Book recommendations for stewing?

[murren]

I'm looking for recommendations for books on stewing, that focus on meat and the science and technique?

[gfweb]

I cannot think of one whole book devoted to stewing. Plenty have chapters on braising.  The instant pot books certainly deal with the topic too

[FrogPrincesse]

Molly Steven’s All About Braising is a good one. 

[TdeV]

Also, check out sous vide.

 

Discussions on egullet.org date into the early 2000s where some later-famous folks tested their ideas. You will find many discussions (which resulted in what those cooks wrote about in their books) here:

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/136274-sous-vide-index/

with more recent discussions https://forums.egullet.org/forum/3-cooking/

Check out these discussion threads — lots of pictures! (Most current thread is on top).

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/154537-what-are-you-cooking-sous-vide-today-part-3/

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/151649-what-are-you-cooking-sous-vide-today-part-2/

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/147224-what-are-you-cooking-sous-vide-today-part-1/

 

Douglas Baldwin was a scientist at the University of Colorado (I think) which is evident in the presentation of the rules and analyses for food safety and cooking sous vide in his book SOUS VIDE FOR THE HOME COOK. He can't write an index worth beans, but the book is one of my standbys. This book has lots of recipies and is a good resource to start. The egullet story threads contain many exchanges with Douglas Baldwin.

http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html

https://www.amazon.com/Sous-Vide-Home-Cook-cookbook/dp/0984493603

 

Nathan Myhrvold, a former VP at Microsoft, left to attend culinary school and is the principal author of Modernist Cuisine, a very expensive set of cookbooks which discuss the application of scientific research principles and new techniques and technology to cooking. The Wikipedia article mentions his research on egullet.org.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernist_Cuisine

 

The scientific understanding of what happens to food when it cooks was popularized Harold McGee author of ON FOOD AND COOKING in 1984 (revised in 2004).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Food_and_Cooking

 

 

Some great books:

 

THE COMPLETE SOUS VIDE COOKBOOK by Chris McDonald, a former restaurateur from Toronto, Canada

http://www.goodfoodrevolution.com/chef-chris-mcdonalds-complete-sous-vide-cookbook/

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Sous-Vide-Cookbook-Techniques/dp/0778805239

 

SOUS VIDE AT HOME by Lisa Fetterman

https://www.amazon.com/Sous-Vide-Home-Technique-Perfectly-ebook/dp/B01BJSOEQW

 

ESSENTIAL SOUS VIDE COOKBOOK by Sarah James

https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Sous-Vide-Cookbook-Sophisticated/dp/1623157471

[AlaMoi]

is "sous vide" the "new" stewing?

 

seems stewing can do a whole lot more than raising the temperature of the meat inside a plastic bag . . .

[Rickbern]

Bruce aidells wrote a book called the great meat cookbook that is not exclusively about stews, but there’s a fair number of stews in there. He’s got a fairly comprehensive introduction 

 

James Peterson has two books, one is called “cooking “ and the better one is “essentials of cooking” that are general but they have information about stews that is kinda valuable. Ditto Jacques Pepin. 
 

my sentimental favorite is to recommend Paula wolferts clay pot cooking, but that’s a bit of complexity not everyone will relish. 
 

it’s funny, there must be 47 books written about soup for every one about stews. 
 

my simple advice? Focus way more on the initial browning step than you think you need to. When they say don’t crowd the meat, listen! I always brown in a carbon steel skillet or two and then transfer to a pot (often clay) to do the slow cooking part of the recipe. 
 

oh, and make your own stock. Don’t ever buy stock. 

 

Edited December 7, 2023 by Rickbern (log)

[TdeV]

@Rickbern, I have been reading Bruce Aidells this evening!

 

Also The Zinfandel Cookbook. And Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann.

 

Paula Wolfert is one of my favourite authors.

[Wolf]

On 12/8/2023 at 12:52 AM, Rickbern said:

... When they say don’t crowd the meat, listen! I always brown in a carbon steel skillet or two and then transfer to a pot (often clay) to do the slow cooking part of the recipe. ...

 

 

Sorry, I believed it too for a long time but have seen a video that did Paul Bocuse's recipe for boef bourgignon who advises otherwise. Incidentally, in my neck of woods goulash is prepared in a similar manner so, after seeing the recommendation applied successfully (and I guess who am I to contradict Paul Bocuse), tried it out with great success. The key is patience, both as browning may take in excess of 30 minutes and in not giving up too early. (as a word of caution: if meat is of lower quality or was previously frozen it may release larger quantities of water- nevermind it, jusk keep at it and it will succeed all the same, as witnessed by me)

 

The video in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xARB2vlmEU .

[haresfur]

Quote

Book recommendations for stewing?

 

I find leather binding adds a lot of mouth-feel but the book takes much longer to stew