for some of them.

 

[dragnlaw]

LOL as Andy said....

In my experience, a properly cooked stew should be 'fully flavored' and leaving it in the fridge overnight shouldn't make a difference. If cooking the ingredients for a couple of hours doesn't extract all the flavors, why would sitting overnight in the fridge make a difference?

 

[Silversage]

I'm with Andy. I don't usually like leftovers, and stews are no exception. I think they lose a lot texturally, and for me texture is part of the eating experience.

One of the major food sites (maybe either Kenji or Serious Eats) did testing on this and debunked it. It's an old wives' tale that we all buy into because we've heard it all our lives, and therefore believe it.

 

[Andy M.]

Here is a link to the Serious Eats article on this topic. Take from it what you will. You are justified in saying, "See I told you there was a difference!". Or you can take the position that any difference is so minor it doesn't matter. What I got out of it is that it's impossible to create an absolutely foolproof test of the theory so it's probably not a relevant test.

Stew Science: Is It Really Better the Next Day?

It's a phrase you hear all the time: "This [stew] [soup] [long-cooked-thing-X] will be even better the next day!" It's an appealing prospect. Most foods are best when they're at their freshest, but a dish you can make in one large batch that doesn't just hold up, but actually improves with time...

www.seriouseats.com

 

[dragnlaw]

Taste and Smell is truly subjective.

 

[GotGarlic]

Here is a link to the Serious Eats article on this topic. Take from it what you will. You are justified in saying, "See I told you there was a difference!". Or you can take the position that any difference is so minor it doesn't matter. What I got out of it is that it's impossible to create an absolutely foolproof test of the theory so it's probably not a relevant test.

Stew Science: Is It Really Better the Next Day?

It's a phrase you hear all the time: "This [stew] [soup] [long-cooked-thing-X] will be even better the next day!" It's an appealing prospect. Most foods are best when they're at their freshest, but a dish you can make in one large batch that doesn't just hold up, but actually improves with time...

www.seriouseats.com

That's one of the very few topics on which I disagree with Kenji. It doesn't match my experience. But it is quite subjective, so YMMV.

 

[taxlady]

I'm not trusting a test of this unless someone invents a stasis chamber. Put half the stew in the stasis chamber and the other half in the fridge. Then taste them side by side, the one day old stew that was in the fridge and the fresh stew that was in the stasis chamber. But, a stasis chamber may be invented at some point in the future, for now it's imaginary.

 

[blissful]

I enjoy stew more the next day. I cook here and there is nothing better than having someone else cook for me. That never happens but planned overs are as close to that as possible. A meal that is delicious that I didn't have to cook 'that day'. Does it taste better to me, yes it does.

Consider also, tasting while cooking, kind of takes a little pleasure off the final dish, because I've become accustomed to it. Nothing new and no surprise to my taste buds.

 

[jennyema]

I'm with Andy. I don't usually like leftovers, and stews are no exception. I think they lose a lot texturally, and for me texture is part of the eating experience.

One of the major food sites (maybe either Kenji or Serious Eats) did testing on this and debunked it. It's an old wives' tale that we all buy into because we've heard it all our lives, and therefore believe it.

You can debunk misunderstandings of facts (salt in beans, potatoes absorbing salt, searing sears in juices)

You can’t debunk an opinion on what tastes good.

 

[taxlady]

You can debunk misunderstandings of facts (salt in beans, potatoes absorbing salt, searing sears in juices)

You can’t debunk an opinion on what tastes good.

I think you can debunk an opinion on what tastes good, even to a specific person. Blind taste tests can do that. But, I don't think it's possible with fresh stew vs day old stew, as I wrote in a comment, not far back. We simply don't have a method (for now) that will let you properly taste test day old stew vs fresh stew.

 

[Badjak]

I'm in the corner of "both taste good, but different"
I like cooking my stew/curry early in the day and re-heat in the evening, although that's convenience as well. And I normally have a couple of bites when I think it's done and they are tasty as well.
Caveat, most Thai curries should be eaten direct, except maybe mussaman (just my opinion)